The teacher sees the maid and give a wry smile, "Looks like we overdid it." He stretches his at the maid as rune circles appear below the maid, she wakes up and notices the puddle below her. She blushes in embarrassment then Twenny also stretch her hands, runes appear below the maid as the puddle vanishes, she's made clean again.
Twenny smiles, "Don't worry, we'll forget everything that happened." The maid nods and knocks on the door, the door opens to reveal a huge hall filled with judgmental nobles in expensive clothes. Twenny eyes flash across the room, "Aww shet, here we go again."
The teacher chuckles, "You never did like political figures, little sister." His words shocked everyone present as their jaws drop.
Twenny takes a step into the room, "Not one bit." The teacher follows her into the hall, it takes the others a few seconds to follow.
The hall has a red carpet at the center of the room leading to the throne, the stage before the throne is wide raised up by a stair so all the people can see. The king sits high on his throne with the queen and crown prince on his sides. The king is an aged man in his late 40s and the queen being early 40s with the crown prince being in his late 20s. The nobles, from the dukes to baron are all present to poach- ahem greet the heroes who repelled the monster tide.
Twenny's group walk up to the king along with the teacher's group, this surprised a lot of people as they weren't expecting the teacher. The prime minister is on the side of the stage he prompts Twenny's group to wait at the side before the nobles as the teacher's group stand before the king.
The teacher and students give a bow though their heads are facing the king, that is how people of high standing bow. The king then addresses the teacher, "Sir Alcore, how do you do? We were not expecting you to arrive so soon."
Alcore chuckles, "I'm well your highness. I came here with a flight spell so my travel was shorter." Twenny shrugs as her thoughts, "Ya see, this is why flying is the bomb." Alcore continues, "I am here on behalf of king Sugohna of Sugohna empire on the exchange program my lords discussed. I'm here as a foreign exchange teacher and these are my students behind me." He gestures to the students as they bow again.
Sugohna is an empire, meaning bigger than a large kingdom. The people present knew that bigshots have arrived. The king nods his head ad rubs his beard, "I appreciate you coming here so quickly but unfortunately school is yet to reopen. I hope this does not bother you."
Alcore shakes his head, "No your highness, on the contrary this is good for my students to explore the city and get used to living here."
The king nods, "I am glad you think so." He looks at his prime minister as the prime minister steps up. "Welcome once again, though you arrive sooner than expected we could not properly welcome you. But we plan on making your stay as comfortable as possible." He gestures to a maid standing at the corner, "Take our guests to the guest room." The maid bows and walks to the door waiting for them. It's a crime for her to stand in the midst of nobles.
Alcore turns to leave, he walks up to Twenny and raises a fist. Twenny bumps her fist with his as they both grin. Alcore leaves as his students follow him, this short exchange shocked a lot of nobles. This meant that Twenny might be from Sugohna empire, getting on her bad side might get this huge empire breathing down their necks. Though the trio knew she's related to Alcore.
The prime minister steps forward. "Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know there was a monster tide. This time the tide was so strong it would have caused the destruction of Frishia, but it was saved by these brave heroes. Allow me to introduce them, Princess Twenny Alcore." Twenny's family name surprises everyone except the trio, the prime minister continues. "Flint Barimah, Akua Barimah and Chuck Devlan. The 3 commoners possess family names because their ancestors have been knighted before them. The Silver Crow led by Duchess Aella Celeste Zephan also played a big role by defending the city."
He gestures with his hands as the 5 of them step before the crowd. Flint, Aku and Chuck bow low to the king. The Duchess Aella Zephan bow in a similar manner to the previous group but Twenny isn't even moved. She made eye contact with the prince who seems to have other motives, this sort 'o pissed her off. The nobles start to whisper.
"Umm, Teacher. I think you should bow." Flint tries to get her to bow. Aku's back is drenched in sweat and Chuck gives a wry smile.
One noble walk out of the masses, "How dare you show such disrespect to the king. Even if you are a princess, you should show respect to your elders a- "
"Shut up shorty." Twenny looks at the noble from the corner of her eyes. Her thoughts, "If this goes as bad as I want it, it will deter others from bothering us." The noble feels offended as his face twitches. Twenny turns to the king, "Why really do you even want to see us?"
Silence fills the room, as the king speaks. "I wanted to meet the brave heroes who saved Frishia and reward them for their efforts." Twenny raises a brow at the king as silence fills the hall again. For some reason Twenny couldn't read the expression of the king, maybe too much beard or he's trying to maintain a stoic look.
In Twenny's vision, the king is like a black hazy figure on the throne. Her thoughts, "I'm certain big brother noticed this. I want to leave so I don't get dragged into this mess." She looks across the room and finds a noble with a magic artefact with that same hazy aura. "So this guy's controlling the king, I want to leave before this sham escalates."
The king raises is right hand and waves as a chest is brought before them, on the chest is a letter. The king finally smiles, "These are the rewards for your deed." The nobles whisper among themselves, "What? Is he going to ignore that rude behavior from earlier?" The king looks at the prime minister and he steps forward.
The prime minister takes the letter and reads it, "Fort Gromm is hereby given to our brave heroes along with a chest of 800,000 gold coins. They shall also be dubbed as Lightwid, the heroes of Frishia." He steps aside as the nobles' clap and cheer fill the room. Though because of Twenny the intensity of the cheer is low.
Twenny stares at the king through all this, her thoughts. "No matter how I look at it, it's fishy. INFORMATION MAGIC > CLAIRVOYANCE, MAPPING." Twenny's vision switches as a map of the kingdom is seen in her mind, she zooms in till she sees Fort Gromm. To the west of the fort is a forest, "A forest huh, check for life signs." Red dots start to appear in the forest reaching thousands. Twenny's vision returns to normal as she glares at the king, her thoughts. "So they want to use us a shield against the monsters."
Flint feels a sense of achievement but then it crumbles. Twenny speaks up, "Thanks but no thanks. We already have no intention of staying here in the first place, after here we'll be taking our leave." Murmurs fill the hall once again. The trio and Aella look at Twenny shocked.
The king leans forward and rests on his hands, "What would I have to give you to get you to stay?" these words bring silence as the nobles listen.
Twenny turns and looks at the noble controlling the king, "First, I want to be as far away as possible from the walking mess over there." She points at him. The prime minister grins broadly, not only him. A faction of the nobles also grins from ear to ear, this surprises the crown prince.
The king is about to speak but the prime minster steps up, "Princess Twenny, why do you call him a walking mess?"
Twenny looks at the prime minister, "He obviously has a mind control artefact on him right no- " Twenny froze, her thoughts. "Did I just get dragged into another mess?"
The prime minister points at the noble with the artefact, "Arrest him." 10 nobles charge at that noble and hold him down, they get the artefact from his pocket. The prime minster continues, " Viscout Alehaz, you are under arrest for conspiracy, treason and for manipulating the royal family." The prime minister takes the artefact which is like a voodoo doll, he takes it up as the king rises to his feet along with the queen. The queen shocked the prime minister as well.
"Are we done here?" They turn to see Twenny with an annoyed look. "It's getting late." She turns and leaves. "Flint, Chuck and Aku, we're leaving. Tomorrow you start dungeon diving without me."
The prime minister stretches his hand at Twenny, "WAIT!" Twenny stops. He walks up to her and bows, "I know you're a 5th tier mage, I was hoping on getting your help to save the kingdom." In Twenny's head, "This is the part about a looong monolog, I'll skip it." The prime minister continues, "As you can see our king has been under contr- "
"Skip." Twenny interrupts. "I'd rather not spend a lot of time here, so just skip everything."
The prime minister looks at the faction supporting him then speaks. "Princess, I would appreciate it if you could help us deal with this menace. We do not even know how to set the king free." A member of his faction brings the doll to her as the rest murmurs.
Twenny looks at the doll and takes it. "So, you need help finding the mastermind?" The prime minister answers "Yes". Twenny inserts 2 fingers into the chest of the dolls, the king and queen fall in pain. The prime minister has a worried look, he's about to stop Twenny when he sees her pull 2 strands of hair from the doll. "This is the hair of the king and queen, so they're free." Soldiers were already beside them as they helped them up. They seem to no longer be controlled although dizzy.
Twenny signals for Flint and his group to wait outside then she looks at the doll. "The mastermind is good with puppets.... Too bad he met me." The doll falls apart then turns to ash, Twenny looks at the prime minister. "Go to the hospital or clinic or herb center, wherever people get drugs. The mastermind's rear end is going to have an accident of not being able to hold matter. The mastermind will poop blood while his minions give normal….well the normal stuff." She turns and leaves.
Everyone is just staring at the door.