Chapter 7: 5 – Arrival at the capital

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After what felt like an eternity, Glynn groaned as she woke up. The first thing she noticed when she regained consciousness was that she was hugging something... scaly. However, it was somehow soft at the same time. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that the thing she was hugging wasn't a hug pillow. Instead, it was a scaly black tail.

"What?" She let out a short gasp of surprise as she quickly got up. However, she soon bumped her head into something.

Massaging the top of her head in pain, Glynn looked at the thing she bumped into. Unexpectedly, it was Ava, who was similarly massaging her chin in pain. Glynn lowered her eyes at this. Based on the position she was lying in before, it was safe to say that she was using Ava's lap as a pillow. Setting aside the awkwardness of Ava giving her a lap pillow like when they were 12, Glynn hurriedly asked, "Ava, are you alright?"

"The Ilumdir knights secured the train and we're now back on our way to the capital. Also, I didn't sustain any injuries—"

Glynn heaved a sigh of relief.

"—Until now. That hurts, you know? I think my jaw's going to hurt for a week."

Hearing this, Glynn lowered her head apologetically. "Sorry..."

Ava chuckled and patted Glynn's head with a smile. "It's fine. But... are you forgetting to tell me something?"

Glynn tilted her head in confusion. 'What is she talking about?' But upon seeing Ava's pouty face and crossed arms, something clicked in her head. 'Sh-She mentioned the knights earlier, right?' That meant Ava had interacted with the knights, most likely when they brought her body back to the compartment or when Ava came looking for her herself. And... they might have also told Ava about how close to death she was.

'That means my lie was exposed...'

Of course, it was all speculation. However, it was better to apologize now... and sprinkle a bit of lie into it so that Ava would sulk at her less.

"Sorry for lying... but I was close to killing that robed man, you know? A few more seconds and I'd have won—"

"And you would've been dead." Ava suddenly interrupted Glynn. "The knights reconstructed the scene using a very rare Artifact that they only had one of, so I know what happened. Don't even try to lie to me."

Glynn hung her head down low in shame. "I-I'm sorry..."

Seeing this, Ava's face softened as she pulled Glynn into her embrace. "It's fine now, I wasn't mad at you or anything. I was just... scared. Don't you dare risk your life like that again, okay?"

"Yes..."

But her answer didn't seem sincere.

"You are going to do it again, aren't you?"

"Y-Yes..."

Ava sighed. "Right. If I can't convince you, I'll have to keep an eye on you from now on then."

Glynn lightly nodded in gratitude. She still had to risk her life since she had to conquer the Abyss and tell the Gods her greatest wish. So having Ava watching over her was the most she was willing to compromise.

'But I'd still prefer it if she stayed out of danger...'

But of course, Glynn knew that it would be futile to try and convince her sister to do so. As such, she didn't even try to do it. After calming down and enjoying herself in Ava's warm embrace, Glynn suddenly remembered something. "Wait, tail?"

She quickly reached one of her hands to Ava's butt and felt the area around it. However, she couldn't find the scaly tail however hard she tried.

Ava, obviously weirded out by this, said, "Uh... what are you doing?"

Glynn casually answered, "I'm looking for the tail that I hugged before. Where did it go?"

"It's not mine..."

Hearing this, Glynn stopped and retracted her hand. "Then whose is it?"

"...It's yours."

"Huh?" She quickly reached for her own butt; she immediately felt that her skin was a bit scaly. Slowly moving her hand up, she reached the base of the black tail that she was hugging earlier.

"Kyahhhhh!" She screamed in fright. "GET IT OFF ME!" She pulled the tail with all her might. However, the tail still remained intact, and her actions only served to cause her pain.

Seeing this, Ava hurriedly patted her back to calm her down. "Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out."

Glynn listened to her words and calmed her breathing down. "Th-Thanks. I feel a bit better now. But... why did I grow a tail?"

"Beats me." Ava shrugged. "I suddenly noticed it when I tugged you in. But why are you scared of it though? It looks cute!"

"N-No it's not!" Then, Glynn fell into thoughts. 'Why did it grow here? Don't tell me... Is it because of the Dragon mana?' To confirm her guess, Glynn asked, "Ava, what species do you think this tail belongs to?"

"Hmm? I remember seeing illustrations of Wyverns and Drakes in dad's book. But your tail doesn't have a stinger, so it can't be a Wyvern's. And it's also too long to be a Drake's. That leaves only..."

"Dragons, right?"

"Mhm! Dad met one before and drew it in his book. Your tail kind of looks like a dragon tail."

"I see..." She nodded thoughtfully. 'If that's the case then changing back should work.' And with that thought, she muttered.

[Artifical unique trait]: Bender

'Good, the tail's gone, but... 1st-tier?' Glynn frowned as she stared at the translucent screen before her. 'Was it always there?'

But she couldn't think about it any further, as she suddenly heard Ava's tired sigh. "Awww... you turned back into Glenn..."

Glenn touched his face and confirmed that he was really back to himself. Heaving a sigh of relief, he muttered, "I can't believe I freaked out so much over a tail. This is why I hate Glynn... my personality changes too much."

"Are you sure that isn't your original personality?" Ava chimed in.

"I'm... not sure. But I'm more comfortable with Glenn. Anyhow, why are you still hugging me? I'm back to Glenn now."

Ava chuckled. "Glynn or not, you're still my sibling. Just let me enjoy this a bit, okay? See this as a punishment for lying to me and risking your life."

Glenn... stopped resisting. He also felt at ease in Ava's embrace, though he didn't dare to admit it. Instead of a big sister, Ava was more like a mother he never had. Though, of course, he wouldn't admit it, especially not to Ava herself.

As Glenn was sitting with his eyes closed, basking in the comfortable silence that was only occasionally broken by the sound of the train running on the rail tracks, he suddenly heard the door of their compartment being opened. Opening his eyes and glaring at the door, he watched as Hugh and Annie walked in and stared at him with widened eyes.

Hugh used his hand to cover his mouth, which was hung agape, while Annie covered her beet-red face with her hands while occasionally peeking at Glenn and Ava through the gaps between her fingers.

"Oh..." Hugh spoke as he recovered from his surprise. "...I guess we interrupted you guys during your intimate time. Guess I'll be bac—"

"No!" Ava shouted as she broke her hug with Glenn and flailed her arms around, "I-It's nothing! Y-You can stay. We were about to end o-our um... brother-sister time anyway."

Hugh laughed and pulled Annie with him to sit on a nearby seat. Meeting eyes with Glenn, he asked, "Glenn, how are you feeling?"

Glenn answered coldly. "None of your business. Anyway, where's my cane?" 

"Heh, I guess you're still shy with strangers." Hugh let out a low chuckle.

"I'm not!" 

Ignoring Glenn's previous words, Hugh reached into his suitcase and took out Glenn's cane, which was snapped in half. "Sorry. I went a little too rough on your cane there."

Glenn received the two parts of his cane and then proceeded to throw them right out the window. Interlocking his finger together, he coldly spoke, "Then compensate me. 1200 Arthens should be enough."

"What!? 1200 Arthens for that cheap cane? It's only 250 at most, and that's assuming yours was made of the best quality hardwood!"

Glenn nodded in understanding. "I know. 1500 Arthens now."

"What? Why is it increasing!?"

"Emotional damage." Glenn smiled. "That's why I demanded 1200 in the first place. My feelings were hurt further by you insulting my intelligence."

"But I wasn't—"

"Ow, you did it again. 1800 now."

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Hugh gave up and hurriedly reached into his pocket to take out Arthen notes. After checking the amount, he handed them to Glenn. "I just gave you 2000. J-Just keep the extra 200, I don't even know what methods you'll come up with to suck more money out of me if I gave you exactly 1800."

"Glad you understand." The corners of Glenn's lips curved up as he put away the Arthen notes. "Now, for the reward. I'll call my lawyer once we get to the capital and we will calculate the percentage of—"

"Stop!" Hugh interrupted Glenn with a shout. "40%! Let's just say that your cane contributed to 40% of the clearing of the raiders! I don't want to deal with you and money anymore!"

Glenn smirked and halted his assault. "Alright then. Hope you'll keep your word later." 

Hugh heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he regained his original outgoing attitude and chatted with Ava.

Glenn, however, took out the Arthen notes again and muttered, "Hm... the compensation for the cane alone can last us for 3 months... that is if we were normal citizens. Shit out of luck, we're going to Kevlas. We won't even last 2 weeks with the amount of equipment and textbooks we have to buy." Sighing, Glenn put the notes back inside his pocket and listened in to Hugh's conversation.

Knowing that Glenn was listening in to him, Hugh turned his gaze toward him and asked in an attempt to make small talk, "Glenn, did you know that Ava always covered you with a blanket? At first, I thought that you sustained some nasty injury or something, but you don't seem like you're very hurt to me."

Glenn gave a sidelong glance at Ava and raised his thumb, to which Ava responded by smiling and lightly nodding. 

'Good, my Artificial unique trait wasn't exposed—oh right, the knights! Well, if they realized my trait then there's nothing I can do about it.' He sighed.

It was then that Hugh was about to speak again. However, he stopped himself to look at Annie. 

Annie gave him a nod as if giving him permission for something.

Seeing this, Hugh turned toward Glenn and Ava again and spoke with a serious tone, "I have something to confess to you guys."

Hearing Hugh's usually serious tone, even Glenn had to cast his bias against strangers aside and listened to him attentively.

"Yesterday's train raid... most likely occurred because of us. You see, I'm... the Imperial prince of Arline empire, and Annie's the 3rd princess."

At the sudden revelation, Ava widened her eyes in shock. "R-Really?"

Glenn, however, was less shocked than Ava. Instead, he was just staring at Hugh with a frown. 

Noticing this, Hugh spoke, "You're not surprised?"

"Not really." Glenn shook his head. "Someone dressed like commoners like you two being able to afford 1st-class tickets is strange enough. Plus, the guys I had to fight blabbered about there being some kind of princesses on this train."

"But are you two also commoners though?"

"We're a special case. Our dad has... connections. Anyway, what are you going to do with me now?"

"Do what?" Hugh tilted his head in confusion. 

"You know what I'm talking about. Being rude to a prince, and even extorting money from him. I'm getting thrown in jail as soon as I get to the capital, right? Well, I don't even have to ask. The fact that you have several knights positioned right outside the door of our compartment proves everything."

Hearing this, Ava immediately tried to get on her knees to beg. Before she could do so, however, Hugh hurriedly stopped her.

"Stop! You don't have to worry. I don't mind you acting that way with me earlier. It's refreshing to talk to someone who doesn't treat me formally... even if the way that someone treats me is rude. But heh, did you just confess to extorting money from me?"

Seeing that Hugh was trying to make a joke to lighten the mood, Ava heaved a sigh of relief and sat down in her seat again.

Glenn, however, wasn't dropping his guard down. "Then how do you explain the knights who are outside right now? They're too weak to be the Ilumdir knight order, so they must be your personal guards."

"Hah, you're correct. Father sent them after he heard of the incident but don't worry. Although they're definitely pissed, I told them beforehand about your... personality. They won't do anything rash to you."

"I see..." Glenn's voice trailed off. "...So I guess that I can treat you like before?"

"Correct. I prefer it that way."

"Alright then, Mr. Prince. You must be loaded, correct? Mind helping out your friends?"

"Heh, I thought we were strangers?"

"I'll definitely be your friend if you gave me money."

Hugh laughed heartily. "Well, normally, I wouldn't mind. But... father took all of our money away. He said that we needed to learn how to survive on our own to be good rulers."

Glenn nodded in understanding and didn't inquire about it further. Though, he didn't feel guilty one bit for taking 2000 whole Arthens away from Hugh.

Then, Hugh and Annie stood up and clenched their right hand into a fist. They placed their clenched hands on their left chest, giving Glenn a Kilvilaine alliance salute.

"As a prince of a nation, I thank you for your service! To kill the raiders and hold back a 6th-tier mage, you've done Arline empire and the alliance a great favor!"

Then, Hugh stopped saluting and held his hand out to Glenn. "And as a brother, I thank you for stopping the raiders and mage from killing my sister. Even I wouldn't have been able to do anything had the mage targeted us directly."

Glenn shook Hugh's hand with a smile. "It's nothing, I only did it for the money. And confronting the mage was an inevitability since I was fighting close to the locomotive."

Hugh laughed. "Haha, right, for the money. Keep being true to your desire, brother-in-arms. I like honest people like you." Then, he gave them one last bow before leaving the compartment with Annie.

Now alone with Ava, Glenn slouched back into his seat with a tired sigh. "How tiresome... to think that Hugh was really the prince."

"...?" Ava tilted her head in confusion. "Didn't you say that you figured it out before?"

"I did... but I wasn't sure with my speculations."

Ava nodded. Then, she rested her chin on the palm of her hand as she fantasized about something.

"It's good that you're opening up to Hugh now. He's going to be your brother-in-law after all."

Glenn stiffed as he heard this. Slowly turning his head to the side to meet eyes with Ava, he spoke in a disturbed voice. "Wh-What happened while I was asleep!?"

"Unfortunately, nothing." Ava sighed. "But a girl can dream, you know? Besides, who knows what might happen in the future?"

"Haaah... you and your fantasies. But anyway, sorry to break it to you but I still don't trust him."

"...?"

"I only acted that way because I want to be acquainted with him. It's all about making connections."

"Now you're talking like dad!" Ava pouted. "But... that's a good first step, I guess. Maybe you'll see him as a great friend if you hang out with him enough?"

"As if." Glenn scowled. After that incident, his trust in strangers disappeared. As such, he sure as hell wasn't going to trust the guy who he met literally 2 days ago, prince or not.

'But I still don't understand Ava. She's the one who's most affected by that incident, and yet she doesn't hesitate to be friendly with strangers.'

But whatever the case was, as her brother, Glenn had to ensure that no similar incidents would befall Ava ever again.

...

The train ride passed by uneventfully. Occasionally, Hugh went to Glenn's compartment to talk with him for a bit but that was about it. 

After arriving at the capital's stations, Glenn glanced outside the window.

"Tch, reporters..."

News traveled fast. Just 3 days after the incident, reporters from the capital and nearby cities flooded the train station in hope of getting the latest scoop. 

"But isn't this too much?" Ava asked.

Coldly glaring at a reporter who was loudly banging on the window of his compartment, Glenn closed the window's curtain and answered, "No... Hugh told me that the information that a princess got involved in the incident got leaked, so this kind of reaction is normal."

Standing up and taking out his luggage, he sighed. 

"Let's just hope that we can get out without being bothered much."

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