"You… want to come with us too?" Ning looked at her with a weird expression.
"Is that wrong? Do I not get to see what kind of man my daughter's tutor is?" she asked.
"Oh, no. You can. I mean, yes you can come with us. I was just surprised you know. I thought a queen would be too busy to just go around the sea," Ning said.
"I am not that kind of queen. My husband handles everything, so I am rather free to do whatever I want." The queen smiled at him. "I will see you in a bit then."
"Okay, I will wait until you give me the permission to summon." Ning bowed toward the queen and walked away.
The queen watched him with careful eyes with a mysterious smile on her face. Ning couldn't help but wonder why that smile.
Ning went over to Janice and gave her the good news.
"I get to see Occy? Yeah!!" she celebrated when she heard him.
"Wait, I don't know if it will be Occy or not. I'm not sure yet. I will try Occy, but you will have to do with other beasts too, okay?" Ning asked.
"What?" the princess exclaimed. "But I want Occy."
"I can't guarantee Occy."
"No!" she shouted. "I want Occy. I want Occy, Occy, Occy!" she started throwing tantrum all of a sudden.
Joann walked up and tried to calm her down, but she kept shouting about wanting to see the octopus.
"Janice, you don't want friends other than Occy?" Ning asked.
"Other friends?" the princess finally calmed down.
"Yes, there are so many other beasts out there. Do you really want to be friends with just Occy?" Ning asked.
"N-No, I want to be friends with all of them," she said.
"Okay then, let's go."
Ning took the two girls over to the beach where the queen was already sitting in a chair with two women by her side.
"Is everything ready?" Ning asked her.
"Not yet, we're waiting for the captain to come," the queen said.
Not long after, one of the ships sailed up to them and the captain dropped from there into the water.
He swam up to the shore and knelt beside the queen.
"Your highness, what orders do you have?" he asked. At the same time, he constantly side-eyed Ning. The captain and others just like him were angry at Ning for humiliating them a week ago.
Grabbing the princess, summoning big beasts, and disappearing from right under their nose had left them feeling rather angry at Ning, and at themselves.
They were fortunate the person they considered an enemy was an ally. If he was not, they would be in a lot of trouble at the moment.
"In 5 minutes, my daughter's tutor will summon another beast. Let your colleagues know that everything is okay," the queen told him.
"Again?" the captain looked to the side.
"Is there a problem?" the queen narrowed her eyes.
"No, your highness. Your orders shall be fulfilled," the captain spoke.
"Good, you may return."
The captain nodded and jumped back into the water before grabbing onto a rope ladder and climbing to the top.
The ship then sailed away and entered the defense formation it had separated from.
"Come here child," the queen called her daughter.
"M-mother," the princess timidly walked up to her mother.
"How are your studies going? Are you being a good girl?" the queen asked.
"I-I am doing good, mother," the princess said.
Ning's eyes narrowed at the conversation between the two. It was so… stiff, and the princess was so scared of her own mother.
'What's going on here?' he wondered.
"Okay, go back," the queen let the princess walk away after a few more questions. Then, she stared into the ocean.
"Do you think of me as a cold mother?" the queen asked.
"Yes," Ning said without hesitation. "But I also think you're doing it on purpose."
"Hmm, quite perceptive of you," the queen said. "Yes, I'm purposefully being cold and sometimes even cruel to my own daughter. She is a princess and will definitely grow to be spoiled and maybe even rude. For that to not happen, I believe she needs to be scared of at least one of her parents."
"My husband could never be that. He's free-spirited and strong, but he can't be cruel. He doesn't have the heart to scold his own daughter. Due to that reason, I needed to step in and be the force that kept her in line."
"I hope you won't judge me too harshly for that," the queen turned to look at him.
"If that's what we are talking about, then I believe you are being a bit too cold towards your daughter. Yes, keeping her in line is good, but she doesn't need a scary mother to do that."
"A loving mother can keep her from being spoiled all the same. Or at least that's what I believe," Ning said. "But hey, what do I know? I don't have any children."
The queen chuckled. "You are too young to have children," she said. "Now go summon. I wish to see this monster of yours."
"Okay," Ning said and closed his eyes. A second later, a massive white light appeared from beneath the ocean.
The two ladies next to the queen suddenly brought out an umbrella and opened it while Joann did the same for the princess.
The water erupted and splashed all around them as the umbrella was barely able to protect the two royals from the water.
When the water no longer rained down from above, they got rid of the umbrella and looked at the beast that had appeared in front of them.
Floating atop the water was a massive blue-shelled Turtle with water flowing through its shell's crevices.
The shell itself was wide and accommodating, so there wasn't anything to worry about.
Ning turned to the ground with a smile on his face and said, "Shall we leave then?"
