kscans

Chapter 70 - The Foreign Prince and Little One

"Uooooooh?!"

A pillar of fire rose up.

"Hold it! Now, guide it slowly."

Little One chided Marrow, who was leaning back. Startled, the prince fixed the blazing three-meter flame in place and made it slide.

The flame dragged itself along. Wincing at the heat, Little One split the flame with her finger.

"Maintain this. I’m doing it again."

She split it further into four parts, and the slender flames writhed around like snakes.

"Don’t forget this feeling. This is your basic form, Marrow."

Four blazing snakes. He could move each one freely. This was his characteristic, his advantage.

Next was safety.

"Surround the flames with your magic power. It’s a safety feature. Make it thin so you can remove it when you switch to attacking."

As she spoke, sweat beaded on Marrow’s forehead. He placed a thin film of magic power on the flames, isolating them from the outside world. Confirming this, Little One touched one of the fire snakes.

"Hiro?!"

In front of Chihaya, who stared in shock, Little One stroked the head of the fire snake. It was faintly warm, indicating that the magic power coating was well done.

"Your magic manipulation is top-notch, too. This is good magic, nyo."

At Little One’s gentle smile, Marrow couldn’t hide his look of amazement.

"This is my magic… I did it. I did it!!"

The prince raised his hands to the heavens and screamed. His two school friends had also stored up magic power and were now able to use decent spells.

"Normally, magic manipulation is the hardest part. But you’ve completely mastered it. The rest should be easy."

At Little One’s soft laughter, the three from Donautil were speechless.

This is magic...

Marrow had fire. The other two had water and earth. Learning magic specialized to each of them, the three grew stronger by leaps and bounds. With newfound confidence in their magic, their classes, which had been at the beginner level, all rose to intermediate, and some even to advanced. They raced through the short time with incredible momentum.

Just as the three, striving alongside the twins, had each taken shape.

The goodwill ambassador from Donautil arrived.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Masahad de Carelliesha, second son of the King of Donautil."

"Welcome after your long journey. You must be tired. We have prepared a palace for you. Please make yourselves comfortable."

The one who came was the second prince. With a dozen or so attendants. A troop of guards. To accommodate them, Frontier prepared a detached palace and welcomed the goodwill ambassador and his retinue.

"Where is my younger brother?"

Romel answered Prince Masahad’s question.

"His Highness Prince Marrow is at the academy. It is about an hour from the royal capital, so he should be on his way in a carriage now."

At Romel’s charming smile, Prince Masahad nodded magnanimously, and they headed for the prepared palace. Seeing them off, the King let out a small sigh.

"For his older brother to come in person. He must intend to take him back, after all."

"Probably."

According to the information reaching the royal palace, the Crown Prince, the first prince, was ill. His condition was not good, and the second prince’s faction, fearing the worst, had begun to secretly maneuver. In response, the first prince’s faction also began to move. Their current goal was to secure Marrow, the second prince’s full-blooded brother. Both factions were moving to get their hands on the brother the second prince doted on. The second prince’s faction, for Masahad’s security. The first prince’s faction, conversely, to keep Masahad in check. If he were in their home country, the first prince’s demands would be unconditionally met. If Marrow were taken, Masahad would be unable to move. That’s why, while he was studying abroad now, Masahad’s side was planning to hide Marrow away.

Unaware that real-time information was reaching Frontier, the second prince had brazenly visited as an ambassador for that reason.

"It is another’s family feud. It would have been fine to just watch how things unfold, but..."

"Now that she is involved. We cannot remain mere spectators."

Romel looked up at the heavens with a suspicious gaze.

Why does that girl always jump into the middle of trouble?

By the time Romel and the others obtained this information, Little One was already on Marrow’s side, diligently teaching him various things. She even had lunch with him every day, instructing him on cutlery, manners, and deportment.

Frontier’s spies could use magic. Using water mirrors and wind messages, they sent real-time information in just a few minutes, so Romel and the others knew the true situation over there. However, on Donautil’s side, there was a one-month time lag. So the second prince and his party only knew information about Marrow from a month ago.

"It seems Prince Marrow’s grades have not improved. Let’s use this as a reason to take him back."

"On our return, we will isolate Prince Marrow in the southern detached palace and post an impenetrable guard. Lord Masahad, you may face your brother in the royal palace without any worries."

"Yes. I am sorry to trouble you, but with the throne so close, there is no reason not to act. I am counting on you."

A secret discussion held in whispers. But they did not yet know the future that would overturn it.

"No way! Ask someone else!"

"If there was someone else to ask, I wouldn’t be asking you! I’m begging you, Hiro!"

In front of Chihaya’s vehement refusal, Marrow clasped his hands as if in prayer.

In front of him stood Little One.

Marrow was asking Chihiro to accompany him to the banquet the day after tomorrow as his escort. Those who had not made their social debut could not attend banquets. However, royalty had a duty to attend as part of their official duties. It was a duty that arose for royalty after their baptism, but it was not compulsory for a quasi-royal like Little One. But just because it wasn’t compulsory didn’t mean she wasn’t qualified to attend. Marrow had set his sights on that.

"The one coming this time is my older brother. I want to show him that I’m doing well. That’s why I want to do everything from escorting onwards, just as I was taught!"

He was a minor who had not yet debuted. It was not a shame to enter the hall alone without a partner.

Little One tilted her head and thought.

"In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. Since I taught you, I might as well see it through to the end, nyo♪"

"Hiro?!"

Ignoring Chihaya, who stared in shock, Marrow’s eyes sparkled with joy. The twitching dog ears and tail he saw on her head and behind her must have been a hallucination.

"Let me give you a dress! I’ll get you the most splendid one!"

Marrow grabbed both of Little One’s hands and rattled on happily.

"We won’t have time to have one tailored now. An off-the-rack one is fine, nyo."

Nobles did not wear off-the-rack clothes, but Little One did not mind. If there was a good quality base, Sakura and Sasha would happily remodel it.

While calming down the protesting Chihaya, Little One decided to attend the banquet.

She did not know yet that this would cause a stir in various places.

That night, after choosing only the color, Sakura and Sasha immediately began making decorations. Flowers of tsumami-zaiku, decorative knots using ‘chinkoro’ and kumihimo braided cords. Also, three-dimensional embroidery that only needed to be sewn on, they created them at a speed that the eye could not follow.

"We can use the extras for other things, so leave it to us."

Behind the grinning Sakura, was that Naya she saw, engrossed in making tsumami-zaiku with tweezers? It must have been her imagination. The Count’s family, going all out for their daughter’s big moment. Only Chihaya was tearing his hair out.

"Why is everyone so enthusiastic? Stop Hiro! Dad!"

Little One watched Chihaya go upstairs on the verge of tears and shrugged her shoulders. Marrow looked around at the Count’s house, which had suddenly turned into a festival, and muttered in a daze.

"Wow… your house is amazing."

"Well, we love festivals. You’ll get to see the full power of the great technological nation of Kilfan, nyo."

The little girl grinned. It was a charming sight to see Marrow rendered speechless when he learned the meaning of her words.

"The former princess of the Kilfan Empire?? Then you’re a princess, too!"

Marrow’s lips trembled. Giving him a mischievous glance, Little One shook her head.

"The Kilfan Empire has fallen. Now it’s the Kingdom of Kilfan. It has nothing to do with us."

It was a sophistry.

Even now, Kilfan still designated Sakura as the head of the main family.

But that didn’t matter to Little One.

With Marrow speechless and Drago, who had rushed over when Chihaya called him, making an even bigger fuss, the Count’s house was as lively as ever today.

The prelude to a pandemonium of shrieking began at the Jorje Count’s residence and quickly engulfed Frontier.

Unaware that around the time Chihaya let out a roar, the Guild Master in the adventurer’s guild in the distant castle town had looked up.

Unaware that an old book of suspicious parchment was clutched in his hand.

"This is bad… What should I do?"

The Guild Master, sweating coldly, did not know that events had begun to move on their own.

A great current, where everyone was acting on their own, yet somehow, as if by arrangement, everything was falling into place.

Little One, who should have been carried along by that current, was happily dancing the Bon Odori on a raft today♪