Tale of Discovery

Chapter 133: Cottage ; Council

It doesn't take long for Henrietta to reach the stage along with her companion.

"Now," Jean once again exclaims, "We shall determine the winner of the competition!"

After he says that, everyone begins to go through with an arduous voting process. Soon, it's revealed that the number of votes I receive is thrice as much as Tabitha's who came in second place.

Those that voted for me are mostly females while most of those that voted for Tabitha are males.

"Congratulations," Tabitha who's standing beside me suddenly says.

Turning my head to face her, I ask,

"Are you not dissatisfied with this outcome?"

Tabitha responds to my inquiry by slowly shaking her head and saying,

"It's fine this way."

Shrugging my shoulders, I turn my attention back to Jean who's giving a brief explanation of what's about to happen.

Simply put, Henrietta will be coming over to the stage and bestowing upon me the title of 'Familiar Trainer', indicating that I'm masterful in matters related to familiars.

However, I don't think I'm worthy of such a title because I've yet to take a bath with Tiamat and pat Aurora's head to sleep.

Setting that aside, I will be receiving the reward as a student of this academy, which is an important aspect, as it practically forms a solid connection between the academy and me.

"Now, it's time for the winner of the competition to receive their reward," Jean says, "may The Crown Prince of Albion Sir Wales Tudor - walk to the center of the stage."

Are we finally going to be done with this?

As I walk over to the center of the stage, the wood below my feet creaks as the cracks seem like they're threatening to break.

Henrietta's eyes have been following me this whole time, to the point that it's making me heavily suspect that something interesting is at play here.

Once I'm in front of my cousin, I straighten my posture and look back into her eyes.

Henrietta nods her head once before a girl approaches the stage with a rectangular black box in her arms and presents it to her.

Then, the girl that brought the box gets off the stage, as Henrietta places her hand on the box's lid and opens it.

Inside the box, I find a black piece of cloth with some purple visible at the edges of the way it's folded.

Henrietta raises the box and peers into my eyes.

Am I supposed to take it out? Hopefully, my guess is correct.

Doing as my guts tell me to, I grab the piece of cloth and unfold it before the eyes of the excited crowd.

It turns out that the piece of cloth is a long black cape with an ample purple symbol its center and a golden-colored button.

Now that I think about it, I have yet to put on proper clothing that is befitting of this age.

I've been getting some pointed looks now and then, but I usually don't pay much attention to them.

Anyway, I don't waste any more time and directly put it on.

The moment I've properly put it on, the crowd breaks into cheers as Henrietta beams me a smile.

After a while, the crowd calms down a little as Jean walks to the front of the stage and says,

"That's the end of this year's Familiar Showoff! One last round of applause for Princess Henrietta and Prince Wales."

The sound of clapping resounds all over the place as Aruru's voice suddenly reaches my ears.

[Father, the target has settled inside a structure far into the forest.]

"Understood," I mutter before calmly walking off the stage.

I wave at the crowd once more before saying,

"Gabriel, you're going to be following me somewhere. Ddraig, please return to the dorm room for the moment."

Before they can reply, Louise suddenly runs over and exclaims excitedly,

"You really won!"

Smiling, I say,

"Of course. Were you expecting otherwise?"

In response to my words, Louise vigorously shakes her head and says,

"I believed in you,"

Shrugging my shoulders, I say,

"I've got to go somewhere now. We'll celebrate once I return, alright?"

I ignore the confused look on Louise's face and begin to walk in the direction where I feel Aruru's connection from.

With Gabriel following me closely, I soon reach the wall surrounding the academy.

"Flying over would be a bad idea, so we will make use of our enhanced speed to get there," I state.

"Understood."

As such, the two of us leap over the academy's wall before breaking into a sprint.

--

"Aruru," I voice upon reaching the location she's supposed to be in.

The next moment, Aruru jumps down from on top of a tree and embraces me before pointing in a direction and saying,

"They're further ahead."

After patting her small head, I dash in the direction that she pointed to.

Soon, I reach a location surrounded by trees on all sides with a small cottage on one side.

Using my enhanced perception, I can detect the presence of someone inside performing a strange set of actions.

I walk to the cottage's door and run a quick scan for any suspicious mechanisms before soundlessly opening the door upon finding nothing.

As I head inside, I find numerous colorful rocks and crystals all over the ground.

What is this, the house of a miner? Why are there so many of these things on the ground? I highly doubt that they're used for cosmetic purposes.

In no time, I reach the door leading to the room that our suspect, Longueville, is in.

Setting Aruru down on the ground, I reach my arm out to the door and push it open while using Vector Manipulation to form an anti-sound barrier.

Fortunately, Longueville is busy with something and has her back to us, so she doesn't sense our presence in the room.

As I look around, several things catch my attention, with the main one being a metallic case beside the wall.

Checking its interior out, I find something that shouldn't exist here a bazooka.

How the hell did such a thing get here?

Leaving that aside, what is Longueville doing? Currently, she's sitting before a circular stone with runes engraved on it.

Beside her are dozens of stones glowing in blue.

She occasionally grabs one and presses it to the circular stone before muttering some gibberish.

What follows after that is the stone stops glowing, while a part of the runes engraved on the stone begins glowing instead.

I decide to wait for her to finish what she's doing due to curiosity.

---

After quite some time, Longueville successfully finishes what she was doing as the runes on the circular stone begin to rapidly change colors.

As beautiful as the sight is, I, along with my Angels, prepare for any mishaps that may occur or anything else that could pose a danger to us.

Soon, the runes begin to seemingly face away as the stone's surface gets covered in pure white light.

What happens next intrigues me as Longueville grabs the cased bazooka before stepping 'onto' the circular stone and slowly 'sinking' into it.

"Shall we follow her?" I suggest.

"Yes!" Aruru directly exclaims with excitement all over her face, while Gabriel just nods her head.

And so, the three of us do what Longueville did and step 'onto' the circular stone.

The next moment, I feel something tugging onto my feet and dragging me down.

As I sense no danger, I let it be.

After a few seconds, a bright blinds my vision. It doesn't take long for my vision to clear up.

What meets my eyes is the sight of a shocked Longueville who's looking our way, along with a bunch of men sitting at a round table.

Beside me, Gabriel and Aruru are both impassively looking back at them, most likely waiting for my orders.

"Greetings," I say casually while walking toward Longueville.

"Is that the Crown Prince?" one of the men seated at the table mutters dubiously.

"It is him," another one replies.

Suddenly, the tension in the room rises as of the men get up from their seats while one of them shouts,

"Intruders!"

Shortly, two large doors open as several waves of armored men equipped with various weaponry enter the room.

Where is this place and who are these men? Have I perhaps gotten to the heart of some matter?

Hold on

"You shameful creatures!" I exclaim, "I've come to take back this kingdom!"

Upon hearing my words, some men begin to laugh a little as they make fun of me for being 'foolish' to think that I would be taking it back.

This confirms my suspicion I am at Albion.

"Oh, you lost prince," a monocled middle-aged man exclaims, "Albion is ours now! We shall unite all the kingdoms to conquer the Holy Land!"

I'm fond of idiots like this guy that volunteer to give me information without any trouble.

"Your family's rule over this country is over now," a blonde-haired man wearing green clothes says, "There is nothing you can do about it!"

"Surrender peacefully or face a gruesome death!" another man yells pridefully.

I break into a fit of laughter, confusing the prideful men. Shaking my head slowly, I say mockingly,

"I'm sorry to break it to you swine, but none of you are going to be leaving this place alive."

Shocked by my words and the confidence in my tone, the men are left speechless for a few seconds.

"It seems like the prince has gone mad," the blonde in green clothes says as the other men break from their stupor and begin laughing.

"We'll see about that," a man with a white mustache and beard that seems to be in his mid-twenties says, "Lost Prince."

Observing him closely, I sense that this man is currently the most formidable one compared to the others present.

As I prepare for battle, one of the armored men suddenly mutters,

"The Young Lord has appeared in the council room. He's currently surrounded, send help immediately."

Huh? My followers? It seems like this trip wasn't wasted, after all.