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Volume 6 Chapter 6 Part 2

Translation and editing by Team Foxsunes

The youth, Heinrich, stood up and I followed. I bowed down, looking at the door and it opened up quietly. My breath was then taken away. 

｢Seems like you had to wait｣

Princess gave a beautiful gentle smile, followed by numerous maids bowing down. This must be how it looks like when a large white lily blooms. I stood there with all my words taken away and she deepened her smile. She lifted up the hem of her dress ｢How is it?｣ She inquired and took an elegant turn, she had a mischievous smile on her face. Her long sleeves fluttered in the air making a white projectile. Even that after-image was beautiful and it burnt into my eyes. Her dress was really gorgeous. White silk was used in abundance without holding back anything, it had delicate silver embroidery along with silver beads and jewels sewed on it.  I had seen her wear her formal dress as the Priestess princess a couple of times. But, her current formal attire was more luxurious than the previous ones. It wasn’t only because of the dress that made her look beautiful, it was also because she was wearing it properly. All I could say was that the princess covered in the garment of pure white looked extremely beautiful. 

｢You look very, very beautiful. Like a goddess that has ascended from the heaven…｣ I couldn’t say anything more to describe her beauty. I couldn’t find anything except the word ‘beautiful’. In times like this, I feel like cursing at the lack of my vocabulary. I was looking at her as if I had been charmed by her looks, the man gave me an appalled look and let out a sigh. The sigh brought embarrassment to me and I looked down. Princess laughed cutely with a laugh resembling that to the sound of bells. 

｢If you say that then it must be a great attire. Heinrich, don’t you think…..Heinrich? Why are you so dumbfound?｣

Princess inquisitively frowned at the youth who was staring at her with his opal eye and the bright green coloured eye. Heinrich gasped and his eyes narrowed for just a moment, as if he was looking at something really bright. But, it was just for a moment and immediately he had the usual calm smile on his face. 

｢No, it’s nothing. So, now that you are all dressed up does it mean that it is time now?｣

｢Yes, we are at the climax｣

She brushed her hand over the hem and gave a strong willed smile. 

｢But don’t let your guard down. We don’t know how the bout is going to end｣

We answered her with a deep bow. Her words weren’t just there to show her determination. It was a declaration of war considering the dangers of the ceremony. I had already been told that if the pro-medium extremists had to attack again after yesterday’s assault then there wouldn’t be any other day than today. 

I made up my resolve so that I could be helpful for the princess, even if it isn’t much. 

✳  ✳  ✳

The city full of vigor was now solem and all the citizens, old or young, men or women were kneeling down towards the spring. The spring was surrounded by tall walls, so there was no way they could see the ceremony, but as if it was a natural thing to do, they faced towards the towering walls and prayed at the princess and medium being carried by a portable shrine. After the portable shrine was carried around the city by the Temple Knights, it started heading towards the walls and disappeared into it. I, the man, and Heinrich followed them on foot. The spring was extremely clear and it had made me feel anxious for some reason. The spring itself was pretty deep but we could clearly see the bottom. There were no insects or fish to be seen. It was so beautiful and quiet that it started hurting my ears. Bells started ringing again and again, the sound began to draw beautiful ripples on the surface of the spring and drew multiple beautiful rings. On the altar was the Goddess statue and a big, silver goblet with delicate craftsmanship was placed in front of it. The sound of the bells kept ringing, it’s been said that the clear sound of the silver bells summon the spirits. 

The medium and the princess were dropped off from the portable shrine in front of the altar. Medium was wearing multilayered colourful clothes and colourful magical stones were braided into his iridescent coloured hair. Contrary to that, as mentioned before, the princess was wearing white. She stood there elegantly with her silver hair flowing on her back, she was wearing her pure white attire as the priestess princess. Colourful medium and the pure white princess. When those two polar opposites stood together, there was a different kind of charm compared to when the man stood with her. Both of them looked perfect as if they were made for each other for today. Both of them standing together facing the altar was a magnificent sight. Behind the princess was Heinrich and behind the medium stood his guard. 

If I wasn’t told that there might be an assault by the extremists, I would’ve just kept looking at them. There was no way they didn’t know how foolish it was to attack in such a time since it was a ceremony to secure the lifeline of the Azure Desert, which is water, but I guess extremists don’t have much time left. Our great predecessor did leave a saying that a cornered mouse can bite a cat. We don’t know what the extremists would do in haste. It really is an annoyance. If something happens to the medium and the princess  who would be held responsible for it? But, it’s also true that even if I’ve made my resolve to help the princess, all I could do is look over them from a corner. There can be nothing more irritable than this in this situation. 

For now, the ceremony was proceeding without any hindrance just as it was rehearsed. I hope it ends without Heinrich and the guard’s services being required. As I watched holding my breath, the medium started singing an old ritualistic prayer, then rhythmically the spring water started pouring out of the goblet. The only thing left of the ceremony was the princess offering her blood in the goblet and her prayer. Good, good, it seems like the ceremony is going to end without any trouble. I sighed with relief and carried on with watching every action of the princess. After this a helper is going to give her a protective silver sword, cleansed with the spring water and she is going to offer her blood into the goblet with that sword. The water pouring out of the goblet will turn into holy water with her blood and serve as a summoning water for the high tier water spirit. Now, it’s almost the climax and a woman wearing similar clothes as I and a face covered with a face veil offered the protective silver sword to the princess―― and that is when it happened.

｢…..You, who are you?｣

The medium tilted his head inquisitively when the princess was about to take the sword. Princess stopped her hand midway and frowned with her beautiful eyebrows. 

｢You weren’t the one on the helper duty. So why――!?｣

He couldn’t finish his sentence because the helper had pushed away the medium. He lost balance due to a sudden unexpected blow and fell to the ground. The helper ignored the medium and held the sword’s handle and pointed it towards the princess. There was no time to ponder upon what had happened. The helper probably is one of the extremists. Even I know what would happen if the princess was assaulted here. But even so, they weren’t left with any choice but to attack her at this moment. 

…Yeah, this is all within the range of our assumption. 

｢I wouldn’t allow that｣

At that moment, Heinrich moved faster than anyone else. He twisted the attackers arm and pushed her against the ground. His action was fast and there was absolutely mercy. The helper could do nothing but groan in agony, Heinrich pressed her against the ground and pinned her down using his feet. His bright green and opal eyes were extremely cold. 

｢No matter who it is, I wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt the princess.｣

His voice had no warmth but because of that, his immense anger could be sensed from it. He took out his knife and with a loud bang, struck the knife right next to the helper’s face. The helper who was trying to get away from Heinrich gasped with fear. It could be seen even through the face veil that her face was turning pale. I can relate to her, that indeed is scary.  

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