Chapter 214: Girls' Side

Giliath demands your power stones! Let's try getting over 500!

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Before long, seven girls found themselves in a fitting room with several fancy dresses sporting different colors that could currently be seen on racks further within. They weren't alone, there were a few maids to help the girls change into their dresses once they've picked one out.

Yet as they closed the door, Emma dragged Fie further into the room while Fie landed on her butt. Seeing Fie act this way, Emma let out a sigh.

"You just had to make it difficult, didn't you Fie?", Emma said with a retort as she squinted her eyes down at the white haired girl before her.

"I mostly wanted to see how you would react.", Fie retorted back with a mostly deadpan look in her eyes. Hearing this exchange, Musse giggled.

"Teehee, either way you two seem pretty close like Elise and Her Highness are with me. You two even came along with His Highness back when we greeted each other in the receptionist hall...", Musse said as interest grew in her eyes.

"Yes. You two introduced yourselves as Emma and Fie, didn't you?", Princess Alfin said, looking at the plum and white haired girls before her.

"That's right. I am honored for Your Highness to remember our names.", Emma said with a smile.

"Emma...", Elise began to utter, only to move her finger a bit and pondered for a moment. It wasn't until a moment passed before a streak of light crossed her eyes, as if Elise recalled something. "Now I know why that name was starting to sound familiar. You're the same plum haired girl I met back when His Highness visited Ymir a couple years ago. You've changed a bit.", Elise said, revealing a smile as she looked at Emma.

"Yes. It is nice to see you again, Elise. For the time being, I am with Naoto. Same situation goes for Fie.", Emma said, explaining a bit.

"You're even calling him by first name. It would seem the relationship you two share with him isn't a normal one, at least. I didn't think you'd be acquainted with Elise already either.", Musse responded.

"Well, we're basically Naoto's friends slash bodyguards?", Fie wondered herself, aside from that she and the violet haired boy were of the same Jaeger squad. She wondered what her role currently laid outside of performing Jaeger duties. Fie probably didn't even know what friends meant either. Emma only blinked at Fie's response before letting out a sigh. She had questioned Fie's upbringing at times, but perhaps it would do her good to teach some form of common sense to Fie, seeing as she was two years younger than her. Fie definitely wasn't a normal child, considering she grew up as a Jaeger.

But the same could be said for Emma. She grew up in a secluded village, one meant for witches. During her studies with Roselia and her mother when she was still alive, Emma wondered if she could even consider those teachings normal. 

Emma could only shake those thoughts aside with a shake of her head, and looked down at Fie again.

"Bodyguards?", Princess alfin asked with confusion in her eyes. Emma only continued to look at Fie while Princess Alfin asked that.

"Yeah.", Fie simply nodded her head. Right now her body felt lighter than usual and it was making her a bit uneasy. They were heading inside Valflame Palace after all. It wasn't the games to where a character's weapons just went poof after combat. Claire had to confiscate any weapons that she saw while escorting Naoto's group.

Thankfully Naoto was a step ahead of Claire by the time they reached the Palace, so most of the group's belongings were in Naoto's storage space. Fie was surprised to see in use for the first time back when they still acted as a Jaeger squad, but by now, Fie had gotten used to Naoto's storage space. For the time being their stuff and weapons are currently residing in it. Fie liked to have her weapons close to her body in case anything went wrong, but right now, she didn't have that luxury. 

On that note, the two familiars were not in the palace. Naoto and Emma let Celine and Tamamo wander around the streets of Heimdallr to their hearts content.

"You've been pretty on guard since we've met each other back in the reception hall too...Just what exactly do you do?", Musse wondered. Hearing Musse ask that, Fie blinked at her.

"Are people really gonna ask this every place we go, Emma?", Fie retorted as she looked back up toward Emma since she was till on her butt. 

"Hehe, well, it isn't normal for a girl as young as you to be wandering out and about you know, Fie. If you girls really want to know, I can assure you we're Naoto's friends, that much is certain. We also are hired mercenaries, but for me, I've put that work aside for the moment.", Emma said, explaining their situation a bit. It would probably be worse to bring up the word Jaeger to royalty, so for now, Emma only introduced the two as mercenaries. Once Emma explained their side, a glint of light streaked across Renne's eyes.

'So that's what you've been up to since we saw each other in the Glorious. Color me impressed.', Renne inwardly uttered to herself. Once the raid at Nemeth Island concluded, Renne met Emma, even if it was for a short while upon the Glorious during Naoto's return to Grancel Castle. Yet Emma and Naoto departed for Grancel Castle while Naoto gave the task of becoming an Enforcer to Renne, so she stayed on board, seeing Naoto's departure from inside the Glorious.

But now, a couple years later, both Renne and Emma had grown, and seeing what Emma has been up to lately, Renne now held respect for her. Campanella also informed her that the witch had trained alongside Ouroboros, even if it was only for a short while. That happened during this past year, but with knowing that, Renne held Emma in higher regard than before. She still wondered what Emma's position was to Naoto though.

Apart from likely Fie, and Renne, no one in this room knew Emma was a witch. She wanted to remain quiet on that part for now, it was better to explain to them that Emma and Fie were mercenaries. Still, the girls' shock remained after hearing that these two girls were in such a line of work.

"To think you two were mercenaries at such a young age...Isn't that work really dangerous?", Elise said, wearing a frown on her face with a hint of worry in her eyes.

"That is pretty expected, I would have thought you two were just normal girls like we are, ignoring our status of nobles of course. I can sort of see why you are beside His Highness though. You are protecting him from trouble, are you not?", Musse mused to herself after hearing their introduction.

"Sure. Let's go with that.", Fie said, shrugging her shoulders trying to shrug Musse off. They were still in a training period themselves, but they didn't need to know that part, so Fie didn't talk about it.

"Hehe, well doing such work is quite commendable. Still, you two are still girls at the end of the day like we are. I didn't think you would be one to not like girly things like dresses.", Musse continued to say, revealing a playful grin.

"They're stuffy, I don't like moving around in them a lot.", Fie answered Musse, only to cause some laughter to spread around the room, easing the slight tense feeling in the air. The girls had another look at the fancy dresses currently on racks, wondering which ones to put on. Fie could only come to terms with putting a dress on herself, but at least Emma is here to help put one on. 

Yet at this time, the lilac haired girl standing beside Musse, who was mostly quiet during this exchange, could currently be seen twiddling her fingers around each other, appearing a bit nervous. Musse was quick to spot this, causing her to change her gaze to Sherryl and Renne.

"Have you been to a noble's dance before, Sherryl? There's more than enough dresses to go around for us, so don't hesitate to pick one you like.", Musse said, trying to appease Sherryl's nervousness. Hearing Musse speak to her, Sherryl paused for a moment before she saw Musse smiling at herself.

"It is my first time attending to one of these types of events...But it isn't that...", Sherryl tried to say, causing interest to appear in Musse's eyes.

"Oh? Is something else bothering you then? You aren't shy, are you?", Musse asked with a grin.

"I-It isn't that either. Umm, can Renne and I use the changing screen when we pick out our dresses?", Sherryl suddenly asked, which drew everyone's gaze to Sherryl and Renne, wondering what was going on. The moment Sherryl asked that, Emma's gaze paused on the two before her eyes turned a bit dead. Renne looked on with silence. Fie felt a sudden change in the atmosphere and wondered why Emma was like this, causing Fie to look up at her again, tilting her head in confusion.

It was apparent that this change caused confusion to Musse, Elise and Princess Alfin as well as the maids.

"Is something wrong, Sherryl?", Princess Alfin asked with a hint of worry. Yet confusion appeared in the girls' eyes seeing Sherryl turn toward Renne.

"You know as much as I do Renne. You aren't ready to tell other people, are you?", Sherryl asked Renne, causing the rest to become confused when Sherryl asked that.

"What ever do you mean, Sherryl? I've steeled my resolve the moment Big Brother acknowledged me, allowing me to stay beside him. It is all in the past. It is true the wounds are still healing, but they are only superficial. But if you want us to use the changing screen, go right ahead. I do not mind.", Renne said, shaking her head, denying Sherryl as she was fine either way.

After all, both Renne and Sherryl were both experimented on back in the cult. The wounds they have suffered were quite great before Naoto and his group came in to snuff the cultists out from within, with Sherryl being first of the group. Sherryl was a lot more hesitant changing in front of others, but she stared at Renne in surprise, as she wasn't expecting Renne to answer in such a way.

Thankfully most of their wounds have healed, but some are still present. Yet if one were to see them, they would definitely question what happened. For Sherryl specifically, her body constitution changed quite drastically, causing a vast improvement in both internal strength, muscle density, and slenderness of her body, yet some scars still remained hidden within, still healing slowly. 

"Wounds? What wounds?", Princess Alfin asked, revealing a frown, obviously worried as the girls currently observed Renne and Sherryl...