Chapter 250: 249 – Discussions

Mana opened her eyes to see Raven's tearful face swimming in front of her.

"Don't cry, Raven," she murmured. "What will I do if you ruin your beautiful face?"

There was a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob from Raven, and there were sounds of laughter from around Mana.

"She seems to be fine if she's more concerned about Raven's pretty face than anything else," King Jaren's cheerful voice came from the sides.

Mana sat up gingerly, and took stock of her own body quickly. Much to her relief, there was nothing wrong with her at all. She looked around and found herself in what looked like a room at an inn. She was surrounded by Raven, King Jaren, Jules, Bella and Junior Imperial Physician Vale.

"How are you feeling?" Raven asked worriedly.

"Perfectly fine," Mana replied. "What happened? How did I get into the other world? What happened to the dog?"

"You triggered an array," Jules said. "When we entered this city, you somehow stepped on an array and disappeared, and Raven was the only one who reacted in time and dove after you."

Mana blinked. "You were there with me? In that empty, abandoned world?" she asked.

Raven nodded.

Mana frowned. "I thought that the Raven I met was a fake one," she murmured. She narrowed her eyes at Raven. "It wasn't you, was it?"

Raven flushed and shook his head.

Mana tapped her chin thoughtfully. "But, other than the fake Raven, there was only the dog and me in that world," she said.

Raven remained silent.

A light bulb lit up in Mana's head. "Did you get transformed into a dog somehow?" she asked Raven, grabbing his hand.

Raven hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"So what exactly happened, and how did we get out of that world?" Mana demanded. "How did you get turned into a dog and how did you turn back into yourself?"

Junior Imperial Physician Vale stood up. "Since Princess Mana is fine and awake now, there is nothing for me to do," he announced. He turned to King Jaren. "May I take your leave, your majesty?" he asked politely.

King Jaren nodded and let him leave.

"Was I the only one who got dragged into an array?" Mana asked curiously.

Raven nodded. "The array appeared suddenly and pulled you in, and I jumped in after you. But when I arrived in that world, I realised that I had somehow turned into a dog. I went looking for you and found you, and then that fake version of myself appeared," he said. "It was probably an array that was a mix of entrapment and illusion."

"How did we get out?" Mana asked. "I remember that a window appeared and that we jumped out…"

"That was all thanks to our two little ones," King Jaren said, and Azar and Alya appeared on each of his shoulders, looking very proud of themselves.

Mana raised her eyebrows. "They ate the array?" she guessed.

King Jaren nodded and rubbed the small heads of the two little dragons fondly.

"They ate the array, and when it was being devoured, it cracked and that is the window we saw," Raven said. "And we jumped out of it and came back to the real world, but then you wouldn't wake up…"

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Mana frowned. "How long have I been out?" she asked.

"About half an hour," Jules said to her. "From our perspective, the whole thing happened too quickly to register anything. We saw you and Raven disappear into an array, and the next moment, both of you appeared back again, unconscious. Raven woke up almost immediately, but you were not waking up, so we brought you to this inn. Junior Imperial Physician Vale checked you over and declared that there was nothing wrong with you and that you would wake up by yourself, but Raven here was really worried about you."

Mana smiled at Raven and patted his hand in a reassuring manner.

"Who was that fake Raven, though? And why were they trying to make me kill you?" she asked Raven.

Everyone was startled upon hearing her words.

"What?!" King Jaren thundered. "Someone tried to make you kill Raven?"

Mana nodded and narrated the details of what had happened inside the array. It looked like Raven had glossed over most of the things.

"That makes it look like the array was especially set up for Mana and Raven," Bella said thoughtfully. "It can't be a random array if there was someone pretending to be Raven within the array, could it? But who could it be, and what were they trying to achieve?"

Jules sighed. "It can't be news to our enemies that Mana and Raven are each others' greatest strength as well as biggest weakness," he murmured. "They probably thought that they would take a chance and try to get rid of both or at least one of them…"

King Jaren clenched his fists. "Jules is probably right," he said. "Let's go back to the Emerald Kingdom. I don't want any of my children facing dangerous situations like this all the time – and it is clear that traps have been laid for us at every step of the way in the Amber Kingdom."

"But Papa, these small things can't stop us," Mana said lightly. "Why should we go back and let them think that they have won?"

"I agree with Papa," Raven said. "We should go back. I don't want Mana to be in danger any more."

Mana rolled her eyes. "When have I ever been in proper danger since you came into our lives? Even in this trap, didn't you jump in to save me?" she pointed out.

"But, Mana…" Raven began.

"I have to agree with Mana," Jules said. "There is no point in going back now. We have already come this far, and we had more or less expected that there would be traps laid for us when we entered the Amber Kingdom."

"Yes, I agree with Mana and Jules, too," Bella spoke up. "Besides, isn't this an excellent chance for us to lay our path for the future? Mana and Raven have already bought a large piece of land in the deserts and that is going to be very helpful in the future, not only in terms of profit, but also for the people that have been won over. At the end of the day, no kingdom is worth anything if the people's loyalty lies elsewhere."

Jules nodded. "It is exactly as Bella says. If the Amber Kingdom thinks that by laying traps for us along our way to the imperial capital city of the Amber Kingdom, we would be the ones losing out, they are being stupid. However, this is an excellent chance for us to set the ground work for the future," he said.

King Jaren sighed. "You are right, but I don't want to see my children in any danger…" he murmured, rubbing his face tiredly.

"Papa," Mana said seriously. "It is not like the Amber Kingdom hasn't tried to harm us through other means even when we were back home, right? So, now that we have a chance to plant some seedlings in their own kingdom to repay that favour, why should we miss it?"

"I understand what you are saying, Mana, but…" King Jaren trailed off. At an objective level, he knew that Mana and Jules and Bella were right, and that Raven was siding with him only because he desired to protect Mana above all else, and King Jaren, too, wanted that.

However, as Mana had pointed out – there was no guarantee that they would be safe back at home, either. How many times had his children faced danger in their own kingdom? This was the first time Mana and Jules and Raven had set foot in the Amber Kingdom – however, almost all the danger that these children had faced in the past had been either related to the Amber Kingdom or had directly originated from the Amber Kingdom. In such a situation, could there be any guarantee that the children would be safe when they went back home? And as long as there was no guarantee of their safety, how did it matter where they were? Shouldn't they take this chance to gather information and lay their strategy for the future?

Mana looked pleadingly at Raven, urging him to convince Papa, too.

Raven sighed. He always found it next to impossible to turn down any of Mana's requests, and this time was no exception, either.

"Papa," Raven said quietly. "Perhaps Mana and Big Brother Jules and Big Sister Bella are right, after all. We have a chance to lay the ground work in the Amber Kingdom this time."

King Jaren chuckled and patted Raven's dark hair fondly, knowing fully well that the boy had been silently coerced by Mana into changing his stance and speaking up in support of Mana and Jules and Bella.

"All right, then," King Jaren said helplessly.. "Let's continue with our journey, then."

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