Chapter 18: Summer Incident 2

“Sorry, I’m late.” Taka came with a short breath. There’s a kiss mark on his neck. I bet that one is from Miyuki.

“Fifteen minutes late, and you call yourself a tribe leader?” Princess Sera mocked him. “You’re late because your girlfriend didn’t want to be far from you. I bet she didn’t want you to remove that mark on your neck. That’s unfortunate for you to have a girlfriend like that.”

“Shut up!” Taka shouted. He wants to hit Princess Sera. “Two weeks is a long time.”

“Enough!” I said, Separate them. “Hey, we’re a team now! Don’t cause a ruckus; we need a 100% friendship here to make our summer project go well!”

Suiren remains silent and does not help. Princess Sera is not calming down either, Taka. I tried to use my skills, hypnosis, to make those two fall asleep and forget what happened. Finally, Suiren does something and apologizes to our friends from Laburtia. That was enough distraction for me to cast my skills silently.

Princess Sera seems unaffected, but she notices I’m casting my skills. “Ho! You try to cast a spell on me? But I have divine protection.”

On Taka, the effects are strong. He’s standing still, falling asleep before falling to the ground.

“You two are really like a cat and a dog. Please, I beg you, Princess Sera, don’t say anything provocative to him.” I said and carried Taka inside our carriage.

“I can’t guarantee it, but I try.” Princess Sera said and followed suit.

After finishing putting our luggage inside the carriage. We board and tell our coachman to go to Baidou, a remote village that becomes our target for summer projects. It’s day two, and it’s already like this. Trentan and the others are very cooperative. They even broke the ice inside our carriage with a warm conversation about our homeland and culture. I put Taka’s head, who’s still sleeping, on my lap.

“I have another rival, hahaha.” Princess Sera said to me.

“What, a rival? I’m his apprentice, and he’s my teacher when we’re wandering around.” I replied. Can she read minds?

“Your eyes, acts, and expressions can't lie, Noa. How about you help me? I only need him to be under my control and convert to my religion. After that, you can have him. The one that held you back from making him yours is Miyuki, right?” Princess Sera said.

“Miyuki is my friend, and I will not do horrible things to her,” I replied.

“Maybe you will change your mind if I know that you come from Earth too.” Princess Sera said and took out a spellbook. She cast a blinding flash that made me blind for a while because I didn't cover my eyes.

Our carriage stopped in its tracks. I heard hooves clattering outside, and a scream echoed. What happened next was that I was dragged outside by force and thrown away on the grass. I hear Trentan's voice in pain.

“What? Eturuks Imperial Guard? Why?” Achiel begged. “Please don’t kill us!”

“Heal!” Ayu said. “Tristan, go fight and save Achiel!”

The blinding effects finally fade. I see Achiel and Tristan, and Ayu is in a fight with a group of knights in yellowish heavy full plate armor. Near me, Princess Sera carried Taka in an unconscious state. That group of knights easily kills Achiel, Tristan, and Ayu in one turn.

“Princess Sera!” I tried to stand up. One of the knights moves closer and kicks my head. And pinned me to the ground

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Some knight carried Taka to a new carriage. Princess Sera came squatting right in front of my face. “So Noa, what about my offer? You have great potential to be an Imperial Guard, knowing that you have a Practice Perfect skill, already know medicine, and have a great skill set to be an assassin. I will even let you date my stepbrother if you want to serve me.”

“It will be a waste of a talent if you die here today. You will never go back to Earth.” Princess Sera said.

There’s no way out. We’re in the middle of nowhere without any help coming. And I don't want to be a wandering spirit up there. My best bet is helping her and lying low until I have a chance to escape. I might use this opportunity to help my family in Tabou.

“Yes! I accept your offers! On the condition that you build my home village of Tabou. Clear my family name there and restore them to their old post in the government!” I said.

“Deal.” Princess Sera said. “Bring her too; treat them the same as our guest.”

“Are you sure, Your Highness, that the elf boy is our saint?” A knight asked.

“I’m sure he’s the one from our prophecy. Let’s get back to Karbil and leave no trace of our ambush here.” Princess Sera replied.

“How about the other one, the Saintess Knight?” that knight asked again.

“She’s useless to us without this boy. Only this boy do we need to make our empire reclaim our god-given right to govern this continent.” Princess Sera answered.

I’m being dragged to the new carriage. My hands and feet are tied with a special chain that nullifies any escapist skills. “Since we’re on the same team now. How do you know I’m a reincarnator?”

“Hairstyle, your fashion,” Princess Sera replied. “Since we will be best friends. Just call me Sera while we are alone.”

“We might exchange information about each other’s major quests.” Princess Sera said. “My major quest to go back to Earth was to lead this nation to its former glory and maintain it for a century with my stepbrother here on my side.”

“For me, since I was lonely on Earth. Just find a true love.” I said. “But that cannot be an NPC; it must be a reincarnator too.”

“Perfect, we help each other then.” Princess Sera replied. “My stepbrother here will not have a major quest. Since he was the designated endgame key in this world.”

“So how did you get in there then?” I asked. “For me, I just wanted to follow up on a trend about mysterious books, and suddenly I read it and was reincarnated there.”

“Well, I want to take back my stepbrother and return him to our family. Taka is kidnapped by Miyuki on Earth, and she might be successful in controlling him, and he might forget about his real family.” Princess Sera said.

“What, Miyuki is the bad one? But she seems like a nice girl with a weird personality.” I am in disbelief about what Princess Sera said.

“If she is the good one, I will not do an extreme thing like this,” Sera answered. “I love my stepbrother and want him to go back to Earth with me. My family has been waiting for him to be back home.”

“I have a pretty good life on Earth. If I am the bad one, why do I even bother coming here trying to bring him back to Earth?” She continued.

“You seem genuine about this. Can you remove my chains?” I asked. If she does it, I’ll trust her and give my sympathy to her cause.

My chains loosened, and I can move freely. I do a quick stretch before asking her a question again. It’s not worth trying to escape since outside, there are many Imperial Guard Knights who will easily surround me.

“About Taka and Miyuki, maybe that’s why I feel their relationship is more like a master and a pet. So my feelings about her were right.” I said to open another conversation.

“Want to know how he’s run away from our home? It’s just a misunderstanding that quickly turned sour, and he was missing for a week and then turned years.” Princess Sera explained.

“I need you to help me convince him it’s better to stay with me. In exchange, you can be his lover. So what is the description of true love on your quest?” She asked.

“I still don’t know yet,” I answered. “Maybe X wants me to know what love is here.”

“How old are you on Earth?” She asked.

“Urm, 29 years old. And how about you?” I replied.

“Still 19 years old. Whoa, you’re older than me! ” Princess Sera said. “What about in this world? ”

“I’m 18 years old. And you seem older than me.” I answered.

“Right, I’m 19 years here too.” She replied.

We exchange conversation until we are both exhausted and bored. Taka’s deep sleep status will last for 2 days until he wakes up again.

“Thanks for making him fall into a deep sleep state.” Sera praised. “On my original plan, if he doesn’t want to come with me. I tried to make him faint and dying to be easily carried.”

“Well, about that, I might have put my hypnosis skill too strong on him. My plan is only to make him sleep until we arrive at Baidou. When we wake, I’ll try to make him understand about you and help him calm down.” I said. "Nice to be friend with you Princess Sera."