Hey, everyone reading this, I don't have much to say right now, so go ahead and hopefully enjoy. Also heads up I stopped getting emails from the site so if you reviewed or PM'ed me, I probably won't see it. I will try my best to check my messages and reviews as I can.
So sit back, relax and enjoy
The morning sun rose, signaling the start of a new day as it's light-flooded into a room within the pure white citadel in the city of Ken. As the light traveled further into the room, it crossed over to the rather large bed in the room where a body could be seen lying in its soft, comfortable confines.
After a minute, the light began to illuminate the figure, revealing that the figure was, in fact, a very curvaceous woman.
With the light revealing her features, it started by showing her long, beautiful blonde hair that was splayed out on the bed, then her full figure that laid bare with no clothing. Along with that, the light soon revealed her long, smooth legs with luscious thighs connected to a very full rear and a naturally bald, neatly kept, and pink pussy in between her legs. Along with a full rear, she also had very wide hips that led to a slim stomach with perky, soft, F-cup breasts. Finally, the light began shining on her face, revealing her full beauty as she had soft, kissable lips and a cute nose.
However, the most interesting features of the woman's appearance were the long, pointed ears she had protruding from the sides of her head.
This was Celestine Lucross, a beautiful high elf, leader of the Holy Church of Eostia and to many, the reincarnation of the goddess, Larentia.
As the sunlight hit her face, Celestine lightly groaned as her face began lightly twitching until her eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing their beautiful emerald green color. As she slowly woke up, Celestine lifted herself to sit upright and rested her hands on her thighs.
"It's morning already?" She muttered as she rubbed her eyes while her body yearned for more rest. However, despite her body's protests, Celestine moved to the edge of her bed as she stood up, feeling no shame for being completely naked as she stretched her arms above her head.
As she let her arms down and began to go through her morning routine, she sighed as she thought about her recent visions and dreams over the last few days. It was a well-known fact throughout the region that Celestine was a seer and would often see glimpses of the future and perceive what would happen. However, recently, all of her visions had been the same and she was greatly confused given that this had never happened before in all her years.
Suddenly, a knock at her door broke her from her thoughts, as she called out, "You may enter."
At her call, the door opened and a woman was escorted in by two maids. The woman wore a long, dark blue Victorian dress that went all the way down to her ankles which allowed her black, low-heeled boots to be seen. She wore a brown leather belt around her waist that showed her wide hips and had small plates of armor to protect her hips. On top of that, she wore a small breastplate that hugged and protected her E-cup breasts with some extra armor along the sides of her abdomen. She was extremely beautiful as well with pink, kissable lips, a cute nose, wavy brown hair tied in a bun with her bangs parted in the middle and some strands framing her face, and blue eyes.
This woman was Claudia Levantine. Captain of the church's Holy Dawn Templars, Protector of Ken, and if Celestine were, to be honest, her closest friend.
"My lady, I hope you slept well." Claudia said as she gave the elf a light curtsey. Celestine smiled as she knew Claudia was a rather serious woman despite their years of friendship. She still hoped that she would start to relax a bit more when she was around others.
"Thank you, Claudia, and yes, I did sleep well." Celestine said as she finished brushing her hair before asking the maids if they could tell the cooks to prepare a morning meal for the two. At this, the maids quickly left, leaving the two alone as Celestine quickly turned to Claudia, her face no longer calm and now worried as she hugged Claudia while saying. "Thank you for coming so soon, Claudia."
"It's no trouble, Celestine, but is something the matter? You look as if something bad has happened." Claudia replied while hugging the high elf back, not caring for her nudity but noticing the subtle signs that the blond was troubled by something.
"I… I've had a confusing and troubling time these last few days." Celestine admitted as she released Claudia from her hug. "I will explain more over a meal as I still need to collect myself a bit and finish getting ready."
Claudia nodded as she said, "That is fine, my lady. Please, take your time."
With that, Celestine nodded as she went back to getting ready while Claudia wondered what she had meant by "troubling and confusing." She hadn't noticed anything unusual recently to her knowledge. Maybe something happened last night? No, she knew Celestine hadn't done anything differently. Her routine was fairly simple despite being a high-level official. However, instead of letting it cloud her thoughts, Claudia decided to be patient knowing Celestine would let her know what was going on, so there was no need to speculate.
While Claudia thought about what could have happened, Celestine quickly got dressed in her outfit, or at least what could be considered an outfit for Celestine. Claudia knew that elves had a rather unique sense of style compared to humans as they were a lot more liberal with showing their bodies. Despite her status, Celestine tended to dress rather promiscuously as her everyday outfit was similar to a strapless dress. The white fabric wrapped around her body, hugging her figure with the top held together by a gold ring at the center of her chest. However, it only really covered her breasts while the rest wrapped around her arms and legs. Meanwhile, a black leather belt hung from the gold ring with an ornament to weigh it down to cover her femininity and to appear somewhat decent when dealing with the people.
Luckily, the rest of her outfit consisted of more normal accessories such as a few pieces of jewelry and a pair of high-laced sandals with a golden circlet and crown made of leaves to complete her look.
Once she was finished, Celestine briefly looked herself over in the mirror then turned to Claudia and smiled, signaling she was ready to go. With that, the two walked out of Celestine's room, making sure it was closed as they left. From there, the two of them began making their way to the dining hall in silence, neither minding as both were deep in their own thoughts.
Sadly, this didn't last long as the two quickly arrived at the dining hall, however, upon arriving, they found a maid standing outside the door and were confused.
"Good morning, my lady," The maid greeted as she gave a light bow at the waist, "I'm afraid that the dining hall is currently being cleaned so you will be unable to enjoy your meal inside."
At this, Celestine nodded, before she asked, 'In that case, might you gather a few of the other maids to prepare the balcony for me and Claudia. The weather looks perfect for us to enjoy a meal outside."
At this, the maid bowed again as she quickly left before Celestine and Claudia walked towards the balcony where they found several maids setting up a table and chairs with their meal for the morning.
As Celestine and Claudia sat down, a blond maid set the tableware and cutlery in front of the two as she quickly took their cups and poured both Claudia and Celestine their tea. Handing them their tea, Celestine and Claudia both took a sip as they enjoyed the taste of the tea.
"Hmm, the tea is lovely today. It..I can't put my finger on it, but this isn't like anything I tasted." Celestine commented while sipping the fresh tea as Claudia took a sip of her own. "Thank you, Maria."
At this, the named Maria nodded with a light smile as Claudia took a sip and said. "I agree."
Maria thanked the goddess reincarnated and the female knight and bowed her head as she quickly moved to seat the two. Celestine gave the woman a thank you with a light smile while Claudia just muttered thanks as the maid kept back as a few more entered with a trolley carrying their meals and some tea for them to drink.
Quickly, they set the respective meals and drinks down in front of the two women and moved out of their way to give them their privacy and to get back to their tasks. Leaving Celestine and Claudia alone with only the blond maid that waited for them in the background in case they needed anything but was far enough not to eavesdrop on them.
"I am not familiar with this taste but it's rather nice. Wonder if it's imported, cause it reminds me of the batch from the East." The female knight wondered where the staff had acquired the tea from. She would have to request they purchase another batch of it.
The two then began quietly eating their meal before it got cold. Claudia finished first, using the napkin to wipe any crumbs off her face from the lovely pastry that was served with the meal. Celestine smiled as she finished off her food before taking a deep sigh and starting.
"How is the war effort?" she finally asked. Honestly, she hated this part of her day.
"Not good, we got a message an hour ago from the front. They found a small group of goblins had managed to overrun one of the northern villages…" Claudia said before stopping,
Celestine stared at her teacup. She didn't need to hear the rest to know what happened. Goblin attacks only took place at night, due to their small stature and weak bodies. They had to attack in groups to be effective and attacking at night helped in keeping them covered. They attack quickly and fast, quickly overwhelming their targets.
They killed every male while taking the livestock for food and capturing the females to use them as breeding stock and for pleasure. It didn't matter the age of the creature, as goblins could reproduce at an alarming rate where they could create a small army in a matter of days.
"I see, I assume that they are already looking for the goblins' hideout?" Celestine asked, the knight nodded her head.
"We have some men searching the surrounding forest and caves. They will find them." Claudia said with certainty, but she also knew the damage had already been done. The village that was attacked was a farming village that helped supply Ken and many other fortresses in the area.
The loss would be felt. They would do what they could to help offset it but they could only do so much. Celestine's heart went out to them, a fact she learned early on was one couldn't save everyone, no matter how much one wanted to.
"Thankfully, that was the worst of it." Claudia said, hoping to lift the mood. "Maia and Alicia both have confirmed their missions have been completed and will be coming to Ken to report in the coming days."
Oh, that was good, it had been a while since either of the two girls had come to visit. Maybe she should invite the other girls to come to Ken in celebration.
"It's been only a couple of months since the two had become part of the seven shield maidens but they are eager to prove themselves." Claudia said as Velestine nodded in agreement. The Princess Knights were pretty much the official name of the people Celestine trusted above anyone else. It was only established a few decades ago but all of the original members had died or retired.
Claudia was the oldest and senior of their little group. Lou Lou the halfling inherited the status when her older sister returned home leaving her younger sister in her place. Those two were the senior members of her group while the others are fairly new recruits. She had chosen them based on her visions of the future where she saw the girls accomplishing great things. Speaking of visions…
"My visions haven't changed…" Celestine started, causing her friend to pause mid-sip of her tea, raising a brow in confusion.
"Your visions?" Claudia asked once more, "Wait, what do you mean they haven't changed?!" Claudia looked at the blond in alarm. In all her years of knowing the goddess reincarnate she had never heard something like this happening. As a seer, Celestine always said that her vision tended to be random in nature and come out of nowhere with no pattern. "What were the visions about? Was it the war?"
Celestine shook her head. "Thankfully, no," The elf's eyes narrowed as she thought of her vision.
"For the last couple of days, I've been seeing the same thing. A rather tall and fit male human. He had a beige cloak covering his body and I couldn't make out much of his face but I did see that he had blond hair…"
Claudia went silent, placing her fingers on her chin in thought. She didn't know many blond males or rather, the ones she did know were not exactly tall or fit in any way. The few who could potentially fit that description were long gone. One was Alicia's father but he had died many years ago.
"What else did you see in your visions?" The captain of the dawn templars asked. Celestine hummed in thought. "A forest. I was in a forest and while I was walking, I saw a man sitting on a large rock. When I tried to call out to him, He just told me it's not time yet."
"It's not time yet?" Claudia repeated, seeing the elf nod her head confirming what she heard. That could mean a lot of things but part of her was wary. The vision could be an omen of something bad to come. She couldn't see a reason Celestine would leave Ken for any reason especially alone. Maybe she should request additional guards for the citadel.
"That's all he said before the vision ended. Each time, whoever he is, keeps telling me, 'It's not time yet.' If only I could see his face, I think I would have a better clue of how to proceed."
"I wish I could be of more assistance to you, Celestine." Claudia said with a slight frown on her face.
Celestine shook her head, reassuring her friend on the issue. "It's fine, Claudia. I feel better just being able to tell you about this. Maybe one day, the answer will come to this peculiar vision. For the moment, I feel glad to be able to vent my emotions to you."
Claudia gave a friendly smile to the elf and thanked her. When suddenly, Celestine's eyes widened and her body stiffened as Claudia quickly got to her feet, catching the attention of the maid on the other side of the room.
The two quickly went to Celestine's side as Celestine began blinking in shock. Before either the knight or maid could say anything, the elf quickly stood up and left the room with an alarmed expression on her face. The female knight didn't hesitate to follow after her, leaving the maid behind unsure of what to do.
Celestine was rather quick in her steps, seemingly moving with no purpose. But the knight didn't lose pace. Thankfully or worryingly, the maids or guards weren't wandering the halls like they normally did. Or rather, it seemed like Celestine was avoiding them. But how? Damn, it didn't make any sense.
Eventually, Celestine stopped when she stepped onto the citadel garden. The garden had a large cherry tree in the center covered with all kinds of flowers. This area was kept private such that only gardeners and Celestine had access to this place. She had quickly looked around as if searching for something or someone.
"My lady, what happened?" Claudia quickly questioned, as she caught her breath and her hand gripped her sword.
"You didn't see it?" Celestine said as her eyes still were wide, showing how confused she was.
"See what?" Claudia asked, her grip tightening. Her eyes did a quick scan of the area and confirmed there was no one there. Celestine looked at her as if she was lying, before taking a deep breath.
"I saw him…" That was all Celestine said, taking a moment to gather her thoughts but this made the knight more on edge. But held her tongue. "I saw him in the dining room, I saw him running through the halls and leading me here."
"Celestine, I didn't see anything. All I saw was you looking shocked and then running off. I followed after you the whole time but there wasn't a soul in sight." Claudia answered. This was off-putting and she was concerned for her friend.
Celestine's eyes suddenly found the floor interesting and a few thoughts crossed her mind as she suddenly felt the need to lay down. She was certain about what she had seen. There had been a person in the dining room, she couldn't have imagined it.. could she? Claudia wouldn't lie to her about this, she had been nothing but loyal and honest with her throughout the years. It didn't make sense. The two fell silent and Celestine felt the urge to go back to her room to rest.
"I think I need to lay down." Celestine said as Claudia's eyes softened as she took a step close towards the blond when Celestine felt something shift in the air and turned her head in the direction of a small gathering of mana that was beginning to form a portal. Claudia quickly pulled Celestine behind her with her sword already pulled out to confront whoever was on the other side. In just a few seconds, someone exited the portal.
"A girl?" Claudia exclaimed as her jaw dropped in shock once more. She fully expected a demon or monster or even a perverted old wizard to have been the cause of the portal but not a girl who barely reached her midsection.
The girl was rather pale with green eyes and had violet red hair tied into twin tails with a black ribbon. She was wearing a long magenta and yellow cloak with a large hood that was held by a large turquoise jewel in the middle. In her hand was a wooden staff with yellow gems protruding from the top. But that wasn't the most eye-catching thing about her because aside from her cloak, she was practically naked with the only thing covering her body being some kind of magenta strip that hugged her body to her neck, arms, and legs, and heart-shaped appendages covering her nipples and crotch area.
"Oops…I think I put too much into that spell. Oh well." The girl said with an impish smile and blinked when she noticed the two females in front of her.
"Celestine!? Is that you?!" The girl shouted in surprise and happiness. As she quickly got closer, causing Claudia to flinch as she quickly reacted to the girl by pulling out her blade.
"Stop right there, who are you and how did you enter the citadel!?" Claudia stated loud and firm, she wasn't in the mood for this. First, Celestine's odd visions, then, her seeing and chasing things that weren't there, now some random girl had managed to teleport her way into the home of one of the most powerful women in Eostia? Today wasn't off to a good start.
"Nol?" Celestine spoke up lightly, her eyes light up as she seemed to have recognized the girl. She motioned for the knight to lower her arm, to which she reluctantly complied. Claudia sheathed her sword and wondered how she knew this young girl. Soon after, Claudia noticed her pointed ears; she was an elf.
"That's my name, still I didn't expect to see you again. The last time I saw you, you were even shorter than me." Nol said with a cheeky grin, causing the blond to giggle lightly.
"It has been a while, hasn't it…" Celestine said a bit downtrodden, she quickly suppressed her emotions and asked calmly. "I mean no disrespect, Nol but why are you here?"
"Oh, that was an accident honestly. I was trying to do a long-distance teleport to your-not important. I guess I misjudged the amount of magic I used and the distance." Nol said as she scratched her cheek with a nervous laugh. "Oh yeah, when I teleported in, I might have overloaded the barrier that you guys have…so you might want to get that fixed."
Celestine sighed. That will need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Most people didn't know but ken had a large barrier that prevented people from just teleporting into the city.
The fact that Nol not only managed to do so but also overloaded it meant that she would need to redo the barrier or have some local mages take a look at it to make sure it wasn't too damaged.
"If you want, I can go take a look at the barrier and see if I can fix it or maybe upgrade it since I'd feel bad if I don't at least do that." Nol said as she tried to offer something for her mistake.
The goddess hummed in thought. Honestly, Nol would probably do a much better job at fixing the barrier than she would. And given who the red-haired elf was, Celestine knew she never would have intentionally done something like this. So without too much thought, she agreed.
"That's fine by me. We can go check on the barrier to see how to fix it. But first, would you like something to eat, Noll? After all, I assume you haven't gotten anything to eat yet." Celestine said kindly and quickly offered the girl some food.
"Ooh, well I don't want to be rude. I accept your offer." Nol quickly accepted with a large smile. Celestine motioned the girl to follow her as Claudia kept silent and walked with them behind. As the two elves chatted, Claudia made a mental note to have more guards patrol the area and wondered how the two women knew each other.
(A hour later)
"That was some good food!" Nol stated as she followed Celestine through the halls.
After fixing the barrier and grabbing some more food for Nol, Claudia had reluctantly left the two alone with Celestine assuring her not to talk to some of the guards about security. Nol's eyes darted all over, wanting to enjoy the unique sight in front of her. Seeing this made the blond elf smile.
Only a small handful of people had the honor of making it this far into the white citadel. Mostly because this part of the large castle was where she resides and only a few workers and friends were allowed this far. So not many people really knew how this part of the castle looked, making Nol one of the few who did.
The tall elf then walked into a room, motioning for Nol to follow her. Without hesitation, she walked in. The room was quite suffocating in Nol's opinion. It wasn't particularly large but the walls were covered in bookshelves and had in front of it a large oak desk, with a couple of papers scattered around. A fireplace with a few paintings on it and three bottles of alcohol that seem to be new given they hadn't been opened. The swords on the wall were a nice touch though.
"This room could really use more sunlight." Nol commented as she noticed the one window that was closed and covered. She saw Celestine sit at her desk. Nol quickly took the seat in front of the desk, sitting with her legs crossed. "So, what do you need to talk about?"
"It's kind of obvious, huh?" Celestine commented with a half-hearted smile.
"Kind of, I couldn't help but notice that you seem rather stressed. Despite me breaking your barrier, you seem oddly happy to see me. I know we don't really know each other given I only saw you a few times when you were still a few years old. So something must have happened for you to willingly let me in and feed me a bunch of your food." Nol stated with confidence, that she really was able to figure that out in a short amount of time. "So tell me what I can help you with?"
Celestine sighed as she tried to word her thoughts. After a moment, she began to explain what had been going on with her constant visions and the male in them. Nol, for the most part, kept quiet, listening keenly as she took everything in. When the young elf finished, Nol hummed as she spoke out, "I have no clue what to say."
"I figured…" Celestine said with a disappointed look on her face as Nol expanded on her thoughts.
"Sadly, seers or oracles are very rare even among elves. Even though I only know a couple, each one is different in how they see things. We can never really accurately confirm what kind of visions they have. Still, I've never heard of a seer seeing only a single thing. It's rather interesting, to be honest." Nol smiled in thought, this was a challenge no doubt, and one that has caught her full attention.
In all her years, she never heard of such a thing and she needed to know more. She knew of a few people who could help but at the moment, she didn't want to overwhelm Celestine. For now, she should wait and see and document whatever she could find.
"Well if you want, I would appreciate all your help Nol. I can offer you a room for you to stay in." Celestine offered the red-haired elf, who shook her head.
"Nah, I'll be fine, can't sleep in anything other than my own bed. But I think the best course of action is to-what are you staring at?" Nol noticed that Celestine's eyes had widened and glazed over and quickly got closer to the other female. She was having a vision, perfect timing!
"Where are you?" Celestine heard a voice similar to her own ask. This was odd, the voice seemed to come from herself but it wasn't her. The person's eyes roamed around making Celestine realize the familiar setting. It was the library in the castle/citadel.
The person hummed before she began to walk deeper into the library as if she knew where she was going. The library was particularly large, with rows upon rows of bookcases reaching high into the ceiling but it was large enough to take some time before reaching the back area.
"There you are." The voice said as she turned the corner Celestine let out a silent gasp. In front of her was the same made from her visions. The man turned, allowing Celestine a better view of the man, if only slightly. He had blond hair with bright blue eyes and whiskers? What did this mean?
"You should be resting…" The man said, making Celestine shiver as she suddenly felt a rush of emotion hit her all at once but why?
"I will be fine…I need to stretch my legs anyway. Besides, I want to be here for this moment." The female said, the male paused as he sighed lightly. The woman walked up to the man and eventually stopped in front of him.
"If that's what you wish…" The male said, then reached up and grabbed a bright blue book on the bookshelf. He opened it before closing it and placing it on the shelf once more. Celestine raised an eyebrow as she wondered why he just did that. But her question was answered when the bookshelf moved back and swung open, revealing a hidden passage. This stunned the elf, the man looked at her directly and asked. "Do you still want to do this?"
"Yes." That was all the voice said. When Celestine was taken away from the vision, in front of her was Nol's face that was way too close to her own.
"WHAT DID YOU SEE! WHAT DID YOU SEE!" Nol asked as she had a paper and quill in hand ready to take down the notes she needed. Celestine inhaled, trying to calm the storm of emotions she was feeling. She never felt this confused, happy, sad, and excited all at once.
This was also the first time she had a vision from the view of another person. Who was the owner of the voice…who was the man? Eventually, she told Nol every single detail she can recall. Nol quickly jolted it down, moving her quill as fast as her hand let her. After a few minutes, Celestine had told everything to Nol who was reading what she wrote.
"Hmm, I have a few theories about this but I will hold off on them. So ready to go?" Nol said as she placed her papers down. Celestine blinked before tilting her head in confusion.
"Go? Go where?" She asked Nol, who hopped off her chair and hands on her hips, a large smile on her face.
"The library, duh. This is the first time in how many days since you had the same vision and now suddenly you have this one. Don't you want to confirm if what your vision showed was true?" Nol explained excitedly, making Celestine break out into a silly smile at her enthusiasm.
Of course, she wanted to confirm her vision. However, a part of her felt nervous. Still, she needed answers to why this was happening and this was the best way to do it.
"Well, I don't have much going on so I don't see why not." Celestine said as she got up from her seat and the two began to go to the library.
The trip was silent for the most part as Nol was muttering to herself. She ignored it as she was in her own thoughts.
So many things had happened in the span of 2-3 hours that it was shocking. Was this perhaps the work of fate or a higher power of some kind? She didn't know, but she hoped this wouldn't come back to bite her in the end. After passing a few maids and two dawn templars who seemed to have not noticed Nol, the duo eventually came to the large doors leading to the castle library.
With no hesitation, Nol opened the door and walked in. Celestine followed, her eyes scanning the room despite spending a lot of time here. She now felt as if she was seeing it in a different light.
"I guess the record keeper isn't up yet." Celestine commented as she noticed that the kind old lady wasn't at her usual spot or putting books and papers away. Nol looked around, took a deep breath, and sighed.
"Nothing like the smell of paper. So where was the man in your vision standing?" Nol quickly got to the task at hand. The tall elf nodded and began walking the same path that she saw in her visions. When she got to the end, she turned around the corner, and there it was. The same bookshelf, the same books on it, granted the books seem to be older than what she saw in the vision.
"Interesting…" Nol commented, shaking Celestine from her thoughts. She walked up to the bookshelf, leaning forward to examine it. "There is a spell on that bookshelf."
"A spell?"
"Yep, it's actually a simple spell. Basically, it creates a small area that you ignore but can't notice it. Like it's always just outside of your field of view and you never fully grasp it. Out of sight, out of mind. Quite smart actually." Nol explained as she nodded in approval.
Celestine had to admit, it really was smart. Hiding a secret passage with a spell that most if not all humans wouldn't naturally feel or even notice and one that pushes your attention away on purpose.
It was simple but effective.
"Then how come I never noticed it…" Celestine said softly mostly to herself, before Nol called out to her, grabbing her attention.
"So which book was it that activated the secret passage?" She asked as Celestine's eyes scanned the bookshelf until it landed on a bright blue book, the very same one in her vision. She grabbed it and noticed that the words on the cover had faded from age. She opened it to the first page while Nol jumped to look at the title.
"The knight and the goddess?" Nol read out loud as her eyes darted to Celestine who had a happy smile.
"I remember this. My mother used to tell me this story every night when I was younger. It was my favorite story." Celestine said as she skimmed the hummed once more in thought.
"For all we know, this is probably a first edition copy of the book so you best make sure it's taken care of." Nol commented, making the blond elf agree. It would be a waste if the book got damaged because of her carelessness.
With a bit of reluctance, she placed the book back, and just like that, the wall began to move and shifted open.
Nol cast a spell to create a small ball of light she had floating inside to show a set of stone stairs leading down. The red-haired elf began descending with Celestine following behind her at a slower pace.
With each step, Celestine felt her heart begin to beat faster in her chest. She wondered what they would find at the bottom. Would she finally meet the man in her visions? Would she find the reason for her visions? She still had so many questions.
"Oh, I see a door!" Nol exclaimed as the ball of light illuminated a small wooden door at the bottom of the stairs. Without hesitation, she pushed it open and the two walked in. The ball of light entered after them and the room was lit.
"What in the-?" Celestine said in confusion, the room was fairly large which surprised the two. It was filled to the brim with bookshelves but only a small handful of books. There were a few diagrams placed on the wall and scattered about on a few tables and desks. Despite its seeming state of abandon, not a speck of dust or spiderwebs could be seen. The room was completely clean. "A workshop?"
"Most likely belonged to a mage or wizard. The same thing really, but still, this is a major find." Nol hoped to grab one of the books remaining on the shelf and began to examine the contents while Celestine busied herself by looking at the papers on a nearby desk. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed that this wasn't a language she knew.
"It's written in elven. This probably belonged to- what's that?" Nol cut herself off when she noticed something turning around. Looking up as well, the blond elf saw what she was talking about. In the back of the room, on a stone pedestal, was a book.
The two stopped what they were doing and walked towards it. At the foot of the pedestal, the two noticed that the book was made with rather high-quality leather. There wasn't anything written on the cover or spine of the book.
Taking a deep breath, the taller of the two reached out and grabbed hold of the book. As she held the book, Celestine felt oddly calm as if the weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders. Opening it, she couldn't help but feel very confused.
"What's wrong?" Nol asked. Celestine turned the book towards her and let her see. "What kind of gibberish is this?"
Celestine nodded. The book was very unsightly to look at. For one, the person who wrote it seemed to have poor handwriting but also the fact that it was a mixture of elven and a whole other language neither of the two knew about. It was clear that the writer didn't want the contents of the books to be known by anyone other than themself.
"I think we should head back…" Nol commented, feeling a bit tired. The reborn goddess agreed. With that, the two left the room but before she walked up the stairs, Celestine gave the room one last glance before leaving.
"Where did you find this?" Claudia asked as she flipped through the book that the two elves had found. After leaving the secret room and making sure it was properly closed, they quickly headed to Celestine's private study. By the time Claudia came in to check on them and get some lunch, the two had filled a few papers with notes and theories.
"It was in a hidden room in the library, kind of obvious place to have one really." Nol said as she lay on the floor with her eyes closed. Clearly, trying to figure this out was taking a lot out of her and it was barely even high noon.
Claudia didn't like the idea of there being hidden rooms in the castle. Mostly because if she didn't know about them, then they could be used against Celestine.
Still, the fact they managed to find this meant something and it was just a matter of what. And figuring out the contents of this book was the key, she knew it in the pit of her stomach.
"Unfortunately, unless we figure out this strange language, we won't get anywhere." Celestine commented as she too was resting her eyes. Claudia felt sympathy for her friend.
"It might be best if we had some help with this." Nol said. Claudia nodded in agreement, this kind of task was beyond her but she didn't think asking for some help wouldn't hurt.
"I'm not sure…I don't like the idea of people knowing about this." Celestine commented as she lifted her head and rubbed her eyes.
"That's fine but honestly, this is beyond the two of us. How about this, I have a few friends who might be able to help. A few extra heads can't hurt, and I will make sure they don't tell anyone." Nol proposed, jumping up on her feet as if she hadn't been laying half-dead on the floor a moment ago. "I will show a few of the notes to them and see what they can do."
Celestine paused in thought, weighing her options in front of her. "Okay, I will trust your judgment."
"Roger, I will come back later and hopefully we can figure this out." Nol said as she grabbed a few pieces of her notes and grabbed her staff that was laid on the floor then waved it to create a portal that she walked through.
"Didn't she just fix the barrier?" Claudia said as she felt a headache from the situation caused by Nol. Celestine gave a small giggle but kept silent for the most part. No one knew that Nol while fixing it, had changed the barrier to allow her to enter and leave Ken without any issue.
Feeling a bit hungry, Celestine asked Claudia to tell the maids to begin cooking lunch.
With that, Claudia left, leaving Celestine with her thoughts. Her hand rubbed the leather book. There were so many questions left unanswered and Celestine was determined to figure them out no matter how long it took.
(Flash Forward)
It had been about a month since that day when Celestine had found that book. After that day, she and Nol went to work on figuring out the text.
Nol had traveled away to visit various people she knew who she thought could help. For the most part, they turned up empty but around the third week, it finally paid off when Nol came to Celestine with some help in the form of two elves who volunteered their services.
With the additional help, they managed to figure out a very important fact. The book was written in five different ways. Four eleven language variants: high elf, northern, dark elf and ancient elven, and an old version of an eastern language.
Thankfully, when they figured that out, things began to progress a lot smoother. The four elves were very knowledgeable, plus, Claudia occasionally worked night and day when she could to help them figure out the text.
The biggest issue was still the old eastern language. Celestine had eventually sent a summons to her friend and fellow Princess Knight, Kaguya.
It had taken a week for her to receive a response and when she did, Kaguya gave her a detailed alphabet chart of the old language that she had transcribed for her. And even sent a letter that she was curious about the details of the book and offered to visit to help.
This was unusual as Kaguya never showed interest in anything other than her religion and her people. To have her willingly come out of her own accord was enough to a smile to her face for the whole day. Kaguya had arrived two days before then and was quick to get to work with everyone.
Rumors had circulated about this, mostly for the guards and maids. It was very unusual for them to see Celestine so riled up just before the sudden appearances of the three elves and another Princess Knight. People started talking. Most people assumed that Celestine was working on an alliance with the elf tribes and it explained why Kaguya had appeared recently.
Others assumed the worst and worried that something big was about to happen with the war. The rumors even reached the nobles and church which caused Claudia and Celestine much grief.
At the moment, Celestine had just arrived back in her room, exhausted. She had just come back from a long meeting with the local nobles who had badgered her about the reason she allowed the elves to remain in her guestrooms. She tried to explain it was a personal issue she was dealing with but the nobles did not like that reason and kept hounding her over it.
Eventually, Claudia stepped in and made them back off. It was safe to say the men were on Claudia's list after what they did. Honestly, she was happy Claudia stood by her choice even if she had originally disagreed.
"The nerve of them…"Claudia muttered as she watched Celestine sit down on her bed. It was obvious this was stressful for her and she would need to figure out how in the hell they found out about Nol and the other guests. She needed to figure out who leaked that information and as there were a few people on her radar, she would have to be careful about it.
"They are just concerned, the war front has been rather quiet the last few days." Celestine tried to justify what had happened. She was right. Besides the goblin incident and a few ogre sightings, the front had been rather quiet. It got to the point where most of the men were bored.
Celestine, however, knew this quiet wouldn't last so she had a meeting to help reinforce the front and bring in fresh men to replace the injured, new equipment and gear. Making sure there was a steady line of recruitment and so on.
"Perhaps, but it still doesn't justify the way they acted. Men of their status shouldn't be acting in the manner that they did." Claudia stated clearly wasn't happy with what happened.
"I know, but we should understand where they are coming from." Celestine said. All she wanted was to close her eyes and take a nap. Despite it being two hours past noon, she still needed to rest for a bit.
Before she could say her intent to Claudia. A loud banging on her door alerted the two and soon after, the doors were barged open to show Nol had kicked open her door.
"Nol!" Claudia yelled as she felt her temper rising. Being in a terrible mood and suddenly having to deal with Nol wasn't something she was willing to entertain.
"Sorry, but you have to see what we discovered! Follow me!" Nol excitedly stated, causing both of them to quickly forget their problems and follow after the elf. It had to be something big for Nol to be this excited.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the library and headed to the back corner. Thankfully, the library was empty so they managed to quickly get to the secret room. Now, the room was brightly lit and two elves were hovering over one of the tables that had some notes on it.
The first elf was fairly short with long wavy purple hair, gold eyes, and very large breasts that drew even female attention. This, however, wasn't even taking into account her outfit which was extremely outlandish and scandalous. The first thing that caught her attention was the black slingshot suspenders, with tiny bronzed plates covering her nipples which were connected to the front and back of her pants which were equally sexual, being made of leather that was cut to show off her hips, waist and a good portion of her thighs and dark red heels. She had a cut-off black top with metal shoulder protectors that covered up to her collar and long red gloves. She had a black witches hat with red markings on her head with two blue gems hanging from a silver clip. To complete her look she had a red and black cloak.
The next elf had dark red eyes and very long blond hair that became purple towards the end with it going past her butt. Her outfit, if it could even be considered one, was basically a purple sling bikini that barely covered her nipples and a private area and like the other elves, she had even larger breasts compared to the others in the room, that measured 120 cm. Over her shoulders was a purple cape with white fur trim and halfway down the material spreading out into pointed segments. She had purple matching gloves and stockings with white fur trim, and gold-colored heels.
Claudia just couldn't understand how they could walk around with these outfits as if they were normal and wondered if magic is the reason the outfit was able to be held together.
Celestine gave the two females a small smile as she called out to them, "Dinelynd and Misery, how are you two this evening?"
The two looked up at her. Dinelynd gave a small nod and smirk at the trio while Misery smiled and responded. "Nice to see you too, Lucross. We've been okay though we could go for something to eat."
"I will have some cooks make something for you. So, what did you discover?" Celestine asked them but noticed something odd. "Where is Kaguya?"
"I'm right here." A young female voice suddenly came out from behind Celestine, Claudia, and Nol, startling the three of them.
"Argh! I hate when you do that! How are you so quiet!?" Nol complained, making the black-haired girl shrug.
Kaguya was a young teen, having just turned 19 years old, with short black hair and garnet-colored eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing a pink silk robe with matching pants she called hakama.
It was obvious to anyone who looked at her that she wasn't from Eostia, coming from the far east past the oceans. Despite that, Kaguya was someone Celestine trusted and was part of her inner circle, the Seven Princess Knight.
"It's a pleasure to see you, Lady Celestine, and you too Claudia." Kaguya ignored Nol in favor of addressing the other two women with a light bow. "I apologize but I had to step out to take a small break."
"It's okay, Kaguya. I understand." Celestine stated. She knew the girl needed her rest. After all, she willingly left the city that she was in charge of to help her in figuring out her little project. She turned to the other elves and asked. "So what is it you discovered?"
"Well honestly, I'm not sure how to even put it." Dinelynd stated as her hand cupped her chin. "It's honestly…odd if I say."
"What she is trying to say is that the book holds, in simple terms, a summoning spell or ritual if you want to be precise." Misery said with a puzzled look.
"A summoning spell! Is that why you two look disappointed?" Nol who was visibly excited then saw the looks on Claudia and Celestine's faces.
"Are you sure?" The blonde elf asked as she couldn't help the sad look on her face.
"Well yeah?" Nol said, "Okay, why do you look like someone killed your favorite animal?"
"Forgive me, I might not know much about magic but even I know that there is no such thing as a summoning spell or even a ritual." Claudia pointed out. She was right, there was no such thing as a summoning spell or ritual. It had something to do with the untold rules of magic and such. There had been attempts to make such a spell but none had succeeded."It's why I have a hard time believing this."
"That's why it's such an amazing find! Cause not only is there proof of such a thing exists, but this book was written by none other than the 'Goddess' herself." Nol exclaimed, puffing her chest out as she finally got the response had wanted both women were now shocked.
While the other elves and humans knew of the discovery they didn't know about who had written the book. All eyes were on Celestine, being the one who is considered the goddess' reincarnation. They were curious as to how she would respond.
The elf in question was silent. For many years, she was told about her past life. But unfortunately, there wasn't much that she had known personally about the goddess other than some texts, stories, and what other people told her.
This would be the only actual relic of the goddess' life that she would see herself. She took a deep breath to calm her beating heart and asked. "Are you sure?"
"No doubt in my mind." Nol gestured to the book which was grabbed carefully by Dinelynd who moved to a certain page and placed it on a nearby table. "This whole page was written in an older elf style so it took some time to figure out but it describes how they managed to figure out a way to do the impossible. Even documented the whole process. If it's true this will change the tide of your war."
"What does the spell even summon if it works?" Kaguya asked as she was curious herself.
"A hero." Misery stated, drawing eyes on her. "The text brings up mentions of a warrior or rather a hero that was summoned. And everything else seems to match that description and the evidence we found, it might very well be possible to replicate this."
Celestine didn't want to believe it but if this was true, then it could actually be possible to end the war that had plagued Eostia for many centuries even before her time. She hated to admit it but once she was brought to help lead the people, things haven't progressed how she would have liked.
Sure they hadn't done bad but for years they were in a constant stalemate with the legion to the north and the dark queen's army. If they had a small chance to end this war, then she, as the head of the church, was willing to try at least.
"My lady, are you actually considering this?" Claudia was astonished that Celestine was thinking about it. The talks of a hero from another world were ridiculous in themselves. Sure she wanted to end this war but following the words of an old book? It wasn't something she was willing to do.
"I am…what is needed for this?" The elf asked the others of her kind.
"Not much honestly, the stuff needed beforehand is rather small. We still have to figure out the minor details but it shouldn't take long to figure out." Dinelynd spoke up. It was true, the ritual just needed the proper circle and a few other things.
The issue the trio was having was if the circle could be drawn like normal with ink, or liquid metal or if they were to use blood to draw it. Each elf had their own perspective on how it could work but that was something for another time.
"Whatever is needed, just tell me and I will have some of the maids pick them up for you." Celestine stated, "How long will it take to get everything ready?"
"Hmm, well, from what we can see, maybe a week?" Nol guessed with her eyes closed in thought. The other two elves agreed with her estimate.
"That should be enough time to get what we need." Misery started with a nod. Celestine accepted this.
"Understood. In 7 days we will commence the summoning." She said before turning to the female knight. "Claudia, send a letter to the other fortresses. I want to have a meeting with the Seven Shield Maidens."
Claudia quickly saluted and went off to complete her task. When she left, the church leader turned to Kaguya. "I'm sorry for keeping you here so long."
"I understand. I offered to assist you in this matter after all. I already prepared for my absence in case you needed me here for a longer time. This won't affect anything back in Thron." Kaguya told the leader who looked relieved at what she heard.
"That's good to hear. Would you join me? It's been a while since we talked." Celestine asked and Kaguya gracefully accepted. Just as the two began to leave, Nol called out to Celestine.
"Oh yeah. Celestine, I found this in the room." The redhead walked up to celestine and handed her two things, an old letter, and a rather lovely ring. The ring had small intricate etchings on the inner side of the metal band, with a lovely blue diamond on top of it.
"Oh my, this is lovely." The blond elf couldn't help but comment, mesmerized by the piece of jewelry. She held the ring between her fingers and felt happy seeing it. "Why are you giving it to me?"
"It was found in the book and given whom the book belongs to, it wouldn't feel right taking it. Same with the letter, we already had it translated and I placed it inside so you can read later but there wasn't much on it, to begin with." Nol said.
Celestine slipped the ring on, noting how it perfectly fit her finger. She thanked Nol and the other two elves and left with Kaguya.
In the coming days, they would all be rather busy.
(One week later)
The day had finally arrived but for Celestine, the day couldn't come fast enough. Thankfully, the duties she had kept her mind busy. Still, when she had free time, her mind lingered on the ritual and of course, the book. Claudia had tried to persuade her not to go through with it and while a part of her agreed, the recent events that occurred made her think twice about it. No, she knew this was something that needed to be done.
Nol and the other elves had recently requested from her at least 5 roosters. She…didn't like to think too hard on the request but she complied and had her maids acquire them. She knew Nol took them somewhere and had disappeared for a few days before coming back.
Whatever they were planning, it seemed to have been going smoothly. She still wished she had the chance to Misery and Dinelynd.
After becoming the leader of the church, she didn't get a chance to see or talk to many elves. Even before then, she was only ever around one elf, said elf being her own mother.
Sadly, she never got the chance as she was busy with her own matters and they had whatever they were doing. Maybe once the ritual was over, she would have a chance to talk to them and hopefully become friends with them. Everyone seemed to be busy preparing, making her wish she could do something to help instead of staying on the sidelines.
By the time the sun began to set and the moon had come out, Celestine remained so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the knock on her door until it opened and someone walked in.
"Celestine? Are you okay?" The voice startled her a bit as Celestine had been sitting near her window looking out to the stars above her. When she turned to look she saw a blond woman who she instantly recognized.
"Alicia!" The elf exclaimed in joy, getting up from her seat, and walked over and hugged the young girl. "I didn't think you would arrive in time."
Alicia smiled at the elf and returned the hug. The girl was a pale 17-year-old with long blond hair with a white ribbon on top. She was wearing light blue bikini armor, a pair of brown gloves with white armor that was gold-lined covering her forearms, shoulders, and chest. In addition, she had a white-blue combat mini skirt that was a bit short, with brown stockings covered in white leg armor with heels.
"Sorry for the late arrival. Sadly, our carriage broke down on the way here. Other than that, neither I nor Prim had any other issues getting here." Alicia said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. Clearly, the carriage breaking down was a bigger deal but she was downplaying it.
"I will make sure that some people look it over before you leave." The elf promised, getting a grateful smile from the girl.
"Thank you, Lady Celestine." Alicia bowed her head to her.
"You know, you can just call me, 'Celestine,' Alicia." The older woman said to the teen, who shook her head.
"I can't it's…improper to talk to a woman of your status so casually, my lady." Alicia said with conviction. Celestine held a sad smile but understood the girl's feelings.
Alicia, despite being a member of the princess knights of the seven shield alliance, still yearned to prove herself in anyways she could, whether it was out on the field or as the leader of the Holy Knights of Iris, or as the bodyguard to her younger cousin, Prim.
"Still, I am glad you and Prim made it to Ken safely." She said with a kind smile to the younger girl. "Speaking of which, where is Prim?" Celestine wondered where the youngest member of the princess knights was.
"She wanted to get things settled into the guest room so I went on ahead. She figured by the letter you sent we would be here for a few days. Speaking of which, what is the meaning of the letter if I may ask?" Alicia asked. When she and Prim had received the letter, they were confused and a bit concerned.
It was mostly because calling a full meeting like this wasn't common, and the fact there haven't been any major attacks was worrisome. Leaving their homes, Feon and Ur didn't feel right but they made sure that they were prepared just in case something happened in their absence.
"I am sorry but I wanted to explain in person rather than in a letter that is taken. I will explain more in detail-"
Just then Marie, the blond maid, came from down the hall and walked up to the two females.
"Forgive me, my lady, but I've been asked by Lady Claudia to come to get you." Marie said. Alicia was confused about why the strongest female knight didn't come to get Celestine herself like normal.
"Oh, I guess they are almost done?" The elf asked and Marie nodded her head.
"Okay, thank you, Marie. If you can get Prim, bring her to the goddess chamber." Celestine told the maid who bowed and went off to do the task asked of her. The elf turned to the still confused Alicia and asked her to come with her. With a slight nod of her head, she agreed and the two were off.
The goddess chamber was a rather special place in the castle, this was an area that connected the more public area of the castle. While Celestine's and the special guest rooms were in a heavily protected area, the goddess chamber was open to visiting for a select few. It was a large white chamber with a glass roof, white marble tiled floors, and red carpet in the center that led into various rooms in the area. But the one thing that stood out in the room was the lone statue in the center of the chamber.
It wasn't just any statue mind you. It was the statue of the goddess, Larentia. Made of the finest white-cut marble by the best craftsmen in the land. It was fairly tall too, with it towering over the majority of the castle inhabitants. The statue was surrounded by a small garden filled with various colored flowers. Because of this, the room was considered sacred to many and was currently being defiled by three elves.
"I don't care what Celestine says or what this is for, I won't have you continue to desecrate this chamber anymore!" Claudia exclaimed with visible anger at the three elves who were each holding large vials of something red and shiny. She wasn't the only one who looked angry, next to the dawn templar leader was another woman who was equally upset.
The woman was around 5'6 with red hair tied into a bun, pale skin, purple eyes, and two beauty marks underneath her left eye. Just like the other woman, her breasts were also rather large but with noticeably wider hips and waist. She was wearing white armor similar to Claudia's except for the lack of shoulder pads. On her hip were a shortsword and a bow on her back with a few arrows in a small quiver. This was the second in command of the dawn templars and Claudia's lieutenant, Hong Ryeon.
"You are a guest in this castle, we will not allow you to desecrate this sacred chamber for whatever you intend." Hong Ryeon said with a stern tone. Unlike Claudia, she kept a cool mind but that didn't mean she wasn't upset. She owed Celestine, but that was a story for another time.
Celestine sighed. She should have known this would happen. Alicia was confused but when she noticed the red markings on the floor, her confusion turned into anger. She quickly took a step to join her teacher in arguing with the elves but Celestine placed her hand on the young girl's shoulder, stopping her. She looked at the elf, wanting to argue but the elf just shook her head at her.
"I will handle this," Celestine said. Her eyes scanned the area and saw two other people, a short-haired red-haired girl and a tiny orange-haired girl standing near Kaguya who was looking on at the five arguings.
The two beside the shrine priestess looked rather amused about the whole situation. The two blondes began walking towards them. Once they were close enough, the smallest one noticed them and called out to them."
"Heyy, Celestine, and Alicia!" The smallest one said, making Celestine smile gently.
"It's good to see you as well Lou Lou. I hope everything is okay back in the mountains." The elf asked as Lou Lou just gave a half heart shrug.
The girl was less than 4 feet tall and fair-skinned with violet eyes and with light orange shoulder-length hair that had four swirls into a ringlet. Out of all the people in the room, excluding elves, her outfit stood out the most.
On her head was a large puffy green hat, brown ankle boots with white thigh-high stockings, and a multi-green colored cloak that went to her knees that covered what was honestly the most eye-catching thing about her. Underneath the cloak, she was almost completely nude save for the three metal plates covering her nipples and lower region. Despite her appearance, the girl wasn't actually human. She was from a species called halflings.
"Oh? Sup Celestine, Alicia." The red-haired girl started causally making the female knight scowl. This girl looked honestly out of place compared to the other girls in the room.
She had unkempt red hair with her bangs being held back by a brown headband and red eyes. She was wearing a skin-tight red leotard with a fur collar that hugged her body nicely since it was unzipped rather low, it allowed anyone a good view of her large breasts and toned stomach.
She also was wearing blue chaps that were cut around the crotch area for extra movement, long brown leather boots, leather fingerless gloves, and a leather belt around her waist that held her short sword.
"Maia…" Alicia muttered clearly annoyed by the redhead casually addressing both her and Celestine. It was well known that Maia and Alicia aren't the closest of the princess knights. Opposites in a lot of ways, the only thing that kept them from going too far was the war and Celestine.
"So~ What is up with the elves?" Maia asked as she was confused about what was going on.
"They've invited guests of Lady Celestine." Kaguya chose this time to speak up appearing from behind Maia, scaring her.
"Fu-can you please stop doing that!" Maia exclaimed, shocked by Kaguya's sudden appearance and embarrassed that she got spooked by her.
The young shrine maiden didn't bother acknowledging the redhead and bowed to Celestine and Alicia.
"I'm sorry, lady Celestine, but Claudia seems to have issues about the ritual circles being drawn in the chamber. Maybe you can convince her." Kaguya said to Celestine who sighed. She honestly should have expected this. She silently agreed to Kaguya's remark and walked toward the arguing group, leaving the four girls behind.
"Okay seriously, why are we here?" Maia asked the obvious question to the girls. As far as the queen of mercenaries was concerned, there really wasn't a need for a meeting unless something major had happened recently that she and others were not aware of.
"I'm not sure. Prim and I only arrived recently. I tried to ask Celestine before we came but I couldn't get anything out of her." Alicia answered with her arms crossed in thought.
"It must be important if she made everyone come here." Luu Luu stated her opinions as she leaned against one of the pillars in the chamber. "Do you know, Kaguya? Cause it seems like you know what the elves are doing."
"Indeed I do. However, before you ask, Celestine wants to be the ones to inform the others." Kaguya started simply with a blank expression.
"Arrgh I hate waiting!" Luu Luu said as she collapsed to the floor dramatically, making Alicia roll her eyes at the halflings' actions. Just then, she noticed a short girl with pink hair walking toward them.
"Prim!" Alicia exclaimed loudly, making the girl start moving a bit faster to the girls.
Prim was the youngest of the princess knights and the second shortest. Despite her short stature and age, she was also rather busty. She had very long and curly pink hair reaching her lower back that was kept back by her tiara. She was wearing a lovely white and pink frilly dress that was a rather low cut that showed off her cleavage, with white gloves and white heels.
Given the fact that the dress parted in the middle and showed off her pink thong, that seemed out of place and made people look twice. Out of all the girls in the room, everyone would agree Prim fit the term princess the most and was seen as the younger sister of the group.
"Sorry I took so long. I wanted to get changed after the trip." Prim apologized to the other girls. Maia was quick to assure the girl.
"Nah it's fine, I get it, wanting to get out of your traveling clothes into a pair of fresh, clean ones." Maia said casually. Alicia narrowed her eyes at the mercenary's double entendre. Just then they noticed that the arguing stopped the girl's eyes then fell to the elves who started to resume what they were doing with that weird red shiny liquid.
Celestine walked towards them with Claudia behind her, while Hong Ryeon was watching over the elves but they noticed that Claudia seemed to have a look of shame on her face.
"I apologize for my shameful display, everyone." Claudia bowed to the girls, being one of the older members and Celestine's right hand, it fell on her to act accordingly.
"There is nothing to be apologizing about Claudia. I understand your anger and I promise that it won't do any permanent damage to the chamber." Celestine responded gently to the female knight. "Besides, I'm sure the others are curious why they were called here so suddenly and so late in the night."
"Yes, we are! So what is the deal with magic circles?" Luu Luu asked in a curious tone. Prim then noticed the three elves working on said magical circle, making her curious as well.
"Honestly, I don't know where to begin." Celestine said and started to just explain what had been going on lately, not sparing any small detail. She trusted the women in the room after all. It didn't take much time to explain why they were there and what was going on. As Celestine explained the details to the princess knights, the elves were carefully drawing the magical circle.
"So you found a book and it turned out to be from the goddess about how to summon a hero and you want to try it." Maia summarized the whole talk as Celestine nodded her head.
"Correct."
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Maia said nervously as she scratched the side of her face nervously.
"I agree with Maia." Alicia stated with conviction. "No offense my lady, but are we really taking the words of some old text that happened to be found by an elf that broke into your home seriously?" Celestine felt saddened by the turn of events. She expected this to happen but it doesn't mean that it didn't hurt anyways.
"I say go for it." Luu Luu said, making everyone look at her. "Look, she already made the choice to go through with it, she could have just done it without us knowing. But she sent for us to come here cause she wanted us to be here for this. Besides, I'm curious about this hero she will summon!" Prim and Kaguya nodded in agreement, although for different reasons.
"Besides, what if this ends up being what we need for the war with the dark queen?" Luu Luu said, making the others pause.
The unholy war. A war that had been fought for many centuries on end. A war that has been around as long as Celestine has been alive. A war that they hadn't made any headway in. For every win, there was a loss to follow. The enemy numbers kept being replenished and always came in droves from the northern border. They would never be able to beat the dark queen, Olga Discordia at the rate at which they were going. They needed something to give them an edge. This could be it.
The girls fell silent as they knew that if there was a chance to end the war shouldn't they take it?
"I don't like it…but I am willing to trust you, Celestine," Alicia said, standing straight as the other blond smiled thankfully.
"Yeah, and who knows, maybe the hero will finally make Alicia think of something other than fighting and Prim," Maia joked making Alicia glare at her. No one noticed Prim blushing slightly at the comment, as everyone knew Alicia was very close to Prim and very much a workaholic that she ignored and disregarded all male attention she had on her.
"Done!" Nol shouted. She and the other elves had finished drawing the magical circle. The others walked towards them as they observed the circle.
"Are you sure that this will work? It seems rather…," Prim asked the elves as she couldn't help but feel that the circle was lacking.
"There isn't anything to worry about. The circle might be simple, but the most important part of the ritual is the person performing it," Misery explained in a soft motherly tone to Prim who nodded slowly.
"The book explains that the circle will bring the hero and the user will need to be the anchor by providing mana to keep them here in a physical form," Dinelynd explained as she looked over the circle making sure there wasn't any imperfection.
"I see. I wonder about the hero though," Prim said as imagined a knight in shiny armor with a beautiful white horse. Or maybe a dashing rouge that she saw books about in Alicia's office and Claudia's home.
"Same. If it's a girl, we might have another member of the princess knights," Luu Luu commented, as she couldn't help but feel excited about what would happen.
"I hope it's a guy personally. Someone to keep me company and warm when out on the field," Maia said with a huge smirk as the others knew what she was thinking about. The three knights in the room gave her looks of disapproval but for one of the knights, she silently agreed with her fellow redhead.
"My lady, are you sure it's okay for me to be here?" Hong Ryeon asked the high-elf, who looked surprised at the question.
"I don't mind that you are here, I trust you," Celestine said, grabbing the girl's hands and giving her a reassuring squeeze. The redheaded knight thanked her before she went to Claudia's side with a noticeable smile that quickly went away, going back to the stern look on her face.
Nol was the only one who was quiet as she had in her hand a small pocket watch, she coughed in her hand getting everyone's attention.
"Celestine, it's about time we start," Nol said, making Celestine nod. "You still remember the chant?"
"Yes, I do," she answered. It was one of the things she made sure to practice all week. Every chance she got, she made sure that the chant went down perfectly in her memory.
"Well, you know what to do," Nol finished as she took a few steps back as Celestine walked towards the front of the circle. Everyone watched on nervously as Celestine stopped a few feet from the circle. Her eyes went to the statue of Larentia, taking a deep breath before exhaling. She would place her trust in her past life. Lifting her right hand, she started.
"Let silver and steel be the essence," Celestine spoke out loud calmly as channeled her mana from her hand to the circle. As she spoke the word the circle began to light up a light blue.
"Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let the great Larentia be my ancestor," Celestine continued as the light began to glow brighter. Everyone felt their hearts rapidly beating in their chest.
"Holy shit, it's working!" Maia said out loud as she couldn't help but be amazed at the sight in front of her.
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate," Celestine then felt a dull pain begin to form on her hand as she tried to keep the focus on maintaining the mana that she was putting out. If she had looked down she would have noticed red markings began to appear on top of her left hand.
"I hereby declare," The light grew brighter and a large gust of wind began blowing throughout the room. A few of the girls' skirts and dresses began to flow up forcing them to push them down. Luu Luu didn't bother with modesty as she kept her eyes on the circle. The elves' eyes widened as they couldn't help but marvel as well.
"Is this what you wanted to witness?" Kaguya muttered to no one, her eyes were drawn to Celestine and the glowing circle.
"Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be your sword," Celestine exclaimed, a cold sweat going down her face. Nol turned her head to the elf as she noticed her mana was draining fast. If this kept up, she would run out before the ritual was done. She quickly rushed to Celestine placing her hand on her back and began funneling her mana to help her.
"Submit to the beckoning of the creator! If you will submit to this will, this reason…Then answer!" The wind grew heavier. Claudia's hand subconsciously gripped her sword. Whatever was being summoned was using a lot of mana to appear. The two other knights also repeated her actions.
"An oath shall be sworn here! I shall be all the good in this eternal world! I shall be the disposer of all evils of all of Hell!" Celestine exclaimed, she felt a cold sweat dripping from her forehead and her body growing tired. She felt thankful to Nol for supplying her with mana, otherwise, she would have collapsed. She steeled her resolve and continued.
"From the Great Heavens, attended to by holy words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the holy balance!" Celestine screamed out as she uttered the last words. The circle exploded into a blinding light, causing everyone in the room to close their eyes, throwing their arms up unconsciously. The glass ceiling lit up as a large pillar of light rose high into the sky. Everyone that was outside on the streets of Ken stopped to marvel at the pillar of light. From the civilians, the guards, to even the animals. They all stopped to stare at the light.
The light was so bright that people from the other kingdom noticed it as well. Even to the north in a castle made of dark magic, a single dark elf with long black hair clad in a black lacy nightie looked up from the desk in her bedroom. Sensing the abnormal amount of mana in the air. She stood up and walked to the window. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw from a distance, a large pillar of light. She glanced over to her left. On her nightstand on her bed was a black leather-bound book that had a lot of wear and tears on it.
"It can't be…" she spoke softly when a bang on her door caused her to look away and called out to the only person she knew would be up at this time of day. "Yes, Chloe?"
"My lady, what was that?" She started through the door, giving her lady the privacy she needed, given the time of day.
"It's nothing that concerns us…go to sleep, Chloe. We have a long day ahead of us."
"Yes, Lady Olga."
Soon the light had died down, Celestine and the others' eyes opened up as they saw someone standing in the magical circle. The high elf's eyes lingered on the figure as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. It was him, the same person from her vision. The others had various reactions, but everyone had a single thought in their minds. 'It worked.'
In the center of the magical circle was the same figure in Celestine's visions. His beige hooded cloak covered his blond hair and in plain view, for everyone to see were his whiskered cheeks. His eyes were currently closed but he soon opened them to show off his blue eyes.
Everyone was quiet as they waited to see what the man was going to do.
"Hmm, odd…I didn't expect to be summoned like this. No matter," As the male spoke he reached up to pull off his hood to show off his spiky blond hair, "I guess I should at least introduce myself properly. Servant class… Assassin."
The room grew tense as they heard the last words as the man stared straight at Celestine's eyes and spoke with a small smile.
"I ask you, are you, my master?"
Naruto Uzumaki has joined the Battle.
Honestly, I didn't expect to do this idea at all. I had for almost a decade, it was somewhat recent that I decide on a whim to dive into the kuroinu stuff that I learned a lot more about the world and stuff that caught my attention beyond the hentai aspect. So decided why not. And wanted to do something different compared to other fics in this section.
Yes, this is a harem, and yes, I'm using a few characters from other series and a few from hentai. So please don't ask for me to put in girls cause I already decided who going to appear and finalized it. i won't say who in the harem as I like to keep it a secret.
Going to work on my other fics.
And once more, thanks to everyone for reading this chapter.
So until we meet again, farewell