"So you followed me here thinking I was acting suspicious. That was just a dumb thing to do, elder brother." Aefia said as she stood up. "You knew that I could fight, so there was also no use of doing that. Good luck dealing with the trouble that may arise from it." She spoke to Helio.
"But if you could fight, why didn't you do so? I am not dumb to think you were already upset about certain number of things that may have happened at the palace. Honestly, I don't know what happened there, but you looked beaten up." Helio spoke while pulling the hood over her head. "And which elder brother leaves their younger sisters to die?"
"Less sincere ones, not related ones." Aefia replied coldly. "How is Nada doing?" She said as she walked deeper into the woods. Must have had a very tiring day, she is probably wondering that I had a very boostful day too.
"She was worried. There was literally no focus from her during the training, and she kept forgetting how you weren't supposed to be at the office." Helio spoke while following her along, while clenching his dagger in his hand. "Cindy has been a stressful creature today."
"Where is she?" Aefia turned around as the chimera dragon came and landed on her palm. Upon setting on her palm, she noticed the rough surface and flew up again. "Its been bandaged, not a huge thing to worry about." She said while having it sat in her free hand while patting it with the bandaged one. As soon as she interacted with it, a smile flashed on her face.
"And you said you were going to punish me for something I did yesterday?" Helio said while thinking it was the right time to interrupt. "I don't know what it is that made you mad anyways."
"Forget about that, I am not in a mood for matters like that." She spoke while gently smiling. "You told Nada about the inter-dimensional missions, that's all the problem." She said as Puppet appeared out of thin air.
"So you don't want to have Nada in your team? But you had her lady's son and the demoness into the team. Why not her? You have a space for eight people I thought?"
"Yes, I do have a space for eight people in total. But the fact, I didn't have the demoness and her lady's son into my team." Aefia explained as Cindy flew up from her palm and hugged Puppet. "And about Nada, she isn't powerful enough for the role I was looking out for."
"Wait, why not?" Helio asked while all his thoughts were tied up. "Why aren't her lady's son and the demoness in the team?"
"Because..." Aefia said while looking at Helio with a very confused angle. "They were both related to the demon king and if they came into the team, some information could be leaked and the team would face all of the bigger predators while we stood as the weak prey. I thought you would know?"
"And what about Nada? Why is she not powerful enough?"
"I guess you won't know until time comes. But I was going to ask you for a few favours while I was gone at the castle. Will you be able to handle it? It's inter-dimensional of course." Aefia asked as a leader. When Helio nodded, she continued speaking. "Great then, you need to go on a regular basis, to Hellas. You won't be alone of course, take the others with you. And if they ask you why you were the one assigned, just explain that I was busy with some other works."
"Understood, but what if they request deeper informations?" Helio asked a little concerned about this matter.
"Just tell them that I was busy handling problems at the castle. They will understand the rest just like that. But if they ask for more, just let them be and report to me the next day. I will be on a regular transit between the office and the castle for my education of course." Aefia explained.
"So I wanted to ask, why are you staying at the royal palace?" Helio asked with curiousity.
"Because the Duchess decided to abuse me into signing a contract with her where I was forced to be her adopted daughter and act as her next on the line." Aefia spoke as she looked down at the snow. "So, as the heir to the throne...I have to stay there starting tomorrow."
"Then you are here to settle the things at the office before you go?"
"Not only the office, I have to settle the things around the other dimension too. Like I have a thing or two worth discussing with the demoness, she was the reason behind the resummoning of Albert Nicholas." Aefia said as she slammed a fist onto her palm.
"What are you going to do about it?" Helio asked. "You threatened the demon king to get her, so won't he be mad and punish you if you try to send her back?"
"Yes, I am aware about that, and I don't want to go through problems like that. I guess we can place a restriction on her?" Aefia thought for a while. "Nah, it won't work on a demon like her. Just how can she be a human when she has been deeply effected by the curse of leaving as the demon king's general."
"Then can't you tell him to lift the curse?"
"Are you insane or are you mad in the mind?!" Aefia shouted as she pointed to her own head. "Once a ritual has been fitted or a contract has been broken, it stays as a permanent curse on the humans. Aritea is around my age, specifically around Anasiy's age. If she were old enough, she would be released, a parent, there will be mercy, but if she is a sane teenager she will suffer."
"That's harsh...but also polite about the demon king." Helio said as he shrugged. "What makes you think a demon king is polite?!" Aefia smacked the side of his face with a fist. "What makes you think a demon treating a demon with mercy is something polite?! For humans even those categories can't escape!"
Then, a brilliant idea came into her mind. "I think...I need to start colonizing and building a nation." She spoke as she thought through the ideas. "The only fact is, I want to colonize the world of mission two, but I need to own it. And I need to visit a place pretty far away, in the universe. I might take months or even years for that."
"Months or years?! You don't think thats a risky task than?" Helio asked with concern. "Of course it is, but there is nothing else I can do, unless I find an alternate way to do so." Aefia replied back. "I can say that the two most closest answers to where the owner might have been to, would be either the underworld, or at the demon king's realm."
"And all of those places are scary. Then the three people you might have to meet will be Hades, or the demon king, where the demon king is weak as an opponent to you?" Helio asked as he calculated the situation. "And what, just like the fantasy novels, they challenge you into a battle for that? It is a possibility, is it not?"
"Um...I am not going there to collect a soul. I am only going there to ask a question to a dead being." Aefia replied. "After the Guardian of Death went missing, they say that those two people came into command of places where the dead could be stored. And if what Albert had said is right, it's been eighteen thousand and a hundred years since their legends have arrived."
***
Helio seemed to understand the situation, but he also had to hurry back to their class. He immediately returned after asking one last question to Aefia. "Now that you are part of the royal family, don't you have new intentions and plans? Maybe new goals?"
"Oh yes, I do have new goals. One of them is to get my revenge against the duchess, but I will also be busy investigating her matter. After that, or maybe during that time, I will be researching about the history of Guardians." Aefia replied. "And have you realized something? That for the three weeks we may have been here, don't you think we have been told lies until now? And we believed them, as if they were white and harmless lies."
"Yes, especially about the Guardians fact. They are supposed to be the stronger knees compared to all those other categories they are saying, like Kings or Queens or mages. I was going to ask you that question for a long time now." Helio spoke with the same mindset as her.
"I was planning on investigating that as another goal, but we have to do it with silence."
"And the Guardians look after your situation on a regular interval." Helio finished of the sentence, before they both returned into the office.
***
"So that's the reason she has left me to navigate the way to the next mission, please co-operate." Helio spoke as he bowed to try and demonstrate respect due to the image that had been left by Puppet towards her lady in the previous meeting.
"And how do you expect us to believe you?" Her lady asked while the others stood beside her. "She can't just let you manage a huge mission just like that, can she? Unless she is busy with other matters?"
"She had told me that she would be busy handling a few matters with the royal family back where we stay." Helio explained while leveling his head up. "She is the next in line, so she needs to work with the duchess to manage multiple things between the three states."
"Yeah, and how would you prove it?" Aritea asked from the right side of her lady. "If she just randomly assign us a very weird mission to complete and then not appear, what kind of leader is she?" She said while stomping her spear on the ground.
"I am sorry, but how do you want me to prove it? It is completely out of view how she is actually in the palace, don't you think your request is a little invalid?" Helio asked with an annoyed face while looking at the demoness. "And one more thing, she isn't the leader, she is asked to create a group and it will be lead by the Guardians who have her backed up."
"Well that isn't a very clear reason! There is a way to prove almost everything in this universe, so you can prove that too!" Aritea spoke as she pointed the spear head towards Helio. "And I have heard from somewhere, that she might just be dead."
Her lady and her son gasped at those words while looking at Helio with concerned faces. "How did she die! It isn't just a random thing that a strong person like her will just die like that!" Her lady spoke with a maddened face.
"Please calm down, she is still alive, but she is only busy, that's why she isn't accompanying us in this mission today." Helio tried to keep the choas at bay. "But she did promise to come along in the next visit."
"By the way, I have heard that the iced mage is currently in your world? And he works for the Torture Cell, where he was instructed to kill her and he was made more powerful due to the promise." Aritea said while acting enraged. "You better explain whether she really is alive or dead! Otherwise I will chop your head off."
"I said it before Aritea, but she is just busy and she still alive. And yes, the iced mage was sent after her, but he was also sent back to the Torture Cell." Helio spoke as he raised his hands to represent a surrendering gesture. "I swear, she had instructed me to assign and look after this team in her place, just for today."
"We didn't wait for a long time just to be told we were assigned a mission by a person who isn't present herself. Admit it, she died or is currently in an injured condition." Aritea brought up the most arrogant move she could think of.
"I will admit it, she was harmed, but she is fully recovered now." Helio spoke as he slowly turned around and faced away from the others. "I am sorry, but let's not waste our time in this useless prove this, prove that conversation. She has also commanded me to take you all back to Hellas for the next mission."
"Oh yeah, of course you will try to go out of your way and push us out of this topic. If she were really alive she would make an appearance herself. You are just lying, and you don't want anyone else to know. What a lie!" Aritea spoke as she made portals and glass clear spears appeared out of every single one of them.
"Hold on!" Someone shouted as Aritea immediately fired all of those spears down at Helio with a swift movement of her wrist. The spears reflected the light of the moons with an elegant shine and a bloody reason. The chimera dragon flew out of his pocket and immediately enlarged.
With a breath of fire, all spears melted into liquid glass and fell onto the ground. As Helio was left standing underneath the dragon's wings. Cindy roared at the demoness's face and held out a paw as someone landed onto the skeleton.
She immediately jumped down from the Cindy's paw and landed on the ground beneath. "Wow! What a betrayal! I really enjoyed the show...Aritea." Aefia laughed while clapping her hands and towards the demoness. She was clad in a formal black suit with the same structure as her crimson one, and her cloak over her head.
"You are an amazing actor, you need an award for it." Aefia held the demoness's chin with her fingertips. "What made you think I would die after dealing a confrontation with that mage? He was still too weak a person to move even a fingertip at me. And that reminds me, he also said you were the one who resurrected him." She let go, and kicked at her stomach.