Caught in Time

Chapter XXIII: The City on the Frontier

As the sun was rising over the horizon in the east, Rosa had just woken up. It was very unusual for her to wake up after sunrise, so she immediately got up and changed into her adventuring gear. Rosa rushed outside to prepare breakfast as soon as possible. Once she was outside, Alicia, who just finished her second cup of coffee, greeted her.

"Hiya good morning! You must be Rosa, don't worry about breakfast, I've got that covered hehe. Come sit beside me", said Alicia, winking at her.

"Ah morning, Rosa! I was able to wake up before you did for once, aren't you proud of me? Hehe", greeted Irina.

"Good morning, Lady Irina. I'm very proud of you. It's an unusual sight indeed, but a refreshing one", replied Rosa.

"Please apologize my rudeness, esteemed guest. Good morning to you as well. My name is Rosa, I am Lady Irina's personal maid. It is such an honor to finally meet you", Rosa said to Alicia, bowing down.

"Whoa no need to be so polite, my dear Rosa. You can just call me Alicia or if you feel like it, you can call me Alice *giggles*", replied Alicia.

"Understood, Miss Alicia. I'm sorry that because of my incompetence, you have to prepare breakfast on my behalf", Rosa again bowed down to her.

"*laughs* No no, I cooked breakfast for all of you because I wanted to, no worries. Think of it as my way of saying thank you for having me and even taking care of me", said Alicia.

"So let's have breakfast together, please sit down wherever you like! Maybe you want to sit beside me to get to know me better? *chuckles*", she added.

"Thanks for the invitation, Miss Alicia. But I'll sit right beside Lady Irina", replied Rosa.

"Ouch, looks like I just got rejected...", responded Alicia.

Irina chuckled a bit. Alicia looked at Irina and Rosa and reflexively smiled.

"W- What was that smile for?", asked Irina.

"Nothing hehe. After everything you've told me earlier, I can't see you two as anything other than twins", answered Alicia with an impish smile.

"D- Did you talked about me when I was asleep, Lady Irina?", Rosa asked, looking embarrassed.

"I- It's not like that! I was just telling Alicia a little bit about our childhood!", replied Irina.

"You said much more than that though *chuckles*", Alicia said.

"Shh Alicia!", Irina told her, blushing red.

"Aha now you two are blushing hard. You might be actual sisters after all *laughs*", said Alicia teasingly.

Meanwhile, Kyleas finally wakes up and decides to get out of his tent.

"Good morning everyone, looks like you all know each other already, huh?", said Kyleas.

"Morning Kyleas, yeah me and Alicia actually were up very early and talked a lot already hehe", replied Irina.

"That's right. I hope you don't mind me talking about our Radlanovian days, Kyleas", replied Alicia.

"W- Wait, she didn't say anything embarrassing about me, right, Princess Irina?", asked Kyleas.

"Not really, I had wished she did though *laughs*", she answered.

"Don't worry, Kyleas. I won't tell them your embarrassing side unless you're also here to hear it", Alicia winked at him.

"W- Well, thanks for that I guess", he said.

Everyone just laughed it off. Alicia then served everyone a portion of the casserole that she had prepared. While they were eating, Adran finally came out of his tent.