Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 68: Royal Carriage

"Koko, it's time to wake up!" Koko heard Christina's voice as she felt herself being shaken awake. "Come on, we have to go soon!"

"I don't wanna go anywhere." Koko groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Tired..."

"You've already been sleeping for nearly two days now." Christina continued with her tone hardening. "At this point, it isn't exhaustion keeping you in bed but laziness!"

"I'm fine with that." Koko replied before rolling over closer to the wall so that her friend would have a more difficult time in disturbing her. Though that plan unfortunately backfired as Christina walked to the end of the bed and lifted the mattress at an angle so that Koko fell out of her covers and landed on the floor with a loud thumping noise.

"Now hurry and get dressed or you won't have time to take a bath before we leave!" Christina ordered before walking back to her own bed and starting getting ready for the day.

"Was that really necessary?" Koko complained as she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake up.

"Yes it was." Christina replied. "You've been asleep for a long time so you probably don't know it, but we've received the king's summons."

"Huh?! What does King Xavier want with us?!" Koko asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure myself, but it's more than likely that he wants to discuss what happened in the forest." Christina explained. "Now hurry up because the carriage that's taking us to Goldgate is arriving in an hour."

"Aww, I wanted to sleep some more..." Koko pouted, though she started gathering a new change of cloths regardless as she prepared to visit the baths. "If James if involved in this somehow, I swear that I'll hurt him. Even if he is the second prince!"

"You needed to get up anyway." Christina sighed before she finished strapping her new sword to her hip and moving to leave the room. "I'm going now, so don't go back to bed and be there in time for the carriage or Headmaster Conner will yell at you."

"Haaai." Koko replied, still attempting to fight off her grogginess before she dressed herself enough so that she could go to the baths. And thankfully she managed to make it to the front of the academy in time to meet up with everyone else that had participated in the giant ent's subjugation, though she hadn't been in time to eat breakfast first.

"It's nice to see you finally up and about, Koko." Conner nodded his greeting as soon as he saw her. "Now I'll expect you to actually attend class tomorrow rather than do nothing but sleep all day."

"Eh? Can't I get another few days of slacking at least?" Koko asked while preforming the best puppy-dog eyes that she could manage.

"You've slacked enough." Conner met Koko's pitiful gaze with his own cold eyes and she sighed in defeat, figuring that it was probably for the best that she start both training and studying again anyway before the carriage finally arrived for them. However, while Koko had been expecting just a normal carriage, she hadn't foreseen the massive, roof-less vehicle which was being pulled by a team of eight horses that had arrived. While the craft itself was made from polished wood, the gold embedded into it reflected the sun's rays in just the right way that made the entire craft seem to glow. And as Koko started to wonder if this was truly the carriage that they were waiting for, a familiar figure sat up from its seats.

"Koko! It's good to see you again!" James revealed himself and waved enthusiastically towards them, making everyone else look at him with curiosity while Koko sighed at the prince's attempt to surprise them.

"Go back and get a normal carriage because I'm not riding in that thing!" Koko ordered immediately after the carriage stopped. "It's practically asking to get ambushed!"

"That's not going to happen Koko, seeing as my father sent the royal carriage here specifically to pick you up." James smiled smugly as he replied. "Now everyone should get in or we're going to be late!"

"Either put up with it or walk." Conner grumbled as if he wasn't happy about it himself before he started leading the group towards the open carriage. And while she was tempted to walk at first, Koko soon lost her choice in the matter as Christina started dragging her along with the rest of them.

"So spill it. Why the extravagant carriage?" Koko demanded to know as soon as they were inside as she wanted to know the answer, especially seeing as she only now noticed the knights on horseback that had joined them once the carriage started moving.

"Are you sure that you want to know?" James asked teasingly. "The truth is that I've finally convinced my father to arrange a marriage between us. So from now on, you'll be staying with me at the castle."

"What?!" Both Christina and Richard cried out in shock, though any questions that might have been asked were stopped before they even began as Koko grabbed the top of James's head and started squeezing.

"Tell me the real reason or I'm going to show everyone here how I got my 'Destroyer' title!" Koko threatened.

"Ow, okay! Just stop squeezing my head!" James shouted as he tried in vain to free his head. "The corruption in the forest had a lot of citizens worried seeing as it was so close to Goldgate, so my father plans to celebrate the ones who subjugated it in order to raise moral!"

"Just say that at the start!" Koko yelled before releasing him and reclaiming her seat beside Christina.

"How the heck do you get to do that without the royal guards reacting?" Richard asked, though from the looks she was receiving, Koko could tell that everyone else wanted to know as well.

"It's simple really." James seemed to get over his pain instantly as he answered. "All of them either fear or respect her."

"Enough that they would allow you harm?" Christina asked in confusion.

"Don't get me wrong, I still have to warn the new additions of the guard about her behavior whenever we meet." James laughed. "Just as a precaution."

"If you weren't such an obsessed idiot then I wouldn't need to be violent." Koko grumbled in reply. "Why do you go out of your way to bug me when I'm mean to you? Are you a masochist or something?"

"Koko, even if the prince allows it, there's a limit to how much you can insult royalty." Conner warned from across the wagon.

"I'm obsessed because you're interesting, and I can't say that about very many people." James answered. "I mean, think about it from my point of view."

"Someone in your position normally wouldn't give the third child of a baron a second thought." Koko replied.

"Not necessarily." James suddenly adopted a serious look. "Here is the way I see it. A young girl from one of the poorest noble families in the entire kingdom wanted to become an adventurer but didn't want to put the burden of buying new equipment onto her parents. And so, she attempted to create a new style of fighting with just her bare hands alone so that she can minimize the stress on her family. And while such a thing would never normally work, the young girl turned out to be a genius, creating not only a new style of fighting but also developing new skills and special abilities the likes of which have never before been recorded in the kingdom's history."

"Your majesty, what are you saying?" Conner asked while leaning forward in his chair as he also seemed to be interested.

"What I'm saying is that we could be very well be witnessing the birth of a new class, and nothing like this has happened in over a thousand years." James fidgeted slightly as he spoke. "You're asking why I'm interested in you, Koko? It's because I would be insane not to be, and trust me when I say that I'm not the only one."