Pope Balmus

The Princess had changed.

He had expected some change. Her father, the man who enabled her ridiculous actions had died, he had expected her to lash out with rage. For her cruelty to take increasingly vicious forms and for her to escape the restraints placed on her. Even the Cane selecting her had not changed his expectations.

What he had never considered was that she would become what Aultcray had been decades ago. The Cane had warped her somehow.

The Earth rumbled as the plant under the Princess' control multiplied. Rapidly increasing its mass. Stone and dust shaped itself into a fluid. The sounds of stone grinding filled the city, but mere seconds after the red-haired woman had finished a massive building, taller than the Cathedral, had formed in place of the ramshackle huts that had previously populated the slums.

It looked beautiful, but the design was deliberately simple. Massive flowers dotted the surface and a beautiful scent that almost suppressed the smell of the unwashed masses filled the area. The commoners gasped in awe and cheered once the Princess waved them in. Her guards slowly allotted the rooms within the newly made structure to the inhabitants that the building had displaced.

There had been some protests when she'd first cleared out an area of the slums.

Six buildings later, they cleared the area out before she stepped foot there, and eagerly waited for their new homes. Balmus shook his head as he studied the Crest of House Melromarc on the massive buildings that had no equal.

It was a casual demonstration of her power as a Hero. The peasants would flock to her cause hoping to gain such extravagant gifts, and she would gain support among the masses swiftly if she kept this up.

"Pope Balmus, you wished to speak to me." said the Princess after reaching him. Her eyes dissected him and his guards. She had no protector near her.

He was fairly certain that she didn't need any.

"We would need some privacy, Princess," he said solemnly.

A flick of her wrist, a flare of mana from the Cane and a flinch from his guards later, the surrounding air stilled.

"No one can hear us," she said calmly, after casting a mid-level spell without a word, "Is this about the Shield?"

"I'm afraid not," he said, genuine frustration colouring his tone, "The devil's slaves have hidden him well. Our labours have yet to bear fruit."

"A pity," she said, tone flat. Balmus felt his suspicions rise again at her odd reaction, "Be sure to keep me updated about the search."

He had expected fury and demands for progress. Not a piercing glance that conveyed disbelief without an open challenge.

"Many of the faithful have raised concerns," he said, thinking back to the shocked reports of the Spear Hero and the Princess freeing demi-humans and slaughtering traders, of them forcing noble houses to surrender their slaves, "Slavery is a sin, but exceptions must be made for the sake of educating lesser beings. It would be quite unkind to remove the guidance they need."

"I see," she said after a long pause, tilting her head slightly, "It would seem that they have seen fit to shun my kindness. Perhaps I was too generous. I apologize, I shall ensure that their complaints won't bother you ever again. Thank you for the information. Please keep me updated about the search for the Shield."

She removed the surrounding barrier. The Princess burst into motion without waiting for his response. A burst of wind and fire sent heat skittering across the Pope. It wasn't an attack.

The Princess flew upwards and vanished an instant later. His guards had not been able to blink, let alone act, in time.

Balmus reigned in his anger at the dismissal and the threat. He analyzed the situation.

The faithful that would be lost were not significant. They were minor contributors. If they were removed, their heirs would be altogether more loyal to him. As the Voice of God, they owed him allegiance, but the Princess' reckless actions would reinforce the loyalty and need for his aid.

That the Princess saw fit to ignore his implied request was more worrisome. That she had seen fit to slaughter two noble Houses to bring others in line in the areas near the capital was worse.

He had been mistaken. The girl was not akin to Aultcray. It would seem that she was the Queen's daughter in full.

Perhaps he would accept Mirellia's offer. A distant Queen with only shadows was a lesser risk than a wielder of the Star Cane who was vicious and volatile.

Raphtalia

The ball of light glowed. Raphtalia smiled at her success.

The joy disrupted her focus, and the light dimmed before vanishing. The demi-human frowned.

Malty chuckled, "Well done," she said with a smile, "Less than a week and you can already cast basic magic."

Raphtalia smiled back at the woman, "Thanks," she whispered.

"Keep practising," she reminded, "Your goal is to stabilize the orb and then start moving it."

She nodded and Malty patted her head before checking on the other students, most were demi-humans like her but some of them were Knights. Raphtalia smiled when Malty, irritated with the Spear Hero, decided to spar with him.

The Hero was nice and really strong.

The princess was much stronger and their fight was more the Hero running from her than fighting.

They were all out in the wilds. She didn't know exactly where, but they were far from the coast and near some really, really big mountains. The Spear Hero and Malty had teleported Raphtalia and the others that had decided to stay with her and started to teach them some magic after the Princess used her fires to clear the entire mountain out and level them up a bit. They'd gone from level 1 to level 10 quickly, and once that was done they'd practised while the soldiers continued to hunt.

Malty returned after a couple of minutes and grew a chair out of the ground using some cool looking plants. She sat down and glanced at Raphtalia who quickly showed her teacher the stable orb of light.

She still couldn't move it.

"Good job," said the master magic-user to her before raising her voice, "All of you are progressing much faster than expected. Let's break for lunch."

A cheer went out. Only the Knights who were with them stayed quiet. The Princess quickly grew a long rectangular table, waved a hand with her Cane over it and made some really nice smelling food appear. The Knights organized them in a line while the Princess made a small seating area.

After weeks not having food and years of the same things and a lot of fish, Raphtalia had come to look forward to the variety the Princess arranged for them. Sometimes it was a little weird, but it always tasted awesome!

Raphtalia had taken some nice smelling meat that she didn't recognize, water, fruits and a bit of cake; sat down and had started to eat when the Spear Hero and Princess Malty joined her.

"Hey!" said the Spear Hero, covered in dust and sweat. He smelled like he'd been burned.

"Spear Hero," she said with a nod.

"Did you manage to get started with magic?" he asked, taking a big bite of his cake.

Raphtalia nodded quickly, "Let my light illuminate all of creation, Faust Light!" she said and smiled as the glowing orb floated in front of them. Motoyasu poked it and watched with awe as his finger went right through it without disrupting it.

"Cool," he said before looking sad and poking at his food, "I didn't get a single spell working."

The Princess rolled her eyes, "Motoyasu," she said, "Very few people learn magic quickly. Most of the Knights have some experience with magic and Raphtalia here is one of the few kids who got her spell working. Don't compare yourself to a prodigy."

Raphtalia blushed at being called a prodigy and the smile that woman had given her after the compliment. Motoyasu cheered up and congratulated her as well before turning to the Princess.

"Can't I just use my skills?" he whined, "Or learn using the orbs?"

Malty sighed and Raphtalia giggled. Both females shared a look which had Raphtalia laugh again.

The Princess looked irritated.

"No," she said flatly, "You need to learn how to learn the spells. It will help later."

Motoyasu pouted.

Raphtalia couldn't help but smile. "I can help if you want," she said.

Malty smirked, "Yes, Motoyasu. She can help." she said, "After all, she managed to learn in an hour what you failed to in five."

The Hero shrank and stabbed his steak. Malty smiled at him and explained what he was doing wrong while Raphtalia studied them.

The Spear Hero was really strong. Malty was even stronger and scarier. Both of them were fast, and she'd seen how easily they killed monsters.

Raphtalia had never dared to imagine that some people who were even stronger than Sadeena or Papa would be so nice.