64 The expedition begin
“Anne! So glad that our esteemed crown prince allowed you to accompany us on this expedition.”
Xavier suddenly gave Anne a tight hug, very unexpected for Anne, everything became more awkward after Justice entered the carriage.
“Alright, what happened here?” Asked Justice after he saw how red Anne’s face was.
“I hug her, so suddenly, that’s why,” Said Xavier with a grin, he then turn to his left, where Anne was seated. “I will blame it on the spell if it’s alright.”
“Ugh! Xavier, you’re crazy,” Anne mumbled while she looks out the window, “What exactly happened to you? I mean, I know Henry is the one that has all the romantic gestures, but you?”
“Oh, Xavier is just as bad as Henry, you just don’t know it yet.” Justice chuckled while he let off his leather glove, “Truthfully, the four of us sometimes do something spontaneous like this, so... maybe you should get used to it.”
With a very confident smirk, The crown prince stared at the bashful Anne. She still pretends to not listen to either of them. Xavier and Justice throw each other a glance, and they burst into laughter, knowing how stiff Anne was right now.
“Anne, I am sorry, I truly am.” Said Xavier, his hand wiping tears from his eyes, “I am not going to do it again.”
The words that were coming from Xavier’s mouth finally gain some attention from Anne. Her eyes gazed into the captain huntsman. “Promise?”
.....
“Yes, with all my heart, my beautiful Miss Anne,” Xavier says to Anne with a very soft tone and melancholia in his golden eyes.
No word can be uttered by our brave heroine, just as she was also bewitched herself, even though she isn’t the one under the spell. The two of them continued to have a conversation, while Anne took care of Chikara on her lap.
“I couldn’t believe it, almost two weeks and the hoards did not even appear.” Xavier was gruntling. He was worried about the peculiar sign on the clandestine tower.
The clandestine tower is the invention of the alchemia tower. A crystal inside the tower will give a sign of warning for the kingdom, a pre-warning for the citizen in the border town. The tower begins to change color, from the safe green into the warning yellow, when the color changes to red, that’s when the hoard is approaching. A red color stays inside the crystal for almost two weeks now.
“Don’t worry, Vale and Horden were there. It’s also a good time for Henry to practice,” Justice tried to calm Xavier, his eyes then glances at Anne, “How are you getting along with him?”
Anne turns his attention to Justice. “Excuse me?”
He pointed at Chikara, who was happily eating his small chunk of meat. “That familiar of yours, it’s a demon cat, right?”
“Yes, the retired knight named Horden told me about him, but Chikara is not a pure demon cat species. He is a hybrid.” Said Anne while her hand brushed into Chikara’s fluffy fur.
“Horden told me about your encountered, a very interesting one.” A mysterious smirk adorned Justice’s face.
Xavier looks at Chikara, he asked permission to take a looks at the cat, Anne nodded her head, and he pick Chikara from Anne’s lap, his hand brushed at her thigh for a short moment, she doesn’t know how to feel about the sensation that lingered on her.
“Yes, he is, I believe it was the snow leopard that has mated with the demon cat, based on his white fluffy fur and the type of square ears he has.” Xavier assessed Chikara’s traits, while he examined and brushed on his fur and body.
“Snow leopard? No wonder, his mother had black short fur, and he got white and fluffy fur all over him,” She smiled at her familiar, who meowed back at her, “You hear that Chikara, you’re a hybrid, just like as we suspected.”
Xavier gave Chikara back to Anne. Justice smiled at her and said, “Xavier is a good huntsman. He knows how to determine the monster and animal traits just by observing them.”
“Oh, so not every huntsman can do as Xavier does?” Asked Anne, she turn to Xavier, who seems a bit shy after getting praise from Justice.
“Of course not. The other needs the traditional method of using their scan spell. Sometimes even need extra work with an alchemist using the monster or the animal blood sample.” Once again, it was Justice who answered Anne’s question, while the latter just smiled in his seat, not even uttering any words.
Feels like Xavier have something to say as well, she pokes into his arm and tried to ask him directly, “Really? So you’re that good?”
A warm smile goes directly from Xavier, he shakes his head as the answer, “No, I easily saw the traits of every animal and monster but not for any hidden power, I still need to use my scan spell,” Xavier then kick into Justice’s leg, “Stop making stuff up, seriously Just.”
Justice laughed at him while raising his hand, “Oh, come on, no need to be modest. You become a captain two years ago. If it wasn’t for Vale, you’re the youngest captain in the history of the Valorian kingdom.”
“No need to hear his blabbered, Anne.” Said Xavier while he tried to close the crown prince’s mouth.
Anne could see how close they were, smiling when the two of them wrestling around the carriage. They even laughed so naturally at each other. She tilted her head and asked either of them, “So, how old are you?”
“Henry and I are the oldest, twenty-five years old, while Xavier is twenty-three and Vale is twenty-two.” Answered justice while he was panting and his red hair becoming scruffy after he wrestled with Xavier earlier. Anne desperately wanted to run his hand all over his hair.
Justice sees a strange expression on Anne’s. “Anne, are you alright?”
Realizing that she must stare creepily at Justice, her face flushed with all shades of red, “Oh, uhm... nothing, so... Xavier, Vale, and Henry become civil servants in the same year, right?”
“Yes, they were, Henry was entering the same year as them because at first, he doesn’t want to join the military, he wanted to become an administrative servant rather than the military branch of the civil service,” Justice explained everything to Anne with his vast knowledge, while Anne looking at him, concentrating in every word that came from his mouth.
In the Valorian kingdom, the civil servants have two branches that you can choose from, the administrative branch, such as a librarian and the alchemist. As for the military side, there is a healer, knight and magic knight, huntsman, and of course the magi.
Anne, lost in her thought for a moment, afterward, she looks into Xavier and Justice, trying to figure out something odd, “So originally, Henry doesn’t want to become a knight? How come? I’m sorry if I seem to be a noisy girl, but I’ve talked to Henry before... never occurred to me that he hates to be a knight.”
The two men looking at each other, this time it was Xavier who answered her question, “The truth is, we never know the main reason for it, he never told Justice about it, and of course to me and Vale as well.”
The carriage suddenly stop, it wasn’t even two hours gone by. Anne saw a man wearing a cloak coming inside the carriage, a young man, with pale skin and small beady eyes. He was nervous, especially when his eyes met with Xavier and Justice.
“Ah... uhm... your majesty, sir Xavier,” The young man glances at his side and saw Anne, “Miss, how do you do?”
A polite man from Anne’s perspective, too bad he was a nervous wreck, couldn’t even stop shaking after he was seated beside her. Xavier opts to sit beside Justice and let Anne seated in front of the crown prince, it was obvious that he tried to help the nervous young men. The carriage begins to speed up, this time they almost reach the north gate and go to the Beyor cemetery.
Xavier introduces the young man to our heroine, “Anne, let me introduce you to Andy, he is the junior librarian that will help the expedition.”
“How do you do, mister Andy? My name is Anne.” Said Anne with a smile to the nervous young man beside her.
“Please, just call me Andy, miss.”
“Then you should call me Anne as well. Deal?” Anne offered him her hand, and he smiles and shakes the hand.
Looking at the interaction between the two of them, Justice’s gaze immediately goes to Xavier, just as he suspected, Xavier glared at Andy. Clearing his throat, he tried to distract Anne and Andy. Vale was right, he need to keep an eye on Xavier all the time.
“So, Andy, your chief librarian told me you’re so afraid of coming to Beyor’s cemetery. How come?” Justice needs to make a conversation with Andy just to distract the young man’s attention away from Anne.
Apparently, it is working in Justice’s favor. Andy is skittish and mumbled, “Oh, your majesty, it’s because of the history of the place... you know... the massacre.”
Anne immediately focuses on Andy. “What?! the massacre?”
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