Chapter 188 Meeting the Little Sister
Despite what his guards wanted, Willim decided to stay in the same in as Jack. Every day they would check what new items had arrived in the town square and talked about all kinds of things, ranging from past adventures what was currently going on in the world.
The citizens of Quazur were happy to see their prince interacting with them. It wasn't often that someone so influential would lounge around in a city outside of the capital.
Jack's party quickly took a liking to him. His playful personality proved inviting and he loved to joke around, even if the joke is on himself.
By the time the week was over, Willim was unable to find something to gift his sister. He would never explain what exactly he was looking for to Jack, though, just saying nothing was suited for her.
As for the frost pearl, it was fastened into a necklace and given to Maura. But Willim was surprised that Maura never wore it and struggled to figure out why, even though Maura was so happy to receive it.
Little did he know that the necklace was currently around the hydra egg, slowly pouring its natural ice type energy into it. It wasn't the most effective way of incubating the egg, but it was better than nothing.
On the seventh day, after picking up their coats, they all made their way to the town hall run by the Snow Guild with Willim and his guards.
Willim led the way as they entered. "We need to use the relic so I can get back home."
"Right away, Prince Willim. We'll have it ready in ten minutes. Right, this way."
The receptionist was very warm to them, most likely because of Willim being present. She led them through a couple of hallways until they reached an open courtyard.
There, the party saw a platform with strange symbols and etchings covering it. Below the platform was a very powerful crystal emanating spatial energy.
Jack was happy to see it, recognizing them as the teleport relics from "A Hero's Tale." He had no clue that some still existed. If that was the case, Jack wondered if he could find an unused one somewhere and steal its crystal.
Very soon, a total of ten lv. 30 mages entered the courtyard, surrounding the platform.
The receptionist motioned to Willim, waiting for him to step on as usual. She was surprised to see that Jack's entire party joined him on the platform.
"Your highness, are they also using the relic?" asked the receptionist hesitantly.
"Of course! They're my guests of honor."
She sighed and nodded to the mages. "Wait just a moment your highness." Another ten mages came and joined the others.
Realizing why the teleport relic was regulated, Jack shook his head. He had no clue that it would take so many mages just to activate the teleport relic. And it wasn't even the most powerful kind of teleport relic. There were two kinds, one that had only one location linked and others with multiple locations linked.
Thinking about it, Jack was still expanding his knowledge and understanding of just how underdeveloped Modern Kartonia was.
"Thanks for visiting us here in Quazur, your highness."
With those last few words, everyone on the platform was drenched in spatial type energy. The energy was so thick, it felt like they were all swimming in it. Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, their surroundings changed.
They were still in an open courtyard, but the sky was totally different. It was like the sky outside of the tundra, clear and sunny. Also, the courtyard they were in now was five times larger than the previous and guards were seen all around them.
That thick spatial type energy slowly dissipated. The teleportation was a success.
"Men, tell my father to prepare some guest rooms! We have guests, and they deserve our respect!" yelled Willim.
All of a sudden, Willim was a totally different person. The air about his was serious yet warm, and he handled the palace guards with authority instead of acting childish. This was the same prince that Jack had met in Polt.
Understanding that Willim was now acting like a man of his position, Jack's party also showed their more serious side.
More people arrived in the courtyard but they weren't wearing armor. They were all wearing noble blue robes or dresses. Willim was flocked by them and bombarded with all sorts of questions.
"All of you, just calm down!" shouted Willim, not happy to see so many people questioning his decision to bring Jack's party through the relic. "This is my new friend. You all know him as the rising hero of the Adventurers Association, but I know him as Jack while he knows me as Willim. They're my guests, so don't you dare mistreat them."
Some of those people eyed Jack, intent to learn more about him.
"Jack, follow me!"
Willim took charge, pushing his way through the crowd of people coming to the courtyard. Thanks to him, Jack's party was able to squeeze their way out of the courtyard and officially enter the palace.
"Jack, let's have a feast for breakfast. It'll be easier to talk then."
The party nodded, happy to be fed regardless of the undesired attention. While they didn't like it, they all understood that it was a strange occurrence, and since both Jack and the prince were involved it was bound to grab everyone's attention.
Soon, the party entered a private dining hall with only the prince. There, they found an enormous spread of different foods. It wasn't all breakfast items either. Plenty of steak and pork dishes were found as well.
"Dig in!"
Everyone enjoyed themselves, glad to no longer have wandering eyes all over them.
Jack looked to Willim and asked, "What was all that about? They didn't seem too happy with you?"
"Don't worry about them." Willim waved his hand nonchalantly as he swallowed a mouthful of roasted boar. "Those guys were all on my uncle's side, so it doesn't matter what they think. Since my father became king and not him, we're the ones with the say around here."
"Are there contentions inside your family?"
"I guess, but what royal family doesn't have those? If people weren't fighting over the throne, what else would they fight for?" Willim joke with them, returning to his jovial nature.
A knock was heard at the main door and Willim yelled, "Hurry up, Sis, or it'll be cold!"
"Don't mind if I do!" A soft voice was heard as the door opened and closed. Willim's teenage sister skipped to his side and sat down to join the feast.
"Jack, this is my little sis, Erina. Erina, this is my new friend, Jack." Willim introduced them, making sure to be extra polite with his sister.
"It's nice to meet you, Jack. We've heard a lot about you so it a surprise to have you show up so suddenly," Erina tried to explain some of the confusion that was Jack's welcoming party.
"Don't worry about it. I'm happy to finally meet the little sister your brother has told me all about. If it wasn't for me, he would've gotten you a gift too."
"Really? What were you going to get me?" Her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
Willim shrugged. "Forget that, it's not important."
"I don't know, a frost pearl sounds pretty important to me, Willim," joked Jack.
"A frost pearl?!" Erina was shocked to hear that. "Does that mean you took it from Wil?"
"No, he won it, fair and square," stated Willim. "We had a little sparring match and he wiped the floor with me, so he won it."
"Oh…" Her enthusiasm dropped drastically as she reached slowly for food to fill her mouth.
Unclear on what just happened, Jack asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so sad all of a sudden, Erina?"
"Just eat up, there's no need to keep bringing that up," said Willim, making it obvious that he wanted to drop the subject.
However, Jack didn't like how the mood became somber so quickly. He wanted to know why. "Really, Erina, did you need a frost pearl for something?"
"Well…"
"Erina, you don't need to tell them if you don't want to." Looking at his timid sister, Willim tried his best to support her.
She looked at her brother and then at Jack. Her face was riddled with sadness and confusion, leaving Jack even more anxious to get to the bottom of the issue.
"Did you want it?"
That question came from one seat over from Jack. Everyone looked and saw Maura holding a necklace with a frost pearl embedded in a little amulet. "We were going to use it for something, but if you need it, you can have it."
Sniffling, Erina's eyes started to water. She didn't say anything, but she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and nodded.
When Maura got up and placed the amulet around Erina's neck, the young, barely-teenage girl made the most adorable face. More tears fell as she bowed her head and thanked Maura for the gift.
No one in the room was eating anymore, or even thinking of the food for that matter.