TBATE - Brother's Once More

The City

As I was heading downstairs to the courtyard for more training, I was stopped by an adorably dressed Tessia wearing a sleeveless sundress under a white sheer cardigan over it, topped off with a light pink colored sun hat she wore, decorated with a pale flower that gave her a fresh and doll-like appearance and Arthur, who was dressed as if he just put on whatever he liked, without a care in the world.

"Hey! Come with us to the city! I'm gonna give Art a tour!" She didn't even give me a chance to speak and grabbed my hand, practically dragging me.

Seeing the city once again didn't distill the amazement I had when I had first arrived at Zestier. As we got off the carriage and start walking, we took time to visit the numerous stalls and stores that the city had to offer. While the three of us, Arthur and I in particular, were met with a lot stares from the fact that human children were holding hands with their kingdom's only princess, I couldn't be concerned about who I was holding hands with. What bothered me, was that, while most of these gazes only held curiosity, some stares were filled with blatant hostility.

We can't have that, now can we?

"Oi, Arthur. How much can you handle?" I whispered.

He understood what I meant, as he didn't ask any further.

"At the level you said you were, maybe half. Tessia might be able to take maybe a third, if you're lucky." he responded.

I stopped, getting a confused look from Tessia. "One third it is." I let loose the forcefully restrained rage that had built up over the course of three months, further fueled by the scene of Sylvia dying in Arthur's memories last night.

Everybody within at least a 15 meter radius stiffened, overwhelmed by the sudden outburst of mana coming from me. I looked at the Elves who'd once looked at us with eyes chock-full of disdain, now filled to the brim with fright.

"Don't think I can't sense your malice, fools." I pointed to the group standing to the right side of us and skimmed across the crowd to a few others. "Either avert your gazes or prostrate yourselves," I said, my mana distorting my voice.

I retracted my mana and everybody excluding Arthur, Tessia who was holding onto us, and a few of the stronger Elves collapsed.

About 20 seconds later, an Elven knight from the Palace arrived. He looked at us and his eyes narrowed to me. "I sensed a large spike in mana around here. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, sir," I bowed respectfully. "Everything is just fine."

Satisfied with the fear I planted into them, I turned back.

"Come on Tessia, you wanted to show us the city, right?" I smiled.

"R-right," Tessia muttered nervously.

"Gosh, man. If you did that much at thirty percent, I can't eve imagine what you'd do at a hundred percent. And take it easy, will you? They hate us enough already." he huffed just quiet enough so only I could hear.

As we came out of the armor shop, Arthur moved out of the way for someone when an Elven child bumped his shoulder.

"Hmph! Well if it isn't the human brat that Elder Virion has taken under. I've heard all about you. Gross, I got human germs on my clothes," he snidely remarked, a look of disgust pasted on his face.

Oh, how obvious it was by the clothes of this child, who couldn't be much older than Tess, and the attendants, along with the group of friends following behind him, that he was a noble.

After spending so much time with Tess, I had almost forgotten how immature children were. I couldn't help but think that, whether they were an Elf or a Human, spoiled nobles always seemed to act as if they've been taught out of the same manual.