The fire in the fireplace crackled low, I took advantage of the silence in the room to rest my mind a little after studying the manuals Torren had brought me for some time, until the silence was broken by the sound of light footsteps coming down the stairs.
I looked up and my heart leapt.
Ariel walked into the hall and, man, did she look stunning. My mother had chosen an aqua green dress that seemed made for the sea, with details that shimmered like delicate scales.
Her red hair fell loosely, and she smiled in that way that made everything seem lighter.
"Eric, look at this!" she said, spinning around. "Your mother said this is 'elegant' for humans. Okay?"
I blinked, trying not to look silly. "Ariel, it's more than fine. You look... amazing."
She blushed, laughing, and came over to me, her trident clipped to a delicate belt. "Ready to show me around?" she asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.
I put the parchment away, already knowing that the job could wait a while.
"Come on," I said, offering my arm. "But be prepared, because humans are quite... different."
She laughed, taking my arm, and we left the castle for the streets of Miralune.
The capital was bustling with crowded carts and merchants shouting prices. Ariel looked at everything as if it were a new world... which, for her, it was, just as the visit to Atlantis was for me.
As we walked along, she pointed at a bread seller. "Eric, why is he exchanging bread for coins? At sea, you share what you catch!"
I explained that coins were like trading shells, and she frowned.
"But what if someone doesn't have coins? Doesn't eat?" She tilted her head in confusion.
I scratched the back of my head, without a good answer. "It's... complicated." I admitted, promising to buy her a bun.
Further along, she stopped in front of a window displaying dresses.
"Do these clothes change every day? Or is it just for show?" She asked, fascinated by the colors.
I laughed, telling her that people liked a change, and she widened her eyes.
"In the sea, we only use shells and seaweed. That's so... human!" She was so excited that she almost bumped into a fruit cart, and I had to pull her away.
The commoners were noticing us, or rather, they were noticing her.
A group of women were whispering near a fountain, looking at Ariel with admiration. "She's a princess of Cresthaven, that's for sure," one of them said, thinking I wasn't listening.
"Look at that dress! And walking with Prince Eric!" Another guy, selling fish, muttered to his friend: "She must be from Althar. Only there are women like that."
I held back my laughter because, technically, they weren't so wrong to call her a princess from one of the neighboring kingdoms, they just weren't getting her kingdom right, since Ariel was the daughter of King Triton, a princess from Atlantica.
Ariel didn't notice the stares, she was too busy asking questions. "Eric, what's that bell ringing?" she asked, pointing to a tower. "Is it to call someone?" I explained that it was to tell the time, and she was confused. "Time? At sea, we follow the tides!" Before I could answer, she saw a juggler throwing torches and clapped her hands. "Is he using magic? How do you do it with water?" I laughed, telling her it was just practice, but she was already running to see it up close.
After an hour, with Ariel carrying a sweetbread, a flower that a vendor insisted on giving "to the pretty girl", and about ten new questions, we headed back to the castle.
The sun was getting low, and the evening was monster-hunting time.
In the hall, she sat at the table, still biting into her bread. "Eric, your world is so... full! But you're going to have to fight now, aren't you?" she asked, her tone a little worried.
I nodded, picking up my sword. "Yeah, Ariel, but you can come with me if you want. With the trident your father gave you, you might also be able to kill monsters." She smiled excitedly, and ran to get a cloak my mother had given her.
But I could see the worry on her face, clearly having never killed any living thing to date, the thought of having to kill something perhaps made her a little uncomfortable.
...
After a few minutes, I was in the castle hall, with my armor on and my sword in its sheath.
The fire was still crackling, and I was adjusting the straps on my breastplate when I heard light footsteps coming down the stairs again.
Raising my head, I saw Ariel, but now in a very different outfit.
No fancy dress, now she was wearing a dark blue tunic reinforced with leather, tight pants and boots that my mother must have chosen with combat in mind.
Only the belt supporting the trident was kept, while the magical weapon glowed, and her red hair was tied up in a practical ponytail.
She smiled, a little shyly, but with an excited expression. "Eric, is that okay? Your mom says it's better for fighting." She asked, twirling the trident in her hand.
I nodded, impressed. "It's perfect, Ariel. You look like you were born for it."
She laughed, blushing a little, and walked over to me. "So, are we going to hunt these monsters?" She said with a mixture of excitement and slight nervousness in her tone.
You could see that the idea of killing something still made her uneasy, but she was determined to help.
"Let's go." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. "But stay by my side, okay? Your trident will come in handy."
We left the castle, the sky already darkening, and found Torren and the other nine elite soldiers waiting at the gate.
I frowned a little when I saw Torren, since I had ordered him to rest, but from what I saw on the man's face, he must have slept as much as possible and even asked someone to wake him up before the battle, wanting to help.
They were lined up, swords and shields ready, but when they saw Ariel with me, their jaws almost dropped.
Torren stepped forward, frowning in concern. "Prince Eric, are you... going with us?" he asked, trying to be polite but clearly shocked.
The other soldiers exchanged glances, murmuring. "She looks like a princess of Althar." one of them whispered. "Taking her to fight goblins? That's crazy!" Another soldier shook his head. "If she gets hurt, the kingdom will be in chaos."
I raised my hand, cutting off the murmurs. "Ariel's not just any girl." I said in a firm voice. "Ariel, like me, has magic that will help our battle, that will help us more than you know. Trust me."
Ariel smiled, holding the trident more confidently, but I could tell she was a little nervous about the soldiers' distrust.
With my words they became a little less worried, but with the comparison of how professional I looked and how nervous she looked, they still couldn't completely relax.
We left through the gate, heading for the woods near the capital where the monsters were appearing.
Torren came up beside me, speaking quietly. "Prince, about your order yesterday... we searched the forest. We found tracks of goblins and kobolds heading for a clearing about two kilometers away. There are signs of a nest, footprints, bones, broken trees. We think that's where they're coming from."
"Great job." I replied, already planning how we could deal with it. "Let's go straight there. Taking out the nest might give the capital some relief before I start traveling around the kingdom."
Torren nodded and returned to the group of soldiers to spread my order.
Ariel overheard this conversation, curious, and asked: "Nest? Like a coral where they live?" I laughed, explaining that it was probably more like a messy hideout, and she nodded, still processing.
With our slaughter over the last few days, surprisingly no Goblin appeared near the capital's walls.
Only when we reached the edge of the forest did the first group of goblins appear, six of them, their claws gleaming under the moon.
The soldiers raised their shields, but before I could give the order, Ariel raised her trident.
"Let me try!" she said, pointing at the group. A jet of water came out of the tip, fast and precise, hitting two goblins and knocking them into a tree. It didn't kill them, but it made them dizzy, grunting with confusion.
Taking advantage of the opening Ariel had given me, I leapt forward, using Water Breath, First Form.
My sword cut through the air, the water following the blow and splitting a goblin in half. "Now, men!" I shouted.
The soldiers advanced, but they were slowing down, their swords bouncing off the monsters' tough skin.
Meanwhile, Ariel didn't stop. She spun her trident, creating a chain that caught the legs of a kobold coming from the side, knocking him to the ground. "There, Eric!" she shouted, and I finished him off with a quick slash.
Torren widened his eyes, hitting a goblin with his shield. "She... she does that with water, like the Prince?" He muttered, impressed.
Another soldier, panting, agreed: "She's making the battle easier!"
Ariel continued, throwing up water shields to block claws that could hurt the soldiers and jets to unbalance the monsters by making openings.
She didn't finish off any monsters, but each movement gave me and the soldiers room to kill faster.
A goblin tried to jump on me, but Ariel created a water bubble that held him in the air for a few seconds, and I cut him down before he fell.
After taking down the group, the soldiers were panting, but with a new sparkle in their eyes.
Torren came up to me, wiping the blood off his sword. "Prince, forgive me for doubting. You are... incredible. With her, we killed twice as many monsters in half the time." The others nodded, some even smiling at Ariel, who blushed, holding the trident proudly.
"I only helped a little," she said, shy but happy.
I tapped her on the shoulder with a proud smile. "A little? You were the highlight, Ariel."
She laughed, and I looked at the soldiers. "Now, to the nest. If we finish it off, the capital will get a breather. Ready?" They shouted "Yes, sir!", morale at an all-time high.
Entering the forest as we followed the tracks Torren had told us about, Ariel spoke in a slightly sad tone. "Eric, these monsters... they're so brutal. In the sea, not even sharks are desperate enough to kill something like that."
So I explained to her. "Sharks kill only to eat, it's a necessity for them, whereas these monsters, Ariel, they attack only to kill. Sometimes they eat the humans they kill, but sometimes they just kill by instinct, as if that were their only goal..."
Ariel was shocked by this, which further increased her determination to kill monsters.
Before long, we arrived at the first nest of monsters I'd met since coming to this world.
--- Cat Notes ---
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