PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 18

As the monks walked away I continued gardening, wondering, what they were talking about. War seemed like a pretty big deal and surely I would've heard about something like that if it were true. But then I thought about the monk getting silenced for bringing the topic up, it just was not something that would crop up in conversation in district 2.

If I questioned the monks that would surely raise suspicion if I kept asking so that option was out of the question. Possibly I could have gone down to district 3 and returned before supper and asked around but asking around in itself could have proved to be quite dangerous.

I opted for district 1 where they surely would have some sort of news hub if it really was a place of affluence as I had been told. The only inconvenience was I would have to walk there the next day after breakfast and make it back in time for lunch but I did not know how far away it was.

Though, unlike the time I trekked through the Amijki kingdom, this time I was not trying to conserve my energy so I could use as much sorcery as I pleased and the next day when I got to the base of the path I enchanted my boots with the same speed spell I used on the carriage during my first journey here. That did really seem like a long time ago, how had it only been a month?

The trail was uneventful and I did not run into anyone, it was also quite short so I was quicker than anticipated.

When I reached district 1 I could instantly tell what Mrs Toyomitsu said had been true - not that I did not believe her, I just was not expecting it to be so precise. The houses in all meanings of the word, were fairly normal, with a black slate roof and white brick walls and arched windows, except they really were very big.

Upon examining the houses, I knew it was true, you could fit multiple families into just one of these buildings but with the scarce number of people around, I imagined each was only inhabited by one person. The cobbled streets really were deserted - no not deserted just so large compared to the number of people in this district. I considered whether any of them actually had jobs and worried there was no news hub.

Walking around town in my 'expensive' clothing I magicked for myself, with a new face to go with it, I had to be careful around any bright areas created by the sun, since jewellery is not organic I couldn't make it myself and I've never owned any or known anyone who owned any jewellery for me to teleport onto my person, so I had to cast an illusion but magic is not boundless and every spell has its limits, this one's being the illusions are not affected by external factors so they cannot shine in the sunlight like all shiny things would.

Everyone on the street strolled very far apart so I tried to do the same but this quickly turned into a problem as I struggled to find anything that stood out on these identical streets. After walking for half an hour, I reached the edge of the district; it was surrounded in a huge wall that looked like it connected to the castle, I probably passed through district 1 on my first journey to the kingdom but I was too busy sleeping to see it.

Just as I was about to give up and head back, I saw a blur of movement in the corner of my eye. In the alleyway between one of the houses and the wall it looked like two people ran through. That was not what everyone else was doing. It seemed I had found what stood out in these identical streets, or at least I hoped.

Sneakily rushing into the alleyway behind them, I searched for where they could be, it was possible I had not really seen anything but I had perfect vision and impeccable perception. Alongside that I also had sorcery to sense where they were. Other than the bodies on the street, there were two below me and running away fast.

Surely there must be a way down, I thought, searching the alleyway again. Then I saw it, there was a circular plate of metal on the ground painted grey to match its surroundings. Quickly sliding it off, I jumped down without really thinking and put back over my head.

I was in some sort of dark tunnel that stretched on for a long time, the smell down there was horrendous and I dulled the senses in my nose as I ran on the way the same way I sensed the pair.

With no one else around, I was free to use sorcery to make me hasten and silence my boots to not alert anyone of my presence. It was not long before I caught up with the pair and proved that they were indeed real; a young boy and girl wearing scruffy clothes considering the district they were in.

"Kota are you sure we won't get into trouble," the young girl seemed uneasy compared to the boy's confident stance, "We're just kids, they'll just laugh at us and kick us out."

"Stop being such a baby, Eri." the young boy, Kota, was about the hit her over the head, then seemed to rethink an drew his hand back, "I'm sure they can use all the help they can get, besides what's the worst that could happen, they're not gonna throw us in prison, we're just kids. And that's exactly why they need us, we can get into places without being executed."

This did not seem to make the girl, Eri, feel any better, "Do we really have to do dangerous stuff?"

"Yes, that's all part of the cause. We wanna be apart of the rebellion don't we? Apart of history!" Kota slowed down as they reached the end of the tunnel. An opening came into view of what looked like a large cave. There were people of all different wealths sprawled about on crates here and there and in the centre of the cave was a man stood on a crate wearing a dark blue overcoat.

I stayed back, hidden in the shadows while the kids walked in, that invisibility would have come in handy right about then. "Who's this? Two newcomers, wait but you're just kids, where are your parents?"

The pair glanced at each other then looked back firmly, "We don't have any parents sir, we're here to join up, we believe in the cause." Kota spoke for them as Eri vigorously nodded her head.

"That is a noble feat my young friend, and we welcome you, don't we everyone?" There were cheers spread throughout the crowd, "We could always use some smaller bodies. I'm Dabi, the leader of the league of rebels."

He stepped off the crate kneeled in front of the kids, holding out his hand for each one to shake, "You're just in time, if you'd have arrived any later the meeting would've already started and we'd assume you were guards coming to arrest us. We would've shot you on sight." Dabi patted them on the shoulder and gave them a creepy smile then headed back to his makeshift podium.

"Ladies and gentleman," He pointed to Kota and Eri, "boys and girls, we're all here for the same reason so there's no use in explaining why. Let's just get straight down to business and go through the plan."

Dabi strolled around the room, maintaining everyone's attention, "We are going to save him. It will happen. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. But soon. We won't force him though, he still deserves the same rights as us, we'll just give him the option to choose, getting him to our side by making him an offer he can't refuse." I held my breath as the man walked past me, though there was no need with the silencing spell on.

"Then once we have him on our side the king will be vulnerable. Losing his son will give him a blow to his pride, he'll be reckless and we can use that. When he least expects it we will use that dynamite and blow that bastard to smithereens - that is, unless he agrees to surrender, but I doubt that. So who's with me?"

A roar emerged from everyone in the cave, including the two children. These people did not sound sinister they just sounded passionate, full of heart, and I completely understood why people would want the king dead, but what did they mean 'getting him to our side' and 'saving him'? They said 'Losing his son' so they must have been referring to prince Amijiki, but what did he have to do with anything? Could it have been that people knew about how the king treated his son?

"You know how these meetings work and how we end them so you kids, you go first," Dabi sent them on their way and they came running back through the tunnel, directly towards me so using sorcery, I appeared back at the base of the tree I went to when going to the prince's tower.

With more questions than I started with when I set out that morning, I headed back into district 2 not really sure what my next move was.