Chapter 61: Vol2 Ch22 – Searching for Rei (1)

Over the next week, Layla, Allison, and James searched as many planets as possible. More royals were pulled in to search as well, ones not assigned to the academy. Liliana and Aliana’s parents were among those included. Michelle’s mother, Draenara, joined the search, as did the older members of the Maya Royal Family: Drangan, Drayon, Hœnir, and Drakon. The Royal Council was put on hold so that council members that had neither planet managing nor academy duties could search.

At the beginning of the following week, Louise and Isabel pulled Doran and Michelle aside to question them. Only royals knew of the fact that they had children, and that didn’t even include all of them, certainly not the students and children.

“Tell me what’s wrong with them!” Louise demanded. “It’s highly unusual for Alethea to miss school. She has had perfect attendance until now!”

“And Kye hasn’t shown up as an instructor either! I know you two can help her remote in!” Isabel added.

The two archnobles were adamant about getting answers. “Tell us! What is going on?!”

Doran sighed and nodded at Michelle. “I knew you’d make me do it.” Michelle took a moment to gather her thoughts and began explaining. She told them why Kye missed a month of school in their second year, and why she missed some school after that. She withheld the details about Elysia, Maya, Adel, herself, and their weapon partners, though they were keeping Adel and Adara a secret from all but a few select people. Louise’s and Isabel’s faces slowly morphed from angry to shocked as the explanation went on.

“Let me get this straight to make sure I’m understanding properly,” Louise said. “Kye and Alethea found another child born with white mana and adopted her, Kaede. Then, they got married and went on a honeymoon where they conceived Rei and Joey. That was also when she destroyed that S+ Class beast. Then, on your following birthday, the two of you conceived Ariel, Adriel, and Anna. And now, Kye is confirmed pregnant again?”

“I never knew Alethea is transgender,” Isabel said. “She’s so pretty and carries herself so well that... she’s... wow.”

“And now, Rei has been kidnapped.” Louise grimaced at the thought. “I can’t imagine the pain they’re going through. How are the two of you doing? She’s not your biological daughter, but you still called her your daughter. It’s clear all four of you love and share the six children equally, regardless of who birth parents are.”

“To be honest,” Michelle said, “we’re not good either. We’re probably about to join the search. We already have absence authorizations. At this point, every royal that isn’t an instructor, governor, student, or minor is searching.”

“My family would very likely agree to help,” Louise said, Isabel echoing her sentiment with a nod. “My mother especially. She knows the feeling of having a missing child. My little brother disappeared one day, and we found him a few days later. He just ran away, so it’s not quite the same, but-”

“Okay,” Doran said. “Both of you, please arrange a meeting.”

“I also suggest talking to Leon and Rose,” Isabel added. “Leonhardt van Einstadt and Rosalie van Einstadt. Their family governs some planets in Realm 3 under Drachenheim, but you probably knew that since you’re Drachenheim royals.”

Doran nodded. “Yeah. But Rosalie is still in school. I doubt Lord Wolfgang would approve, but I would veto his approval either way. I know Leonhardt graduated last year. I’m certain he would help if he’s told of the situation.” Before they could answer, Doran’s eyes widened. “Wait... Michelle, do you remember those three from Terra that Kye and Alethea met in our first year? We didn’t really interact with them, but they got fairly close. Do you think we could ask them? They got the special training from Kye and can probably scan a pretty large area.”

Michelle shrugged. “They were fifth year and higher, if I recall. I’m not sure about them, but it could be worth a shot. I think the girl... what was her name... Astrid? I think she was really good at mana sensing.”

“Oh, I’m friends with her!” Louise opened her NeuraPhone interface and pulled up Astrid’s contact details before forwarding them to Doran and Michelle.

Michelle checked out the details and smiled before saying to Doran, “I’ll go talk to Astrid. Can you take Einstadt?”

Doran sighed, knowing that Michelle just wanted to take the easier task. “Yeah, I guess I’ll do the-”

Luma appeared next to the group of four, startling Louise and Isabel. “Hey, I just finished checking a few more of the remote planets. Nothing. I-” She stopped when she noticed the extra company. “Oh, hello.”

“G-greetings, I am Louise Chevalier.” “I am Isabel Strauss.”

“Hi, I’m Luma Caliburn the Sword Saint. I’m from Planet Elea in Realm 7.”

Their eyes widened, and they exchanged glances. ““Realm 7???””

“Yeah, long story short...” and Doran proceeded to explain the Void.

They slowly nodded. ““I see...””

“Yeah, so I’m gonna keep checking the remote planets...” Luma checked the list of planets in the furthest galaxy. “It looks like I’ve covered about half of the occupied planets in that galaxy.”

“Good work. We were just talking about finding more searchers.”

“Good idea. There’s a crazy number of occupied planets in the first four realms. The Atlantis Empire is ridiculous.”

“Heh.”

“Anywho, I’m heading back out.” She turned to Louise and Isabel. “Nice to meet you! Good luck in school!” She began channeling white aether, “Unlimited Teleport,” and disappeared.

The instantaneous invocation of an epic-tier aether-powered spatial spell surprised the two archnobles. “Whoa, I thought only Kye and Alethea could insta-cast divine mana spells! And that’s an epic spell, too!”

Isabel added, “Yeah, who even is she? She used white!”

Michelle smiled dryly, “The title in her introduction isn’t for show. I’d say she could give even Lady Allison a run for her money.” Their eyes widened again.

After a few more minutes of general chit-chat, the group went their separate ways, each going to a different place to find more searchers. Louise and Isabel traveled to their home planets in Realm 1. Louise’s mother and Isabel’s father governed a vassal planet each, which granted them archnoble status. Michelle went to Terra to track down Astrid and her brothers.

Doran took a detour by the Dragon Palace in Drachenstadt to ask his mother to visit Einstadt with him. He had never met the governor of Einstadt and was not confident he could convince the man. Draelana agreed, and teleported the two to Einstadt using a long-cast, “Unlimited Teleport!” Once there, they went straight to the governor’s palace. With Draelana present, the governor quickly agreed to meet with them.

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“Greetings, Lady Draelana, it’s wonderful to see you!” The blonde man said. “Ah, this must be the young heir of Drachenheim. Greetings! I am Wolfgang van Einstadt, governor of this humble vassal planet.”

“I am Doran Maya of Drachenheim. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Wolfgang.”

“Likewise.” He shook hands with Doran, then turned to Draelana. “So, what brings the Dragon Queen to Einstadt?”

She smiled apologetically. “Actually, I just came along to expedite the time of this meeting for my son. He is the one on a mission.”

“Oh?”

Doran nodded and explained about the kidnapping.

“I see. Yes, Lady Atalante sent out a mass message to all the governors just yesterday asking for volunteers. The governors can’t sacrifice time to aid in the search, unfortunately, but my son Leonhardt may join the search if he’s willing. Rosalie will remain at the academy. I apologize, but I don’t believe she is yet capable of conducting large-scale mana-sense searches and thus will be of no help.”

“I understand, though I don’t quite agree with your assessment of Rosalie’s capabilities. Regardless of that, she is a student and should keep to her studies. If even one person joins the search, that puts us in a better position than before.”

“Yes. Incidentally, I’ve already ordered Leon to search Einstadt. I can’t exactly order him to search other planets without royal authorization, but if you’d like, I can have him report to Drachenstadt when he completes his search.”

“Have him report to Arslade. The HQ is set up in the Magic King’s palace.”

“I understand.”

*****

Alethea rarely left the garden. She only went inside to use the restroom, and she was barely eating. She would walk around the garden when she had the energy for it, but sat down on a bench when she was tired, though she only slept when she got the point of passing out. Astarte watched her closely and always covered her with a blanket.

At sunset, she sat down on the closest bench and began her long wait to fall asleep. Not even a minute after she sat down, Atalante walked up and joined her. “Alethea?” She didn’t as much as blink in response. “Sweetheart, this isn’t healthy. I want you to come inside and sleep in a bed.”

“...”

Atalante frowned and reached for Alethea’s shoulder to shake her. As soon as her hand touched, it was repelled by white mana. “Please don’t make me force you.”

“...”

“Sweetheart, please! I’m so worried about you.”

“...”

“I know your daughter is missing, but this slow acting suicide isn’t going to help! Don’t you know that? You have far more life experience than even I do! You must know this isn’t the way!”

“I’ve never experienced this kind of pain before,” she finally spoke. “I... I don’t know how to process it. My little girl... Don’t speak as if you understand it. I don’t even understand it.”

Atalante waited a moment to respond, unsure if she wanted to say anything, but she eventually worked up the courage. “I do understand it.”

“Really?” Alethea looked her in the eyes, her angry skepticism on full display. “How could you possibly understand? Your only child is sitting in front of you, and I’ve never been kidnapped after you took me in.”

“No, you haven’t, but my dear granddaughter has. I love that little girl no less dearly than I love you.” She held a finger up when Alethea opened her mouth to argue. “And... you’re not my only child. Rather, you’re my only living child.”

Alethea’s eyes widened, showing the first bit of emotion other than grief since the day of the kidnapping.

“Of everyone alive today, only Astarte and Astraia know of this. A long time ago, well before the dark age that ended with World War III, before the catastrophe that brought the empire to its knees thousands of years before... I was the Crown Princess, not the Empress. Back then, we still used the old school titles. Your grandfather and grandmother were still alive. Your grandfather was the longest reigning emperor at the time.”

“Athanasios and Andromeda Atlantis.”

Atalante nodded. “I had a husband and three children. I was blessed with a daughter and two sons over the course of ten years. Your oldest sibling is Athanasia Atlantis, and she would have been the Crown Princess during my reign. Your older brothers were named Alexandros and Artemios. And my husband’s name was Hyacinthus.”

“What happened?”

Atalante looked away, not wanting to finish the story, but she knew she had to. “Athanasia was a brilliant child. She was taken from me in her twelfth year. We found her two months later. Back then, the entire human population still lived on Terra, and there were only a few billion of us, so even with our more limited skills at the time, it only took two months to find her. I watched your siblings like a hawk after that, but it was only another year when the catastrophe happened.”

“What was the catastrophe? The history books don’t specify, and there’s no online resources, since it happened before World War III.”

“It was an asteroid shower. We were more technological than magical back then, and we had dozens of floating cities. Atlantis was our capital even then, but there were many more. The shower destroyed every single one of them except Atlantis. My sisters were at home in the main palace. I was on another island with my husband and children, on vacation. One of the biggest asteroids struck that island and stole all four of them from me. I survived, though just barely, but nobody else on any of the destroyed islands survived. My father sacrificed his life to erect a powerful enough barrier to protect Atlantis. Everyone survived there, and that’s why I and my sisters are the only royal survivors.”

“Why have you not told me before now?” Alethea looked forward again, grieving for a whole new reason, but with a slight smile. I have siblings!

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