Chapter 53: Tournament Interim (Part 1)

[Do we have an estimate of the opposing forces?] - Queen Laura

[Yes Ma'am! Our scouts put their number at around 1,000 strong, more than expected but within our ability to deal with.] - Miriam

[Hmm... What about mages?] - Queen Laura

[The presence of 2 governmental mages has been confirmed, no hostilities between the two parties so we can assume they're working together.] - Miriam

[Interesting... So either they truly want to stop us from reaching Academy City or they just want to slow us down enough to gain the advantage.] - Queen Laura

[I believe the latter option is more likely Ma'am. The enemy should have gotten accurate reports of our number and if so the forces deployed against us are much too small. As of this juncture it is unlikely this force is meant to defeat us.] - Miriam

A day had passed since the train had stopped in Crossroads during which the two of them had run around town, seemingly having fun. However, the truth was that each of their stops had been at or around points of contact with various spies and informants which had confirmed their initial suspicion. The rockslide, the official reason for their delay, was fake. Armed with that knowledge their group had pressed on out of the city despite the protests from city officials that tried stopping them. Reassuring those people that were just doing their job they had let them know that they could deal with the "rockslide" themselves. This was both to placate those that were innocent as well as throw those that set this whole thing up off their trail.

After only a few hours travel from the city they had finally reached the supposed "rockslide". A pile of rocks, seemingly natural, was piled on top of the ridge the tracks ran through. Pulling the engine to a stop Queen Laura had ordered her Queensguard to send out some men to scout the area and as expected there was an entire contingent of what looked like common bandits. Or at least it would have been able to pull off that kind of act if they weren't joined by 2 of the mages that had ostensibly been sent to clear the supposed rockslide. As expected it looked like someone had been paid off in the Crossroads upper management, someone they'd have to deal with later but for now...

[Good. We'll disembark here and send half of our forces down the road as bait, make it look like we were forced to continue forward on foot. The other half will wait until they strike and flank them. And try to keep at least one of the mages alive would you? I have a few questions for them before executing them.] - Queen Laura

[I take it that you'll be accompanying the group acting as bait my Queen?] - Miriam

[Correct, if I'm not visible they'll likely think something is up and we'll have to work that much harder to annihilate them.] - Queen Laura

[...understood.] - Miriam

Clearly not happy with the arrangement after her Queen had fully explained the battleplan Miriam couldn't find any obvious faults to her logic and as such agreed with the plan as-is involuntarily. Putting her charge, as well as her friend, at risk was against every bit of training she had received but it seemed the best option to ensure their forces arrived in Academy City both intact and on-time. Reluctantly slowing down, Miriam took control of the secondary group without a word, completely understanding her role in the battle to come.

[I-I swear I don't know anything!] - Cowering Mage

[Either tell me what I want to know or I'll let you linger on in pain until we reach Academy City!] - Miriam

[P-Please just kill me! It hurts! It hurts so much!] - Cowering Mage

The battle against the "bandit's" had gone exactly according to plan. The bait, headed by Queen Laura herself, had tempted the 1000 strong force into attempting to swallow what looked like easy prey. Obviously looking like they had travelled on foot since Crossroads the deviants had swooped in to kill off the ostensibly wearied force only for the trap to close on them instantly. The following battle hadn't been truly a fight, more like a slaughter with the Queen's side only losing 4 total soldiers during the engagement. The other side had been utterly massacred and of the 2 mages they'd unfortunately only been able to capture one. The other mage self-destructed leading to 2 of the 4 total deaths from the battle.

The captured mage had then been bound with rope, gagged and dragged back to the train they had left behind to pull off this gambit. And after having their own mages clear off the sloppily magicked rockslide they'd once more started towards Academy City. It was at this point that Miriam, deciding to use her time constructively, had started the interrogation of the captured mage. First activating a simple guided hallucination spell on the defenseless mage Miriam got to asking about his employers.

Unfortunately, despite her probing, as well as using imagined pain as a motivator, she was unable to gather any more information other than that he had been ordered to reinforce the armed force at a specific point and to follow further orders from the commander on scene.

[Tch! A dead end huh? ...we'll have to pay his boss a visit after everything is over. <Finger Snaps!>] - Miriam

[What are your orders Ma'am?] - Shadowy Figure

[Capture this guy's boss and hold him for interrogation later. We need to find their communication line.] - Miriam

[Understood!] - Shadowy Figure

[Now then... What to do with you...?] - Miriam

Disappointed at the lack of any further information from the sobbing mess of a mage Miriam clicked her tongue in annoyance before snapping her finger's to summon a shadowy figure. The shade, body obscured by darkness, was completely unrecognizable to the point where even telling it's race and gender was impossible. And that was on purpose as said individual belonged to a secretive branch of the government that dealt with black-ops style missions and assassinations. Nodding it's head to her orders the shade vanished as quickly as it had appeared, retreating into the shadows behind it. Miriam, secure in the knowledge that they would follow her orders to the letter, turned back to the cowering mage contemplating how to dispose of him.

[I'm honored that you were able to grace me with your presence tonight! I understand the rest of your friends declined due to exhaustion?] - Prince Julias

[T-That is correct Prince Julias de la Abelis, they send their apologies for the rudeness but they needed to recover from the excitement this morning.] - Rose

[Ah yes that, I had the misfortune to be busy with matters of state at the time and was unable to witness what all told was a magnificent match. I've heard your slime friend, Karen I believe her name is, has been moved to the main tournament bracket despite her unfortunate loss. Oh and please just call me Julias, calling me by my family name sounds so... formal.] - Prince Julias

Nearly 2 hours ago Rose and company had received a letter directly from the Prince and after opening it's contents it seemed the man was coming through on his promise to invite the group to dine with him. Malaise, pointing out that it was unlikely this was meant as purely a social call, convinced Rose to show alone while the rest of them would split up. Malaise, along with Veronica, would go inform Rose's family about the unexpected situation while Shade and Karen would secretly watch over the dinner in case anything went sideways.

Of course at this point a severe problem had come to light, one that Rose had still not dealt with thus far. Clothes. Apparently during my 5 month "vacation" my selection had become woefully out of style to the point that several people had pointed it out verbally and while I didn't care what the treasonous Prince thought of my outfit it would reflect badly on my family if I was seen in public in anything too out of date.

Calling in Annabelle had taken another few minutes and after explaining the situation, minus the treasonous plot, I'd been reassured that my personal maid would work her magic. What followed was a shortened version of the hellscape that was modelling clothing. Luckily, because of the lack of time, my nightmare was cut short, only lasting about an hour rather than the normal half a day long affair. And despite the sheer torture that trying various items on always ended up being I had to admit I did like looking as pretty as I always did after the session. It seemed that her mindset was enjoying feminine things more and more as time went on and while she still didn't really get all the fuss about clothing, makeup and hair styling she had to admit the end result took her breath away.

Giggling under her breath as she admired herself in the mirror she'd been reminded of how improper it was to meet with a gentleman alone at my age without supervision and was told that Annabelle would be joining her. Initially inclined to refuse such an offer the look on my maid's face had allowed for no discussion and she had agreed reluctantly.

What followed was a quick message from Malaise and her parents as they gave the go-ahead for the dinner, apparently her grandparents had left the city already, and a reminder to not let anything slip. Hardening my heart I'd then began the short trip to what was apparently the best restaurant in town, well known for both it's discerning clientele and the quality of it's food.

Not really familiar with private meeting etiquette I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived only for the Prince and his butler to be waiting for me near the entrance. Pulling up in a carriage I didn't even know my family owned we drew every eye on the street because of how affluent our ride looked. Red-faced and embarrassed at the attention I stuttered slightly when I responded to the Prince, allowing him to lend his hand to lower myself from the ride as per the quickly whispered instructions from my experienced maid behind me. The Prince for his part recovered quickly from the unexpected event and unless I was looking for it I wouldn't have noticed the brief grimace of disgust crossing his face when his hand took mine. His continued response just barely disguising his contempt for us as he obviously struggled to remember the name of my beloved slimegirl. He left off with a call to address him familiarly as per etiquette in these situations. Annabelle had given me a quick run-down on what to expect and how to respond as to not shame my family with my answers. Apparently I was allowed to turn down his request but to do so would look in poor taste to the surrounding people. I had been told that if such an event occurs in private I could turn him down without consequence but when made in a public setting like this turning him down was considered rude and could even be taken as a challenge. Steeling myself against the rising bile in my throat I smiled at the man in front of me before answering.

[I'd be happy to, our two countries have always maintained a friendly relationship and forming a friendship between us is my sincere hope.] - Rose

[Ah, your eloquence impresses me, I'd been told you were unfamiliar with matters of court but I see I was mistaken. You humble me. Shall we?] - Prince Julias

[I'd love to... J-Julias.] - Rose

Maintaining a smile on my face while spouting garbage was hard, amazingly hard. Especially when you knew the other party thought you were beneath him. Luckily the surrounding onlooker's were impressed by our acting and several of them had looks of awe on their faces. Seemingly praising me for my decorum I didn't fail to miss the veiled insult hidden in the Prince's words and when he held out his arm for mine I had to force myself to not respond in kind. Taking his arm in mine as I gritted my teeth I continued smiling directly forward, ignoring the disgusting feeling to my right as he led us to a private table within the establishment.