The Princess's Awakening Ceremony (2)
The Princess's Awakening Ceremony (2)
The King looked younger than I had expected.
When I heard that his two sons were aiming for the throne and preparing to duke it out, I assumed he was a decrepit old man. But from a distance, he seemed to be only just transitioning from middle age to old age.
But when I channeled mana into my eyes to examine him, I could clearly sense the heavy pall of illness on his face.
'I guess he really is sick. Is this some kind of drug effect?'
Even from where I stood, I could feel the mana overflowing from the King. It was unrefined mana, forcibly crammed into his body and spilling out wildly.
'Seriously, he doesn't have much time left.'
It was obvious he was clinging to life solely through the power of mana. By then, his body had undoubtedly reached its absolute limit.
Since the King was a powerful ability user, he might endure a little longer in that state, but in truth, he was merely buying himself some extra time.
'Well, that's not something I need to worry about.'
Half a step behind the King followed Queen Ria. Unlike the last time I had seen her, her expression was rigid and tense.
Two young men walked behind the King and Queen.
At a glance, anyone could tell they were princes.
The First Prince looked to be in his late twenties, and the Second Prince in his early twenties.
Those two were the closest to becoming the next king.
Since I had been categorized as part of the Princess's faction, they were effectively my enemies. Of course, my opponents had no idea who I was.
The young Princess Aisha walked behind the two princes. At ten years old, and more than a decade younger than the Second Prince, she followed behind the King with a solemn expression.
Seeing her took me back to my own Awakening Ceremony.
Despite remembering my past lives—and having a mental age far beyond my physical age after so many lifetimes—I had been incredibly nervous during my Awakening Ceremony.
Looking at Princess Aisha's pale face, she seemed quite nervous, too, yet she appeared to be handling it remarkably well for her age.
'Describing someone as "a child smart beyond her years" might suit the Princess far better than it does me.'
Knights and priests followed close behind the Princess.
This was certainly an internal royal event. Only the King's direct lineage attended the Awakening Ceremony.
Yet among the people standing far off and watching the Awakening Ceremony like me, no high nobility were to be seen.
True, nobles who owned territories found it difficult to make the journey to the capital.
Still, they could at least have sent representatives, and plenty of nobles lived in the capital.
Yet among the nobles around me, not a single person of that standing was visible.
'I suppose this speaks volumes about the Princess's current standing.'
Although she was the daughter of the current queen, the age gap between her and her two brothers was simply too vast.
With the King so openly displaying his ill health and the princes having already established their own factions, few nobles would risk inviting unnecessary suspicion by attending the Princess's Awakening Ceremony.
The academy students thought I was impressive just for witnessing this event, but those who truly understood the political climate might mock me for it.
Well, I suppose her predicament isn't all that different from mine.
Unlike the stone sepulcher behind the Duke's mansion, the one in the royal castle was far more magnificent and ornate.
The King's party walked between statues of past kings and entered the sepulcher.
We waited for the King's party to emerge again.
Time ticked by.
The King's party remained out of sight, but everyone waiting kept quiet.
A short moment later.
Whoosh.
I felt mana surging wildly inside the sepulcher.
The Princess had finally awakened.
People began whispering softly, curious about which inherited ability she had obtained.
Before long, the King and his party emerged from the sepulcher.
The expressions on their faces varied.
The King clicked his tongue, his face pale.
Both princes wore satisfied smiles, while the knights and priests looked somewhat mournful.
The Queen's expression had barely changed since she entered, and the Princess maintained a calm face.
'Still, she doesn't look merely calm... There's a strangely pleased air about her, too.'
Just as I was wondering how to read the outcome from their expressions, Katrin spoke beside me.
"It seems to have turned out well."
I turned to look at Katrin.
She was beaming.
After the Awakening Ceremony ended, the crowd dispersed immediately.
Contrary to expectations, the gathered people scattered right away, while Katrin and I headed to the Queen's palace at her summons.
In the large reception room where we had met before, Katrin and I met with the Princess and the Queen.
Hum.
A wall of mana enveloped the room.
It was a different kind of mana wall from the soundproofing barrier I had created with mana.
"All outside gazes have been blocked."
An elderly maid bowed to the Queen.
Though she wore a maid's uniform, a woman attending the Queen could hardly be ordinary.
She was almost certainly a noblewoman of repute.
The mana wall she had deployed was undoubtedly her inherited ability.
"Aisha, you may relax your expression now."
"Phew, that was exhausting."
At the Queen's words, the Princess let out a deep sigh.
She let her rigid expression fall away and smiled brightly.
Katrin smiled at the Princess, too.
"You did well. Fortunately, it seems nobody noticed."
"Mm, it's all thanks to Katrin."
At the Princess's cheerful response, Katrin shook her head.
"Alex's help was much greater than mine."
"I thank Alex as well."
"No, I don't believe I've done anything to deserve such thanks."
The Princess's thanks only put me in an awkward position.
The fact that they had erected a mana barrier while keeping me inside the room was bad enough.
Seeing them set up a mana wall around the room, it was clear they were about to discuss a secret that only the Queen, the Princess, and Katrin should know.
I couldn't fathom why they'd dragged me into this!
I didn't know why the Princess was happy or why she was thanking me.
I really wished someone would just explain the reason to me!
"Ho-ho, it seems we should first offer an explanation to Young Lord Alex."
Seeing how flustered I was, the Queen chuckled softly and spoke.
"We couldn't speak of it earlier because we didn't know how the awakening would turn out. Fortunately, the outcome is good, so I will tell you."
Katrin continued where the Queen left off.
It seemed I was finally about to hear the explanation I was curious about.
Honestly, I felt it would be much better if I didn't hear it at all...
But judging by the expressions of the Queen, the Princess, and Katrin, it was clearly too late.
In their eyes, I was already part of their team.
I'd come far too far to say I wouldn't listen now.
"Ah, first, please repeat which inherited ability you stated you had acquired at the Awakening Ceremony."
At the Queen's prompt, the Princess spoke.
"Invisible Sword Aura. I stated that I obtained the inherited ability of my mother's family, the Rattenhamar Count Family."
She lifted the small spoon set before her. It was meant for stirring tea, but as she gripped it in her hand, its tip began to shimmer.
Indeed, I had seen that shimmering energy before.
It was the very ability Katrin had used back in the dungeon.
And I could use that ability, too, when wielding the dagger I had obtained in the dungeon. Frankly, it was the ultimate ability for launching surprise attacks on people.
Ah, now I finally understood the expressions on the King's and the other princes' faces.
The ability the Princess had acquired was excellent and highly useful, but it was not the royal family's ability.
And since both princes possessed 'Mana Resonance'—the King's signature ability—the Princess, having inherited her mother's family's ability, was now in no position to compete with her two brothers.
That was why the King's expression had been dark while the two princes looked pleased.
Yet the Queen and the Princess hadn't looked upset either, had they? In fact, they were smiling openly now.
As I pondered this while looking at the Princess, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
That's right. Something the Princess had said earlier had struck me as odd.
She hadn't said, 'I obtained the inherited ability,' but rather, 'I stated that I obtained the inherited ability.'
Could it be that she had obtained a different ability and merely claimed to have acquired the Count Family's inherited ability?
Yet the tip of the spoon before my eyes was still shimmering.
"Could it be that you actually obtained a different ability?"
At my tentative question, the Princess shook her head, while the Queen and Katrin smiled.
"One must not lie during a royal Awakening Ceremony. The Princess definitely obtained the 'Invisible Sword Aura' ability."
The Queen followed up on the Princess's answer.
And Katrin explained why the Queen and the Princess were pleased.
"It's a relief. We were so worried. Since it isn't the royal family's ability, the two princes' eyes will turn away from the Princess as well."
Ah, I see. The Princess wasn't all that different from me.
If the Princess had obtained the royal family's ability, especially 'Mana Resonance', there was no way the two princes would have remained idle.
With both princes already pointing their blades at each other and merely waiting for the signal to strike, it was obvious where their blades would have turned first if the Princess had entered the fray.
Yet the Queen and the Princess didn't look like people who had barely escaped with their lives from the princes' blades.
The Queen spoke up.
"The princes and princess of this generation have ancestral blood that runs far too deep. According to the priests, this is said to be the generation with the highest bloodline concentration in history."
Can priests even discern things like that? From 'healing' to 'contracts,' and even assessing the concentration of royal blood, the priests' capabilities were surprisingly versatile.
At any rate, the Queen continued.
"That statement was kept secret, known only to royalty, and both princes acquired 'Mana Resonance' just as expected."
It seemed having exceptionally talented children wasn't entirely a blessing.
"According to the priests, Aisha was also highly likely to obtain 'Mana Resonance'."
"That's why we had to find a way to prevent the Princess from obtaining Mana Resonance. My wandering around as a mercenary was partly for that very reason."
"And we found the solution."
Katrin pointed at me.
"Ah, don't tell me..."
The Princess pulled a dagger from her sleeve.
It was the dagger I had lent to Katrin a few days ago.
She gripped the dagger instead of the spoon she had been holding. The tip of the dagger shimmered.
"Seeing how you obtained our family's inherited ability through the artifact found in the dungeon, I realized there was a way to induce her awakening."
From what followed, I learned that upon returning from the dungeon, she had immediately summoned me to the capital and gathered her family's relics for the Princess to touch.
Regrettably, none of those relics reacted to the Princess at all. The only thing to show even the slightest reaction was the shield obtained in the dungeon.
Lastly, Katrin and the Queen borrowed my dagger and had the Princess touch it.
And then, the dagger reacted.
"I heard a voice in my head saying: [Do you desire power?]"
Dammit, to think I'd hear those cheesy words again.
"We had the Princess attend the Awakening Ceremony with the dagger concealed on her person. Because it was a small dagger, no one noticed, and ultimately, as we anticipated, she obtained the inherited ability of her mother's family."
So thanks to that dagger, she obtained the Count Family's inherited ability instead of the royal family's?
But was that really such a good thing? She'd avoided the immediate crisis, but was it truly all right?
Noticing my furrowed brow, the Queen shook her head.
"No, we obtained a result far better than expected. Aisha."
At the Queen's words, the Princess exerted power throughout her body.
Hum.
A faint light began to surge out from the Princess's entire body.
Holy shit. That wasn't 'Invisible Sword Aura.' It was a completely different ability.
Crackle. Sizzle.
Tiny flames appeared in the air, and sparks flashed between strands of her hair before disappearing.
"At the Awakening Ceremony, the Princess did not get a different ability instead of the royal family's ability—she acquired both the royal family's ability and her mother's family's ability."
It was just as the Queen had said.
The refined mana emanating from the Princess's body was the royal family's inherited ability.
It was mana formed by 'Mana Resonance'.
Wreathed in 'Mana Resonance', the Princess held the shimmering dagger and smiled radiantly.