Here and now, I am the only one who would be wondering if the future even had a future. But at the same time, my only worry was the future of the people I cared about. I can only hope that once I start my travels after reaching the capital that, I will be able to live a the life I have always wanted.
"So it is decided? We will skip heading to the academy?" I asked the two girls in front of me.
"I will follow you wherever you want to go, Faith," Adel replied. "Although my father might throw a fit."
"The old man always throws a fit, do not worry about him." I snorted. The old guy was crafty. He even tricked me into being queen! I will not fall for such underhanded tricks again! "Alright, we are two days away from the capital. I want to grab Grace, and then we will stop at the castle to tell the old man our plans. If he says no I will nicely ask him again until he says yes."
With our plans set, we continued our travels. And in two days, the gate leading into the capital could easily be seen. The only problem was…. "Why is the line not moving?"
"I am not sure what is going on, but there seems to be an issue at the gate. Many guards are encircling someone." Atolie answered as she poked her head through the curtain of the carriage.
"I will go take a look. Atolie, protect these two." I left these words and jumped out and flew into the air.
From what I could see, there was a young girl in torn clothes on the ground kneeling in front of the guards. "Please save my mother! The bandits took her!"
"Look, we already said we can not do anything. We have no idea where they even went. Kid, just get up now, or we will need to throw you out!" One of the guards yelled.
I couldn't help but frown. I mean, what were the guards doing? Were they not planning to make a report? I flew over and landed in the middle of the circle in front of the young girl. "Can I ask what is going on?" As I asked this, I made sure to put a bit of pressure on each of the guards.
"You! Who are you!?" The guard captain's expression was not good. I mean, it shouldn't be. I was altering the gravity on him, making him half kneel.
"I am Faith Cyrilia. I am sure your king has mentioned me?" I asked while tilting my head to the side. Seeing the expression on the guard captain's face, I could take that as a yes. "Now tell me what is going on?"
"Can you first release the pressure?" The guard captain asked. I thought for a moment before nodding and releasing the guards. I could hear sighs of relief as their gravity returned to normal. Finally free of my pressure, The guard captain finally gave me a proper greeting. "My name is Alex, captain of the gate guards. This young girl's mother was taken by a bunch of bandits. But she does not know where they went."
"How could I!? My mother pushed me away and told me to run to get help. I only witnessed them stripping and dragging her away! I was also almost…." The young girl was around fifteen. That was the age of an adult in this world, so she was pretty much fair game. But sometimes, those bandits did not even care about age. If they were too young, they would take them in and groom them to be wives. It was a sick practice.
But from the sounds of it, even if her mother was alive, she would want to be dead by now. I sighed and said: "First things first, you need to give this girl something to cover herself with. Then, second, you need to make an official report instead of a bunch of men staring at a young girl who was desperate to save her mother.
"By wanting to kick her away, you are not only going against the laws you have sworn to uphold but are also committing a crime of negligence. Just because people might be commoners does not mean you can ignore their plight. If this was some noble girl, you would have quickly acted. Do not think I do not know what is going on in your minds. Or do I need to ask the king himself why his guards are not willing to protect the citizens of this kingdom?" Each of my words seemed to strike a chord with these guards. I know they were not official knights, but they were still sworn to uphold the law and protect the citizens.
"Look, we can not just take every case with bandits. It is impossible to find the bandits now anyway. We can only have the girl go to an orphanage or find her family members." The guard captain did not seem to want to deal with this situation at all.
"I SEE!" A voice suddenly thundered through the sky. Everyone turned to look at the young girl who was standing there holding the him of her skirt up and walking over with puffed out cheeks.
"P-P-P-P-Pri-Princess!" The guard stuttered as he stared at Adel. I could see the beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he quickly knelt down.
"So you know I am a princess. Then, when Faith gave you her name, why did you not kneel or listen to her orders!?" Adel seemed very mad. I guess she did not like people looking down on me. "What was the order my father passed down concerning Faith Cyrilia!?"
"It…" The guard captain's whole back was now covered in sweat. "We are to treat her as if we were looking at the king himself…."
That bastard, old man! Was he trying to make me queen again!? When did such an order get passed down? I only told him to tell the guards and knights who I was so I would not get stopped when flying around! Never good ever comes with talking with that old man!
