Little Tyrant Doesn’t Want to Meet with a Bad End

As the final glimmer of light departed the mountain along with the setting sun, campfires were lit beside the tents constructed along the mountain slope. People slowly gathered around these campfires and chattered merrily.

This New Year Hunt was decided on a whim, but as the powerful transcendent, Carter Ascart, was with them, they hardly faced any danger along the way.

Last night, they set off from the royal palace and arrived at a village located at the foot of the mountain. From the villagers, they learned that there was a strange, massive bird that spat venom terrorizing the mountain. This had resulted in the other animals being chased out of the area.

Needless to say, this was good news for the hunting team, who were looking for a worthy prey to subjugate. The following morning, they ventured into the depths of the mountain under Prince Kane and Marquess Carter’s lead, and by noon, they had already managed to kill the bird. They found quite a few eggs in the bird’s nest and had them shipped back to the Holy Capital.

They spent the time afterward dissecting the bird, removing its feathers, skin, meat, and even its poison sac—which they were planning to use as the medium for a spell—before finally incinerating its carcass with a torch. It was a massive victory, especially given that they had protected the livelihoods of the villagers in the region too. Naturally, this was a huge cause for celebration, and the atmosphere was livelier than ever.

However, in the corner was a gloomy little silver-haired girl, that dampened the atmosphere a little.

Alicia wasn’t in a good mood at all. Her beautiful eyebrows were slightly curved downward, and her large eyes reflected her worry and frustration. It was an expression that could easily invoke the sympathy of anyone around her.

She might be stuck on this mountain, but her heart was far away in the Holy Capital. In truth, she should have attended the royal banquet together with Roel, and this New Year Hunt should have become a treasured memory between the two of them. Yet, of all times, Roel happened to receive an invitation from the Holy Eminence, resulting in the two of them parting ways.

It was already depressing enough that she was unable to spend the new year with her beloved older brother, but who could have thought that Kane and the others would actually send Nora into the Labyrinth Villa during her absence? That was no different than rubbing salt in her wound!

Alicia didn’t hate Nora; on the contrary, she very much admired the princess. Nora’s charisma as the princess of the Theocracy was the real deal. Her powerful and graceful presence inspired others to follow and serve her. Had it not been for Roel, she might have chosen to serve Nora as her liege. Unfortunately, fate had other plans in store…

Her meeting with Roel was like a withered flower encountering morning dew. Even if there was other water in the world that could make her blossom even more beautifully, she wouldn’t choose anything else over it anymore. She had already decided that the morning dew was all she needed.

Yet, who could have thought that her warm and kind older brother would actually catch the eye of Her Highness Nora? To make things worse, the two of them were actually living under the same roof at this very instant!

This is dangerous! Big brother Roel, you must keep your distance from her!

Warning bells were ringing in Alicia’s head, making her feel deeply uneasy. However, there was nothing she could do. It would be unreasonable of her to ask Carter to send her back right now, so she could only sit on a log, munch on the freshly roasted bird meat, and watch those uncles merrymaking together.

The night deepened, but the exuberant adults were still singing and dancing joyfully around the campfires. For a child like Alicia, however, it was about time to sleep. The maids had already prepared the tent and noise isolation magic tools so that Alicia could have a good rest.

Such consideration was the initiative of Anna, the newly promoted head maid, as well as the manager of the Roel X Alicia Ship fanclub. She viewed it as her personal responsibility to ensure the comfort of the future matriarch of the Ascart House.

Anna quietly reminded Alicia that it was time for her to retire for the night, and the two of them began making their way over to the tent. Unexpectedly, along the way, they heard Marquess Carter’s astonished exclamation.

“What? There has been an emergency in the Labyrinth Villa?”

…

Bishop Philip had just encountered a small problem in his life.

Dressed in white holy robes with reinforced chainmail underneath and armed with a magic staff, he was currently standing in the study of the Labyrinth Villa, looking stiffly at two children cuddling one another right before his eyes.

The good news was that these two children were the targets that he was supposed to rescue from the clutches of evil cultists, Roel Ascart and Nora Xeclyde. It should have been gladdening for Philip to see that they were safe and sound, but the problem lay in the manner of their appearance—they had literally appeared out of nowhere. There was a sudden burst of light, and these two suddenly popped into the room.

In truth, Philip had the scare of his life when he received the orders from Holy Eminence John to rescue the precious little princess of the royal family. One must know that Nora was the treasure of the Theocracy, and any threat to her life was a national crisis!

Without daring to hesitate in the least, he rallied 100 veteran inquisitors from the Holy Palace. They mounted their steeds and galloped straight to the Ascart House’s Labyrinth Villa. When Philip informed the guards stationed at the Labyrinth Villa that Roel and Nora were in danger, all of them were a little skeptical, though none of them dared to make light of the situation.

It was all chaos afterward.

A terrifying force consisting of a bishop, high-level inquisitors, royal guards, and the personal guards of the Ascarts sprinted frenziedly toward the study with anxious faces, causing the maid stationed outside the room, Mia, to nearly shriek in horror.

The door was pushed open, and the panting men and women were stupefied to see that the room was completely empty. There was not a single soul to be found. The heavy silence that loomed was panic inducing.

The commander of the Ascart House’s private army immediately contacted Marquess Carter to inform him of the situation. The head of the royal guards did the same too, but his recipient was Prince Kane. Philip stared at the scene with his mouth agape as he wondered if the Holy Eminence had gone senile with old age and relayed the wrong location to him.

Then, in the middle of all the chaos, an explosion of light suddenly occurred in the study.

Everyone present were skilled fighters with sharp senses, and their first reaction was that they had come under attack.

Schwing schwing schwing schwing!

Even without a command, all of the guards reflexively unsheathed their swords. They observed the scene warily.

“Who is it? Where’s the enemy?”

“What’s going on?”

“Wait a moment, there are people inside the light!”

“I-it’s Her Highness!”

And, this was how Philip found himself in his present circumstances.

However, this was no time for a recap. How Roel and Nora appeared was, surprisingly, only a secondary concern. He had noticed another, even more explosive, fact that made his eyelids twitch uncontrollably.

Even though Philip had been single for over 40 years now, his tingling senses as an adult were telling him that there was a problem with just how unnaturally close the lips of the two embracing, unconscious children were. If his guess was not wrong, it would mean that the hope of the Theocracy, their beloved Princess Nora, before being knocked out, was actually locking lips with this darned brat from the Ascart House!

A-and judging from their posture… it is a forceful kiss even!

Philip was utterly dumbfounded. There was not a single day in his 40 years of singlehood that had equipped him with the wisdom to deal with a situation like this. Furthermore…

“Don’t touch them! The two of them are currently linked by some sort of spell!”

Philip anxiously shouted at the guards who were rushing up to the two children out of agitation. His keen eyes had already given him a rough understanding of the current situation. He noticed the presence of the silver short sword hanging by Roel’s waist.

“This is the ability of the Saint’s Blade—Twelve Wings. Don’t touch them yet. It’s likely that one of them is injured at the moment, and the other is channeling mana to heal the injuries. The two of them are safe right now, but the same cannot be said if any of us were to move them recklessly.”

Philip looked at the dirty faces of the two children, but he was unable to discern who was the one injured here. As an ex-member of the Inquisitor Hall, his offensive capability as a transcendent was not to be underestimated. However, treating the wounded would be going beyond his field of specialty. He dared not make a call on this matter recklessly.

So, Philip passed down an order to bring a transcendent with the relevant ability over to check on their condition.

“Call the clergymen from the Sacramental Hall over!”

One of Philip’s subordinates immediately contacted the church for reinforcement.

Meanwhile, in a study filled with people of varying statuses, be it the high and lofty bishops and military commanders or the humble servants and maids, everyone was staring at one another uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. Their passion for gossip had been ignited after seeing the postures of the boy and the girl embracing one another on the carpet.

To be fair, it was nothing much for children of their age to embrace one another, but the nature of the matter changed if a kiss was involved too.

It was normal for people of the Sia Continent to marry at 14 or 15, so it was also commonplace for children of 12 or 13 years of age to be engaged with one another. But 10 years old… wasn’t this a little too early?

One must know that the Xeclydes were known for only having one companion their entire life. From the current looks of it, it would appear that their princess already had someone in her heart, and it was none other than the successor of the Ascart House. Everything had happened so suddenly that they weren’t sure what to make of this news.

“Miss Mia, should we bring something… Ah? M-Miss Mia?”

Philip was intending to ask Mia to bring something over to cover the two children, so as to uphold their privacy, but to his surprise, the maid actually began crying.

???

W-What’s going on?

The princess is fine, so why are you crying?

Philip couldn’t have imagined that he was witnessing the birth of a new fanclub manager. Meanwhile, Mia had no attention to spare to bother with how outsiders might view her at the moment. She was simply too absorbed in her excitement.

How many years has our princess been alone? Finally, Her Highness has found her own happiness!

Mia bit on her handkerchief in agitation as tears streamed down her face.

The flabbergasted Philip moved his gaze to and fro between the two embracing children and Mia several times, but he couldn’t see anything to weep over about this situation.

Ah, I guess she must be shocked.

After squeezing out a reason to make sense out of the situation, Philip heaved a deep sigh before creating a golden wall around the two children with a wave of his hand. Then, he clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention and spoke.

“Everyone. There’s no point for all of us to wait here for the clergy of the Sacramental Hall to arrive. You should return back to your stations and do what you have to. The night isn’t over yet!”

Philip’s words jolted everyone awake, and the guards quickly left to return back to their duty stations. They had already realized that this would not be a peaceful night, and their hearts hadn’t calmed down from the earlier shock of Roel and Nora’s disappearance. They couldn’t allow anything else to happen beyond this.

As for those from the church, they knew a little more about the incident. Their peers in the Inquisitor Hall were currently working overtime chasing evil cultists all around with greatswords in their hands. It was the first worthy mission they had had here at Holy Capital Loren in many years.

To be honest, they were rather happy about this mission too.

The Inquisitor Hall was basically a reserve army receiving wages from the Genesis Goddess Church. Their missions were usually very dangerous, requiring them to travel all the way to remote villages or mountain valleys in order to strike down evil cultists.

However, the enemies they were dealing with this time were right here in Loren, their very home base. They had convenient access to supplies, and medical aid was on tap, just a call away. This mission was much safer than what they usually took on.

Most importantly of all, they could earn a bonus for each evil cultist they managed to strike down, and working overtime during public holidays entitled them to double pay. Needless to say, they welcomed such easy money with open arms!

Who wouldn’t love money?

Actually, Philip wasn’t too surprised this incident happened over the new year. The evil cultists on the Sia Continent were very powerful, but they had to pay a heavy price for their strength. One of the more common conditions required the evil cultists to offer tributes on festive occasions, such as the new year.

Due to the powerful influence of the church in the Theocracy, hardly any evil cultist would dare to pull off anything here. However, if one were to investigate the reports of missing people in other countries, one would notice that the number of missing people reported tended to spike during the new year period.

In fact, in more chaotic locations, the new year period was even viewed as a calamity. Innocent civilians were forced to hide in the mountains out of fear, choosing to bear with the coldness and hunger in the wilderness rather than spend the new year in their own villages. Evil cults would surely strike during this period of time, and weaker villages didn’t stand a chance against them at all.

Recalling the tragedies he had witnessed when taking on missions outside, Philip closed his eyes and prayed that those who lived in fear could remain safe this year.

It was then that a communicator of the Ascart House, a transcendent skilled in communication spells, suddenly entered the room.

“Bishop, I am Carter Ascart. I wish to see my son’s condition!”

“Big brother Roel!”

“Marquess Carter, you may call me Philip. Your son is safe, so I ask you not to worry. Ah, and the young lady is here too.”

As Philip spoke words of reassurance to Carter and Alicia, he stepped aside to display the golden wall he had cast. At the same time, he couldn’t help but observe the silver-haired girl in the communication spell curiously. He had never heard that the Ascart House had a daughter too.

Sigh! Look at how sorrowfully she is grieving over her older brother, the two of them must be close to one another! I should hurry up and show her that her older brother is fine so that she can put her heart at ease!

Philip waved his hand, and the golden wall collapsed like a falling curtain. On the carpet behind the golden wall, two children were embracing one another tightly like lovers on the verge of kissing one another. He gestured to the two children as he continued speaking with a gracious smile.

“Look, they are safe and sound. There’s no need to worry at all.”

It was questionable whether Carter or Alicia, who now stood there stiffly, had heard his words at all.