(Original Series by Lucas Anderson)
The first year of school had ended and now Leopold has decided to go back to his home village after finding out its location from the voice inside his head. However, some unfortunate events lead him down a path of...
Leopold and his friends followed Princess Nova down the halls of the castle as they headed towards the ball room. Leopold was surprised to see just how spacious the castle was being that it was owned by the smallest of the nine human nations. There were large paintings covering the walls as suits of armor and other pricy items were displayed all around.
"This place is almost on par with the castle of Stashin! The second largest kingdom versus the smallest and yet they are almost the exact same!" Leopold's mind cried in surprise.
"You look very jubilant, Sir Leopold." Princess Nova noticed. "Does the structure of our humble abode really seem so grand?"
Leopold blushed and then nodded. "Y-Yes... It's just that I would have imagined that this castle would be on more of a... smaller-scale is all." He hadn't meant to attract the attention of Princess Nova... Leopold needed to keep his emotions to himself!
Despite what Leopold saw as him acting to brazenly, the princess let out a slight chuckle and then kept walking. When they reached the doors to the ballroom, the girl stopped and then took a deep breath. "Now I will warn you all that most of the people in this room are high ranking nobles and don't take kindly to those of a lower class... Try not to let it sway you from enjoying yourself."
The boy had thought as much when preparing for the night. "In most of the kingdoms on Vera's surface, the divide between classes is very evident. Even when I first came to the fifth ranked Hero Academy, people like Lilia were trying to grow that divide even more. If Cinder hadn't come to break up the scene, things could have gone very differently on that day..." He sadly smiled. "I'm doing it again... You need to stop thinking of Cinder, Leo!" He took one last deep breath and then the group walked inside the room.
Again, Leopold scanned the area as they meandered from one place to the next. From what he could tell, there seemed to be around forty different nobles in the room and all of them were of fairy high class. Some of them were even from the meeting Leopold and his friends had earlier been in with the king, which unfortunately meant that they gave the group hard stares as if wishing a rock would fall on them.
"I've heard of nobles being arrogant toward commoners, but toward other nobles?! Emy is a high ranking noble anyway, so they should just quit it already!" the boy's thoughts yelled.
Still, it didn't seem to bother the others as they just ignored most of it. Leviathan even turned to the princess and smiled. "Would it be alright if I, along with Miss Emerald and Sir Diablo, went off to a different section of the room? I would like to speak with them about something..."
The princess blushed. "S-Sure! If that's what you want..." The boy smiled and then walked off with the other two, leaving Princess Nova and Leopold behind them.
Leopold's eyes widened. "Did he just... DELIBERATELY LEAVE ME ALONE WITH THIS GIRL?! HOW DARE HE!!" This was not good! It had already been awkward enough with the five of them! And now... JUST HIM AND A FREAKING PRINCESS?! NOT GOOD!
"So..." he breathed, trying to clear the still air surrounding the two. "Princess Nova, is it often that you speak so openly with people such as myself? Most of the nobles around us seem very displeased..."
"I assure you that it's alright. While I do hold the title of a princess, it doesn't mean that I need to treat others so poorly. Keeping the citizens faith in a royal household is important within a kingdom!" she explained. "Oh... AND STOP SPEAKING SO FORMALLY! JUST CALL ME NOVA!"
He laughed. "I see. The people of the Vinhold Kingdom must really love you as their princess." If there was one thing that Leopold had learned about Nova in their short time together it was that she might have been one of the most pure hearted people that he had ever met.
The girl smiled then out of nowhere pointed to Leopold's right hand. "By the way... I was meaning to ask you about your hand there." She took a short deep breath. "When we gave you clothes for the meeting as well as the banquet, I don't remember giving you a glove..."
Leopold looked at his right hand and then nodded to her statement. "You didn't have me wear this glove."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I always wear my glove."
"May I ask why that is?" the girl asked Leopold.
The boy frowned and then thought to himself for a moment. "Well... It's kind of a long story to be honest..." He cleared his throat and then began to explain. "When I was younger, I was attacked and lost my right arm as well as both by eyes in the process. Shortly after, I was found by a man named John Stratus who took me in and helped me out. He was able to transplant new eyes where the old ones had used to be."
"I see. Sounds like you had a rough childhood..."
"Yes." Leopold agreed. "Unfortunately for my right hand, the tissue had completely deteriorated and so I could not have it restored to me." He smiled. "Fortunately, I am part Spirit and could use my powers to make a hand in place of what was missing."
"Wow..." the princess breathed. "What a story! I'll have to tell Miss Ivory all about this when we next see each other!"
"You... don't have to do that." Leopold scratched his head and sighed. "I am actually one of Princess Ivory's bodyguards. She already knows about all of... this."
Princess Nova's eyes widened in shock at what she heard. "Wow... that's so cool!" She smiled and then looked off into one of the nearby crowds. Well you should probably go and speak a bit with others for now, Sir Leopold. I need to talk to my father about a few matters."
"Sure. I'll just be-" Leopold tried to say, but was cut off by a strange sight. His eyes that could see a few seconds into the future showed the image of what looked to be the lights in the ballroom cutting off as someone charged into Leopold and knocked him out as they ran off carrying a woman in their arms.
"What the..."
"Princess, we should leave this area." Leopold said to her. He tried to move himself and her out of the way, but just as he foresaw the lights around the room cut off leaving him blind to what was in front of him. "Princess!"
Gasps echoed around the room as everyone panicked. The sound of scurrying feet could be heard all around as everyone tried to figure out just what was going on.
"What's happening?! Did someone shut off the lights?!"
"I can't see! Someone help me!"
Leopold quickly used his plasma spirit essence to create lightning that would provide a small flicker of light. He looked around and found himself still conscious despite what the vision of the future had shown him. Unfortunately, most of what he saw still came true.
"Where is Princess Ivory?! Was she kidnapped??" he wondered. The room should have had soldiers posted outside to prevent someone from getting inside and pulling a stunt like this one! How did the person slip though? "And how was I unable to stop him? I may not be the brightest person, but I have still been able to thwart a few dozen kidnappings in my years as a bodyguard and soldier! What is going on here?!"
"I need to find the Princess and save her!" he said to himself before running out of the room through one of the windows. He smashed through the glass and then jumped to the ground below him. "I will fix this!"
