Saki blinked in surprise as she felt a sudden dread in the air. It had not come from her own heart which was nervously pounding in anticipation of a battle’s start, but from the normally easy-going chef standing beside her. A low growl emitted from him, and his eyes suddenly flickered with a purplish hue.
“A hero’s life for me! Oh, A hero’s life for me! Beyond the horizon and across the seas, a hero’s life for me! ~𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅯 ” Koujiro stood at the bow of the ship with one foot propped up against it. Like the image of an explorer eagerly scoping out new lands, he merrily sang as
After about 30 minutes, Katalina decided that Koujiro’s punishment was enough. She redirected the portal high in the sky toward the open sea. The next time that Koujiro fell into the bottom portal, he was launched horizontally, skipping a few times on the water’s surface like a stone before going ‘kerplunk’. Fortunately for him, swimming
Koujiro gave the Queen an odd look. “What do you mean? I am a King! A hero that should receive a warm welcome wherever I visit!” “Perhaps, if you had contacted us beforehand.” Katalina’s finger twitched as she tried to contain her annoyance at the man in front of her. She was no longer the
Within an hour, Katalina and I made our way to the Port of Gibraltar – a trip that should have taken an entire day. If someone had asked us how that was possible, my automatic response would have been, “The Queen possesses some pretty ridiculous magic.” In truth, the two of us had merely ridden
I blinked twice at Katalina’s words. Once again, her feelings for me slipped out. A cold sweat ran down my back. Still, I hadn’t come up with the courage to face her directly about them. On the other hand, she had already confessed to me, which was made clear to her after I returned the
“Please, convey the details of the arrangements to the lords involved. Tell them that the conveniences enjoyed by those who sided with the Valkyrie will now be distributed to all.” Queen Katalina dismissed the messengers with a wave of her hand as she sat down on her throne, a bit exhausted. She had spent the
“Devil’s Fruit, huh?” I plucked the fruit that dangled from the plant and examined it. The round, dark purplish bulb that weighted down from the low-growing plants along the ground looked hardly menacing to me. I was currently at the outer edge of the kingdom, close to the southern border of Purnesia. Saki had joined
“Mind if I join you?” Eryn eyed the two of us. Instinctively, I scooted over to give her a place to sit. Eryn was usually a busy person, having to manage the new duties of being a Marchioness. The activities in the domain were booming, motivated by the progressive nature of craftsmen and merchants centered
Coming down the stairs of my impressively large residence, I found Saki sitting alone at the dining table. Her breakfast recently polished off, a cup of green tea steamed in front of her, a favorite drink of hers since we had discovered it. “Breakfast, sir?” Roberto asked, part of the usual morning ritual. I nodded