Well, it has been quite some time since I updated this. I found this chapter, half finished, buried deep in some folder of my Laptop so I decided to take it upon me to, at least, finish it. How quickly I may or may not update this story with another one as my focus, I can't say though.
But I hope you'll enjoy this chapter regardless.
January the fifteenth Year 781X
It had been close to a month now since Naruto had been attacked by Guren. After the first attack happened within a week of his "raid" he had guessed the second strike should follow in a similar time frame to the first attacl, evidently the blond had guessed wrong.
'Either Orochimaru is waiting until I let my guard down or something else is keeping him from sending his next guy.' the young mage thought to himself or maybe he had just overestimated the Legendary Mage's tenacity. Whatever it was Naruto wouldn't fret too much about it.
Undisclosed Location
In a scarcely lit room there stood three figures. One was a person that had belonged to a legendary trio of mages. He had distinctly snakelike features. Pale skin and amber snake like eyes. This person was known as Orochimaru.
At his side stood a bespectacled man who, despite the grey hair he had, was not old at all. This person was known as Kabuto Yakushi, the Ghost Surgeon. And in front of the throne-like structure, which Orochimaru was sitting, in stood one more as of yet unknown figure.
The snakelike man looked over the person standing in front of him. It was a pale young man with white hair. He had red markings under his vivid green eyes and two scarlet dots above them.
He wore a pair of black pants and a lilac tunic covered his upper body.
"How are you feeling Kimimaro?" he asked the person, showing a certain amount of atypical concern
"I feel better, Orochimaru-sama. I can't wait to carry out your orders once more." Kimimaro stated kneeling in subservience in front of his master. Being confined to a bed all this time, unable to do anything had been most vexing. Without being able to carry out Orochimaru's orders he had felt as purposeless as the days before he had met Orochimaru "I shall capture the intruder who had the audacity to storm one of your bases and cause havoc among your forces."
"Kukukuku." the legendary mage chuckled darkly "I expected nothing less from you." Indeed, Kimimaro was one of his most loyal and zealous followers. Always eager to punish the slightest infraction against him.
"Trying to capture the Reaper right now would be ill advised for Kimimaro." Kabuto interjected and pushed his pair of glasses up "Kimimaro just recovered from his illness. If he wasn't a mage I'm sure it would have taken twice maybe thrice as long to recover or worse it could have left him crippled for life. Not to mention while his magic did preserve his muscles to a great degree it will take time for his body to be back in top shape."
The black haired man frowned, displeased by this turn of events "How long are you estimating will it take for Kimimaro to be at full combat efficiency?"
"That is not quite easy to say, but according to my estimations I would say anywhere between two weeks and a month." Kabuto explained looking into his masters eyes, without a hint of fear
"Very well then..." Orochimaru could be patient if he wanted to be but as a scientist with such an interesting specimen like the Crimson Reaper running around he could hardly contain himself at the excitement of conducting experiments on him, to find out what made him tick, what kind of power his magic imbued him with and how to make use of it for himself. However, at the same time, it would be imprudent to waste such an incredible loyal and valuable asset like Kimimaro by sending him to fight a strong foe when he had not yet recovered fully "Take this time to get back into shape. There's no use in you failing the mission after Guren already failed so miserably."
"As you wish, Master." Kimimaro lifted himself from the floor and gave one last bow before leaving the room, to begin his recuperation training.
Back with Naruto
Said blonde had continued his travel through Fiore. Mostly sticking to less travelled roads unless he had to stock up on food and water. He had taken this time to try out a great deal of the many different magic styles stuck in his head, uninterrupted by both Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
He could wait for the snake to make a move to further his search or he could explore an avenue he previously left out.
It was common knowledge that Zeref, before he was defeated, vanished, sealed or whatever exactly happened to him at that time, left more than a hundred books. Each of these was called 'Zeref's book' and they all contained the instructions for some of the myriad of different magics the mage known as Zeref had created or theorized in his time. Although sometimes the term book was a misnomer as it didn't have to be a book to contain the magic. And even sometimes all that was written inside were the theories for a magic so strong and powerful that he simply didn't have the resources to complete such a complex spell and considered it a far too wasteful investment to make us of it.
But there were very few of these books left. The most common ones were the ones that detailed how to summon one of the demons Zeref had created with his Living Magic.
However well over three-fourths of the books had already been found and destroyed, sealed or otherwise dealt with. For example the Eclipse Demon, Elathan, that had made his life miserable had been eradicated by Naruto's father. The demon Deliora who had rampaged a few years ago in the northern lands had been defeated by the ice mage Ur. And things like the mass killing magic, Lullaby, had been sealed somewhere on this continent with their whereabouts unknown.
Naruto decided that perhaps there was a lot of use in finding one of these books in the hopes they contained some kind of hint about Zeref.
'The Problem is, these kind of books are hardly to be found in a public library.' Naruto thought with a slight frown, trying to solve the problem 'The magic council is extremely fast at seizing and destroying these books. So the only ones who could possibly be in possession of one of them are either the darkest of Guilds, to which I have no access to or someone that is beyond the reach of the council, has been collecting invaluable artifacts for centuries and doesn't know about their worth...' the blonde sighed and could feel a headache forming
The only people that could possibly fit that description were the royal family. The palace was incredible well guarded and trying to break into the royal archives would surely incur not only the wrath of Fiore's king but the magic council as well, which would mean he would be hunted down once again.
'No, I have to somehow convince the King into letting me read through the royal archives. Which sounds easier than it actually is.' the blood mage thought to himself with a frown
It was a well known fact that not a single mage, no matter if they were of Guild or Council origin were allowed into the Royal Palace to begin with.
'Well, I still have at least two days before I am in Crocus. I've got until then to come up with a scheme.'
Two days later; Fiore Capital Crocus
Naruto sighed in frustration as he looked down at the capital, which resided in the valleys down below. He could still see his breath as he exhaled but it was far from being as cold as it still had been a few weeks ago.
He could see Mercurius the kings palace towering over the other buildings, even the Domus Flau, the Stadium that had long ago been used in the 'Dragon King Festival'. Even the stadium paled in comparison to the palace. It truly was a sight to behold.
The palace consisted of a number of different, yet uniform buildings fused together, with some sections protruding outwards and assuming particular forms, and the walls being mainly adorned by orders of large, rectangular windows lined up and flanked by protruding pillars. Its main entrance was a mildly small door topped by a very high decorative arc, which got pointed near the top, and had its central part adorned by a large, round flower window. To its left was a section keeping its height, topped by another going up high, which possessed a pitched roof, and behind which appeared to be a structure reminiscent of ancient temples, to its upper right, sat a part ending in a small dome, topped by a prominent spire; two towers, which possessed approximately the same height as the spire, are located on the back and right parts of the building. To the entrance's right, several meters away from it, the building took on an arched form, with such part being reminiscent of a cylinder partially fused with the structure, soared above by a mildly small spire, almost placed in the back part of the building. Topping the entire castle was a high, round tower, with its lower part, much more massive than the one above it, being adorned by elongated windows and ending in a dome, from which the thinner, top part appeared and went up several meters before ending in a pointed tiled roof.
To get into that building was his goal. However unless he had the kings permission to do so he would likely be declared enemy of the state and would never have a single day of rest in his life.
After half an hour the blonde had made his way down into the bustling streets of Crocus. Each and everywhere the citizen were walking past eachother, busily conducting their own businesses. He still needed to think of a way to get into the palace. For now he decided to conduct a different agenda, his clothes more often than not went kaput in his fights. He decided to look for something sturdier and more practical for fights. He had designed, well to say that much would perhaps be going to far, but Naruto had an in depth idea what kind of armour he would like to have.
He decided to visit the towns Heart Kreuz shop. Normally they were a clothing store for young women, however they also created the armours for Erza at her request and Naruto experienced first hand how very well made they were. In fact, as far as he knew, Heart Kreuz was the best station for custom magic armours of any kind. So it stood to reason for the young mage that for a certain price they could forge an armour for him as well. After all, no shop would deny themself a chance like that to make more money. It simply wasn't profitable.
So first thing Naruto did was find that shop. He walked into it and was immediately assaulted by varying shades of pink and blue. All of these clothes were decorated with the Heart Kreuz logo as well.
"Err... excuse me?" a petite blonde girl,she was a bit on the pale side and had brown eyes. Her hair was done in pigtails. She approached him cautiously and said "I think you might be wrong here, sir. This is a shop for girls."
Naruto however was unperturbed by the girls statement. "I was told you could forge specialized magic armors on request." Naruto replied looking back at the clerk with his icy blue orbs
"Yes, I-I... that is... we do that." she stuttered out intimidated by the reapers stare "If you'd follow me." She turned her back and walked past the normal clothing that filled up the front of the shop, past the back of the store with the counter until they arrived in a semi-open area with a burning forge.
The forge was currently in use by who Naruto guessed was the blacksmith here.
Hammering on a piece of metal to straighten it out was a large, bronze skinned, women. If Naruto had to describe her he would call her an amazon. She had to be as large if not larger than Jiraiya and that guy was already fairly tall by normal standards. She had a very muscled body, doubtlessly from hours of forging metal. Her hair was done in a short black ponytail and her brown eyes reflected the intense light of the forges fire.
"Miss Brigh we have a customer." the petite girl, who could be called the larger woman's complete opposite, stated and the woman dipped the gleaming peace of metal into a bucket of water.
Steam poured into the air as the hot metal met the cold water and the blacksmith looked up at them.
She dried her hands on her apron and seized Naruto, looking up and down, evaluating him.
"So you want to buy one of my armours? Got some lady friend you wanna keep safe?" she asked with a hearty laugh of amusement
"No, actually I want you to create a custom made armour for myself." the blonde replied coolly, completely unimpressed by the larger womans attempt to tease him
"You do know that we are a women store right?" Brigh said one of her brows raised in curiosity
"I am well aware of that, however I am sure you wont be so stuck up as to deny a lot of extra income just based on my gender."
"Well that much is true..." the blacksmith said, as the petite woman went back into the store to tend to any customers that might visit their store. Strictly speaking there was nothing that would keep her from forging an armor for a man. No one really had tried to approach them for it since they specialized in womens clothing. "Well, then tell me what it is that you are looking to have done."
"I'm looking to have a full body maginium, lachryma armour done, no helmet or gauntlets though. And extra thick bracer, greaves and boots made just from maginium." Naruto explained and the woman whistled impressed by his order
"Are you trying to eradicate an entire guild by yourself or something, boy?" the woman asked shocked by his request " I think very few people would actually get through that. Naturally it's going to be expensive as well to get that much lachryma and maginium to smith into an armor like that."
"How much would it cost me?" the blonde asked and he could see the dark haired woman thinking
"Well, a rough estimate would be around fifty-million jewels on the low end and up to around seventy-million on the upper end."
And for the first time Naruto lost his composure and he could just barely keep himself from having his mouth open by itself. That much money he would never get by himself. He knew maginium was expensive but this... 'Hell I'll never be able to get that much money.'
Even discounting all the money he had spent on that operation in Narcissus he wouldn't have that much money.
The weapon smith laughed boisterously seeing how shocked the blonde was "I take it you don't have that much money?"
And the blonde's only response was to nod. This threw a bit of a wrench in his plans.
"Tell me how much you have and I'll see what I can do."
"I have one million jewels to spend." the blonde stated
The dark haired smith mulled a bit over things "Alright, I think if I replace the maginium with plain steel and make the armor, greaves, bracers and boots out of a five percent maginium and fifty nine percent steel alloy, that's what you'd get for one-million jewels. Your defence will be nearly all physical except for the deflection of minor magics you'll get from the steel-maginium alloy but that's as far as I can go for just one million jewels. The armor will also be much heavier than if it had been forged straight from maginium. That alright for you?"
"I guess it's better than nothing." Naruto gave a small sigh and begrudingly agreed. For now this would have to do, but acquiring such an invaluable piece of paraphernalia was top priority for him.
He pulled out the stack of jewels to pay the smith, who gratefully accepted the money.
"Alright the last thing I need to do is take your measurements so I don't screw up when forging the armor." Brigh explained and the young mage nodded in agreement and was measured from head to toe.
"When can I expect you to have finished the armour?" Naruto asked Brigh
The amazonian woman seemed to give that question some consideration before she gave her answer "It will take some time for that much pure lachryma crystal to arrive. Probably around a two to three weeks until the materials are all here. And after that I'd estimate another week until the armour is fully finished. So a total of about three to four weeks."
The blonde nodded in acceptance of the time frame and left the shop behind him.
Naruto gave a heavy sigh, his breath coalescing into a visible form in the cold winter air.
Just this one purchase of the armour he had envisioned had left him bereft of most of his money. It even was an incredible toned down version of the armour. At least his clothes would end up surviving more encounters. But now he had to live at least a month off a mere few thousand jewels. He'd be lucky to be having a warm meal each day. He'd surely have to camp outside during this time as there was no way he would be able to afford even the most dingy room for any prolonged period of time.
At this moment Naruto wished he kind of stuck with Jiraiya. Sure the old guy was annoying with how nosy he was but at least the man had money and felt some obligation to see that Naruto was well cared for which could at least be used to his own advantage although having Jiraiya meddle in his affairs and question his every action would undoubtly become a most tedious experience.
And then there was still the matter of trying to get into the Royal Archives.
Naruto could feel a headache approaching. This was turning out to be a more horrible day than he could have anticipated.
'Maybe some warm food will put me in a better mood.' he suggested to himself and went in search for a quick, cheap but most importantly warm meal.
His search ended up successful as he found a small Ramen stand in between two larger shops. The smell of steaming hot broth assaulted him and Naruto felt his stomach grumble in response to that.
'Well the hot soup will at least warm me up and the carbohydrates will provide enough energy.' he rationalized with an inward sigh
Naruto truly desired something that was a bit more substantial but would not be able to afford it in the slightest.
Pushing aside the small curtain he took seat at the small counter.
"Welcome to my humble Ramen stand. What can I get you?" the cook was a middle aged man. He sported short cut brown hair and a goatee of the same color. On top of his head was a small white chefs hat and his front was covered in an apron.
"I'd like to have one Pork Ramen." Naruto placed his order quickly, as he desired his hot meal
"Alright!" the chef exclaimed cheerfully and raised his ladle, which glistened with small drops of hot Ramen broth "One Pork Ramen, coming right up!"
The Ramen chef turned to his steaming pot of Ramen and his ingredients.
While Naruto's meal was being prepared he considered his options for the near future. In theory he could go around stealing money but a pickpocket would likely cause too much of a commotion so close to the castle of the king. Knights would actively try to be on the lookout and anyone remotely suspicious could come under scrutiny, something which would be ill advisible. All Naruto would end up doing would be to restrict his own movements.
Much to Naruto's surprise a second person sat down, but it wasn't anyone he knew. The person wore a thick black cloak that covered most of their features, but for a second Naruto believed to be able to see a flash of green hair.
"Here you go, sir. One Pork Ramen." the Ramen chef placed the steaming bowl right in front of him before the chef turned to the new joined person "What can I do for you, young miss?"
So apparently the person was a girl. Well not that it concerned him very much.
"Uhm..." the girls voice was soft and filled with uncertainty "I think... I think I'll have the Miso Ramen."
The chef nodded "One Miso Ramen for the young lady, coming right up."
Naruto stared down at the broth and gave a small sigh, he could continue to brood over his plights later. For now he could at least enjoy his meal. He broke apart a pair of chopsticks and leisurely began to eat his meal.
It didn't take long before the girl received her own bowl of Ramen but she seemed to have no experience in eating it. She clumsily fumbled with the chopsticks, dropping them on the counter multiple times.
Naruto couldn't take the pathetic display, all he wanted to do was enjoy his food in peace.
"Hold them like this." Naruto finally spoke up and held up his right hand, hoping the girl would be able to copy him.
Green colored eyes looked up to him in surprise and the girl blushed meekly. She vaguely looked familiar but Naruto didn't concern himself with such things at the moment.
"Thank you." she mumbled out and copied the way Naruto held his chopsticks
"Now move them like this." he showed the girl how to pick up some noodles and she almost seemed happy when she managed to do something so mundane.
'This girl is the embodiment of a sheltered noble lady.' Naruto thought to himself before returning to his own Ramen.
He slurped down the rest of his hot meal and placed the apropriate amount of money down on the counter.
"Thank you!" the chef called after him "I hope you'll come again."
'Now what to do?' the blonde asked himself 'Maybe out of the city to erect a small camp?'
He wished there was some way for him to make money but all the big jobs went to the guilds and the smaller stuff was taken care of by the few Knights that scoured the city to keep everything as orderly as possible.
"Umm... excuse me?" Naruto heard a familiar soft voice from behind him
He turned around to come face to face with the green haired and green eyed girl from the Ramen stand.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" Naruto tried to sound as friendly and polite as he could but in the current situation he found it quite difficult
The cloaked girl shirked a bit back at his cold voice "I wanted to thank you." she felt the need to thank the blonde and at least show some appreciation for what he had done for her
"It wasn't anything that is warranting a thanks." Naruto blew her off "Now if you would excuse me, I have other things to worry about."
The girl was shocked that this boy had treated her so nonchalant, as if she was just a regular, normal girl. She was very glad for it.
For a moment the green haired girl stood still before she decided to follow the cool boy she had exchanged few words with. There was an air of mystery and intrigue about him that drew her to him but most of all he had interacted with her in a way nobody ever had before.
Normally people were either busy kissing her ass or trying to keep her sheltered and away from anything that could even remotely be considered dangerous.
She followed the blonde boy through Crocus. He didn't really seem to have any certain destination.
At first Hisui had simply snuck out of the palace under the watchfull eyes of Arcadios and her usual entourage of guards to experience the simpler lifestyle of a normal person instead of the stifling way she had to live each day in the palace.
But now she had an actual goal on how she wanted to spend the rest of her day before Arcadios would likely find her.
As the day waned to a close less and less people traversed the streets of Crocus and yet she had not been able to approach the mysterious boy she had been tailing all day.
Suddenly someone placed a hand on her shoulder and at first she thought that Arcadios had found her only to come face to face with someone that she didn't know.
It was a large slim man with dark blue hair. A part of his spikey hair jutted out over the upper left part of his face. His face was rectangular with sharp features, dark eyes and thin eyebrows.
Just above his right eyebrow there was a tattoo covering his forhead. It reminded her of a pair of tongs. They were placed horizontally with the handles pointing towards the persons right.
He was wearing ornate clothing, with the most visible piece being a dark, high-collared cape almost reaching down to his knees. They possessed a lighter inner part and light edges adorned by a pattern that consisted of many rhombs lined up one after the other. Below his cape, the person was wearing a simple, light short-sleeved shirt with outlined edges, paired with light pinstriped pants with visible hems, held up by a simple belt covered in elongated spots which were largely hidden by his shirt. His feet were covered in polished dark shoes, with lighter soles and a light upper part going down from the ankle's front. He also sported three large metal bracelets around his right wrist and forearm.
"Hey, cutie." the man said with sickly sweet voice "Where are you going?"
She pried herself out of the man's grip "Please don't touch me." Hisui spoke her voice was too quiet for anyone that was left on the streets to hear and those people were more concerned with themselves than anyone else. She felt very uncomfortable at the way this man was touching and looking at her.
The man's face contorted in a frown for a split second before an obviously fake smile spread across his face.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" he whispered sultrily "I can show you a good night."
"I am posi-" Hisui wanted to reaffirm that she didn't want anything to do with him when those thoughts just floated away, they didn't stick and instead she couldn't help but feel that this man was the most beautiful and attractice one she had seen in her life "What did you say again?" she asked in confusion, hoping to once more hear the dulcet voice of this man
"I said I could show you a good night." the blue haired man said with a smile "All I need is a little help and cooperation from you."
"..." for some reason, despite feeling the need to do everything for this charming man, she felt like what he was asking of her was wrong
The man frowned once more 'She couldn't have broken the spell, could she?' he asked himself before he intended to confirm it "All I need is the assistance of a beautiful girl like you."
"Yes, of course." she nodded in her airheaded state at his request. A blush had spread across her face "Anything you say."
Naruto had noticed that his little 'stalker' had stopped following him. He had been leading the girl randomly around the city, mixing heavily traveled open areas with barely traveled alleys and back streets. At first he had believed her to be an assassin of some kind. Perhaps Orochimaru's next henchman or rather henchwoman, sent to bring him in.
Or maybe someone from those Raven Tail guys that found out that he was the Crimson Reaper. But when she didn't make any move on him, even when he clearly would have been in perfect position to be attacked. Naruto eventually had decided to discard those particular theories and decided to see how long the girl would follow him.
'She definitely is a tenacious one.' she had followed him all afternoon long but now she had stopped.
He turned around to see what she had stopped for to see her being molested by some blue haired creep.
But for some reason she seemed to be attracted to the guy. Looking at her slightly glazed eyes and the faint feeling of magic surrounding her he suspected Charm Magic.
A dark smile formed on his face. This could definitely be used to his advantage. Save the damsel in distress and get a nice reward. Maybe this would help him with his rather poor financial situation since the girl definitely was a noble of some kind. The way she had failed to use chopsticks and how thankful she seemed that he had showed her how to use them made it apparent that she had been sheltered which only a type of parent would do that was overly concerned with their childs safety, something which many noble parents tended to be.
He approached the pair and with a rather minor application of Earth Magic he had the blue haired buffoon tripping.
"You should more carefully pay attention to your blood sugar, sir." the blonde commented in a faked concerned voice "Falling over like that is definitely unusual."
"Y-you!" the man gritted his teeth in anger "Who do you think you are, you little brat?! I know you made me trip!"
"I don't know what you are talking about sir." the young mage kept feigning ignorance. It was quite enjoyable to see this guy fumble about like that "And you should keep your voice down, people are staring at you."
Indeed a few people had been looking strangely at the blue haired man after his rather violent outburst.
"Do you have any idea who you are messing with?" the blue haired guy asked, his voice holding a dangerous edge to it
"I'm afraid I must have missed the introduction of a marvelous person like you." the blonde commented with more than just a little sarcasm "Perhaps you could repeat it so that I might remember an important person like you."
Hisui observed the exchange between the two males with interest. Now that he head seemed to be clear again she suspected foul play by the blue haired male and much to her happiness the blonde that had taught her how to use chopsticks had also rescued her from this shady guy.
"I am Bora of the Prominence!" his voice was smug and carried more than just a little bit of superiority in it "I am member of Titan Nose. You definitely must have heard of me."
"Bora of the Prominence... Bora of the Prominence." Naruto seemed to be thinking hard "Nope never heard of you." he said with a devious smirk "Maybe if you changed your name to Bora of the Promiscuity that would stick better."
"H-how, how dare you!" Bora screamed in embarassment
First this little upstart white knight interrupted his next mark and now he dared to mock him.
He just couldn't let that stupid brat get away with that. The man raised his arm "Get behind me." Naruto quickly told the green haired girl and she obliged.
"Prominence Whip." with an arched movement of his right arm a purplish magic seal appeared in front of him releasing multiple purple beams of fire. The onlooking citizen screamed in panic and scattered at the sudden use of magic in the middle of the town.
'Is this guy serious?' Naruto scoffed at the level of magic this guy was displaying 'What paltry magic.'
"Beams of Light." a yellowish circle appeared briefly in front of Naruto signifying the activation of his magic. His beams of light met the beams of fire in mid air and the two attacks cancelled eachother out creating a cloud of dust which obscured the two combatants view of eachother.
'How weak is that guy?' Naruto asked himself with a deadpan look on his face. He had barely used a fourth of his power in the spell and it had been enough to cancel this guys attack out.
"Golems Fist." an earthen hand rose from the ground and shot through the dustcloud until he heard the blue haired guy grunt in pain as he was slammed aside. He had purposely powered the attack down so that he would merely knock the guy and cause some bruising, instead of breaking every bone in his body or anything worse. He couldn't risk exposure by needlessly killing an idiot like that in the middle of Crocus.
"Finally we found you, Hisui-hime!" a rough male voice shouted and Naruto saw a tall muscular, dark haired man rush towards the green haired girl. He had a pair of deep set eyes and high cheekbones with a small scar running from his left temple to the edge of his thick eyebrows. He had a snub, square-shaped nose. His dark wavy hair stuck up around his head and sideburns framed his face.
He was garbed in a rather simple steel armor. At his side was a sheathed longsword and he had been accompanied by two more similar garbed knights.
"We've been searching all day for you, Hisui-hime!" the man said angry but out of concern for the girls safety "Do you know how worried his highness was when you didn't appear during dinner? What did you think you were doing?"
Hisui hung her head in shame. She knew that what she had done had caused trouble but otherwise she would have never been able to experience the city as a normal person and not at the princess of Fiore.
'The princess of Fiore!' that's why she seemed so familiar to Naruto 'Jackpot.' he smirked inwardly at his good fortune
The dark eyes of the knight that had admonished the princess turned towards him "And what did you cretin do to the princess?" he asked harshly "Nevermind fighting another mage in broad daylight and disturbing the peace of Crocus. You'll definitely be brought in for questioning." he motioned for the two knights that had accompanied to grab Naruto, who had to let himself be captured, resisting could have dire consequences.
But before the blonde could be grabbed the princess moved in front of him, her arms spread in a protective manner "Don't do anything, Arcadios." she told the now named knight Arcadios "He saved me from that Bora man!"
"You don't have to protect him, Hime-sama!" Arcadios frowned at the way the princess was defending this troublemaker "If he is forcing you to do that in any way we'll protect you!"
"I am not being forced, Arcadios." the princess affirmed assertively "Ask the people around here. He just defended himself after he was being attacked."
The dark eyed knight turned towards the closest citizen who shirked under the stern gaze "Tell me is it true what the princess has said, did the man that is unconsciouss attack first?"
The person Arcadios asked nodded meekly in response.
Arcadios gave a soft sigh and turned to the blonde "Then you have my apologies for accusing you so quickly but you will still have to be brought in so we can protocol your side of the events."
"Of course I shall not stand in the way of your ability to carry out justice." Naruto nodded in acceptance of the mans demands. With some patience and a few well chosen words he would perhaps be able to get a peak into the royal archives.
Fiore palace Mercurius
It had not taken them very long to arrive in front of the large ornate doors that allowed entrance into kings palace.
Arcadios stopped the blonde before he could set foot into the palace.
"I am sorry but you will have to wait here until my return. No mage has ever been allowed to set foot into this palace." The knight explained and Naruto had to oblige "You to make sure he doesn't run away or do anything stupid."
His two underlings nodded and kept careful watch of Naruto who couldn't help but release a sigh at the situation.
He didn't know how long he had waited in front of the gates to the palace. Perhaps ten minutes, perhaps twenty. It was hard for him to tell. Eventually Arcadios had returned alone "It seems there is a first time for everything. The King has allowed you entrance into the palace and wishes to talk to you."
It seems fortune was smiling quite a bit on him, not that he was complaining.
Arcadios had led him through the large hallways of the huge castle until they were in a spacious throne room. At the back of the room in a ornate white and gold throne. In it was sitting a short man who wore a striped overall, held up by a belt at the waist, under a cape. At the side of the throne was Hisui without her concealing cloak and instead in clothes more fitting for a princess.
"Finally I am able to meet the person my daughter spoke so well off." the small man smiled at him "What is your name my boy?"
"Naruto Uzumaki, your highness." he bowed as the words left his lips in the hopes of not offending the King
"Well then. I would like to hear your version of what happened just before Arcadios found my daughter. Perhaps your knowledge of magic might shed some more light on things." the small man seemed genuinly excited as he mentioned magic.
"Of course your Highness." the blonde responded "Your daughter had been following me all afternoon long when she, by chance, met me at a Ramen stand just as I was having my meal."
Toma raised an eyebrow in curiosity at that "Is that true, Hisui-chan?" he asked his daughter in interest and a rosy blush spread across the princess' face.
"Yes, father." she responded in slight embarassment and the King seemed quite amused by that fact. In fact he had not expected for the King to behave like that at all.
"Please continue, Naruto-kun."
The blonde nodded "I had tried to discern what her intentions were but fruitlessly when I noticed that she had stopped following me. At that point she had been talking to the man that introduced himself as 'Bora of the Prominence'. She seemed to be afflicted by an...unnatural enrapturement with the man which made me suspect that he might have used magic on her." Toma frowned that someone that misused magic like that, especially on his daughter "After I had caused Bora to briefly lose focus I confirmed that he had been using Charm."
"Charm? What kind of magic is that?" the King wanted to know much more about magic
"Charm, your majesty, is a Holder-Type magic. It afflicts persons of the opposite gender with an unnatural attraction towards the user and makes them susceptible to manipulate in a multitude of ways. Of course there are quite a few weaknesses to this magic such that it requires the full attention of the caster to be maintained and that anyone that is aware this magic is being used can not be ensnared by it making it grossly ineffective for combat purposes." Naruto explained knowledgeable
Sometimes having the knowledge of hundreds of different magic styles crammed into his head could be useful 'Scratch that, it is always useful.' Naruto thought to himself
Knowledge was a form of power after all.
"That sounds horrible." the King muttered softly, happy that his daughter had been rescued from being manipulated to a random mans whims "Such a magic must surely be banned, right?"
Naruto shook his head "No, I'm afraid not your majesty." the small man looked aghast at the answer
"Why is it that such a vile piece of magic has not yet been outlawed by the magic council!" he roared in anger and for the first time Naruto could actually believe that the smaller man was a King "Who knows how many crimes have been commited using this. Who knows how many men and women have been manipulated and misused in vile and devious ways. My own daughter could have been...taken advantage off by this miscreant Bora! Tell me, Naruto-kun. Why is it that the Magic Council has not fulfilled their duties and protected the people from this?"
"Well... Charm has been widely regarded as a grey area kind of magic. While this magic can indeed be misused the successful application doesn't happen that often. Thus it has been argued that there is simply not enough danger potential going out from this magic to consider it to be put on the list of Banned Magics."
"Preposterous." the small King muttered "This has to be rectified immediately."
The King called for a messenger who entered the room shortly after.
"I want you to send a message to the Magic Council. Tell them that I immediately demand that they reevaluate their opinion about this Charm Magic in the light of this event." The King said and dictated the message that should be sent to the council
"I will not disappoint you, your highness." the messenger gave the small man a salute before leaving the throne room
Toma turned back towards Naruto "You have my thanks, Naruto-kun. Who knows what this scoundrel would have done had you not intervened." the small man smiled at the young blonde haired mage "So what brings a mage such as yourself to Crocus? Are you perhaps part of a Guild and have been hired for a job?" the King seemed back to his happy and exciteable self
"No, your highness. I am a freelance mage or rather I have more of an interest in the scholastic side of magic." Naruto lied "I have been traveling after finishing my studies and have been trying to learn evermore about magic. Perhaps with enough research, I could one day even rediscover lost or ancient magics!"
The small King laughed heartily "What an interesting goal you have. However I would still like to offer you a favour, after all you did save my lovely daughter. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Naruto faked his embarassment and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, which Hisui thought looked rather cute.
"Well, if it is not too much to ask, I would love to study the royal archives, your highness." Naruto stated excitedly "The royal family must have collected countless books and tomes over the centuries of their reign. It would be an exceptional experiences if I could further my studies using the books in it. It must be a treasure trove of knowledge!"
Toma rubbed his chin in thought and nodded "Yes, why not. Those tomes have barely been touched in a long, long time and I doubt even the archivist knows every single book that's in the archive." the short king smiled "In fact I would like for you to stay here in the palace as you comb through those old and moldy books. In fact I suspect, Hisui-chan would be quite happy if you stayed."
"Tou-san." Hisui nearly choked on her spit as she heard her father say that and she blushed in embarassment while Toma laughed loudly.
Barely a day later the missive from the king had arrived in Era. It didn't take much longer for the Magic Council to declared Charm magic to be a Banned Magic and inform Titan Nose of Bora's misdeeds.
Titan Nose, Guild Hall
"What do you mean I am excommunicated?" Bora gaped at his guild master
He, Bora of the Prominence, excommunicated? Those idiots didn't know what they were doing! Without him this poor excuse of a Guild would be nothing.
"I am sorry Bora but the Magic Council has declared Charm to be a Banned Magic after you tried to use it on the Princess. While they said they would be lenient this time since they can not really punish you retroactively for this crime they however forced me to excommunicate you from our Guild." the Guild Master of Titan Nose explained somberly "In fact from now on you will not be able to find work with any legal Guild." the Guild Master sighed and patted Bora on the back "I'm sorry it had to come to this but you'll have to go."
Bora gritted his teeth and left the guild angrily. He just knew that, that dastardly blonde was reponsible for this.
That blonde would pay! All blonde's would pay!
Spell Grimoire
-No original additions that have not yet been part of it-