Visit of the Two Princesses

Author's Note: Edited the chapter

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Two days after Cid was "kidnapped", he kept up his act while randomly acting on his own ways as if it were a habit of his.

Many things had happened here, such as him moving into another room that was renovated for his, Claudia and Klaus' sleeping room because of the kidnapping event.

Another thing that happened was Klaus becoming a part of a governing force of the Fortress City of Ken which was north of this small town, being more involved in politics than he should be. Basically, he was doing mundane mob character things.

Which obviously made Grave feel quite disappointed since Klaus had potential in becoming a strategist for the military.

It was pretty sad since Grave looked like he is at his retiring age, and he even began to consider teaching Cid how to do military strategy.

Between those days, nothing much happened, aside from Cid (Reluctantly) rescuing an elven girl who was soon named Beta, who soon became a part of his organization called Shadow Garden.

An organization that was going to soon bloom into a massive powerhouse under the shadows.

"Well, all's good, but right now we need more power in order to face our future enemies." Cid commented on both Alpha and Beta as he took a short glance at them cleaning their room before looking outside a window that was heavily reinforced.

'Two or more carriages, along with a large group of knights, and two princesses going outside to approach this mansion. Not that I mind since this is a part of Claudia's backstory.'

Standing up from his chair, Cid decided to begin his walk out of the room in order to greet them. But first...

He woke up Claudia.

"Sister Claudia! We have guests coming to our house!"

Claudia yawned and groaned, before being reminded about the guests approaching their house.

Ultimately, they weren't late as soon enough Claudia was in a decent clothing after being assisted in preparing by Alpha and Beta.

Cid, on the other hand was urged to be dressed appropriately since it is most possible that the visitors were royals.

[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]

Grave had expected the two princesses from different Fortress Cities to come to this mansion.

But for what purpose, really?

Oh, it's simple.

"General Levantine! It's nice to meet you again after all these decades!" The king of the Fortress City of Feoh, Uther Arcturus spoke, and while a visit to a mere Viscount of a foreign country wasn't what he usually does, he was here because of his reasons.

"Ah, my friend! Long time no see, but I am curious, what brought you here?" Grave replied, with a gentle smile.

"I wanted our families to briefly meet, that's all. Garish couldn't visit because of brief political disputes, but well, some things have to eventually happen."

With a sigh, Uther almost wanted to scratch the back of his head, yet refrained to do so.

"Come on inside, my daughter and niece!"

Soon enough, two girls entered the hall through the Mansion's entrance, and behind them was a late middle aged man named Beardsley.

Just in time, Cid and Claudia walked down the stairway in order to welcome their guests.

After a short curtsy and introduction, the two of them wondered who the two other children were.

"Cid, Claudia. Meet Prim Fiorire and Alicia Arcturus. I'm Beardsley, the personal guardian of little Alicia." Beardsley first spoke, nodding his head to a curtsy before taking a short glance to the girl behind him.

The girl then, with confidence, walked towards Cid who had begun smiling at them as if he was in love at first sight.

Another, pink haired girl followed after Alicia with a very innocent smile, then introduced herself first as Prim Fiorire.

'She looks like a Side Character with no other quality than her beauty and innocence, but I might be wrong. Next.' Cid internally commented bluntly, before his smile seemed to become more genuine at the sight of Alicia.

"I am Alicia Arcturus, and I will become a future Princess Knight! Nice to meet you!" Alicia's introduction was direct, and Cid couldn't help but notice something about her.

Alicia was as a year or two older than Cid, while Prim was as old as him.

'She is definitely the Main Heroine, more than my Sister! And Princess Knight, huh? Like Celestine and the halfling Luu-Luu, even Claudia wants to become one herself, hoh... I'm sensing a theme here....' Cid continued to think, as he felt sure about his thoughts.

"Cid? Cid!?" Claudia yelled out, shaking Cid out of said thoughts, leaving him to be dumbfounded (quite literally).

"Ehm... Uhh.... Well, nice to meet you too!" Cid spoke, briefly lost track of his skill go blend in the background, to use it to subconsciously become this Side Character that fell in love with a princess in first sight. "So, what now?"

Yes, what now?

What should they do now?

With a short cough, Uther glanced at the children.

"I suppose I'd let you four play with each other, so you could get to know each other more and maybe be friends while we talk like adults? Beardsley, please watch over them."

"Understood, your highness." Beardsley followed with a smile on his face, feeling a bit excited at watching a certain princess.

With that out of the way, they proceeded to go to the mansion's gardens.

On the way, Alicia glanced at Cid, with her interest feeling like wanting to gauge his ability in swordsmanship.

"Claudia, I heard you've trained with Cid in swordsmanship."

Claudia nodded with a wry smile, knowing that a wrong answer would make Alicia's impression towards Cid lower to a bad one.

"Of course! We've trained with each other for several months before now. And both of us are improving at a reasonable rate, even father is impressed!" Claudia replied, and Alicia gained a wide smirk.

She patted Cid's shoulder to get his attention.

"Shall I test your skills? I'll go easy on you if you want." Alicia said, and Cid shook his head.

"No. Don't go easy on me. I'm pretty durable, you know?" Was Cid's reply, spoken in an almost blunt and direct fashion, which made Alicia feel attacked.

"We'll see about that, Levantine!"

Cid snorted, with a simple plan in his mind.

'I wonder how she fights with a sword....'

This was all in Cid's (Shadow's) plans, as he slowly realized, maybe being a mob is becoming quite boring.

Still, he could at least use his Mob-Fu on several different occasions as much as he liked for the mere purpose of having his fantasies fulfilled.

Several minutes passed.

The four children were talking about some things, mundane or not until they arrived to the garden where Cid and Alicia prepared their equipment.

Once they did prepare, Cid and Alicia walked to a wide, open space of the garden, where he and his sister trained for many months, which will become many years.

The two stood in their position, while Beardsley, Claudia and Prim stood on the sidelines.

"Ready when you are, Cid." Alicia spoke, stance her sword and making a stance.

Cid also drew his sword, taking a stance that would allow him to have a balance of attack and defense.

Basic, but effective.

"What happens if I lose?"

"I don't really know..."

"Then here I come!"

Now, Cid lunged towards the princess, then delivered a swift thrust of his sword, with the full intention of pushing Alicia until she could bring out her "true power".

And Alicia, being quite inexperienced, stumbled sideways to try to dodge the lunge, before Cid stopped himself from going further, simulating several attacks that involved stabbing or cutting the openings that Alicia had.

He made sure to hold back his abilities since he had to act like he wasn't that experienced.

On the next few moments, Alicia swung her blade several times, all of them either being parried or dodged by Cid.

"Go, Alicia! You can push forward!" Prim cheered, waving her hand up.

"Cid! Don't hold back!" Claudia cheered, pumping her fist with a smile, confident that Cid can win.

And then, Cid and Alicia began to exchange parries and dodges until Alicia began to tire.

Her body felt like burning, yet she wanted to move forward. Alicia can't lost here, not now! Losing to someone more skilled than her isn't good!

With a burst of mana and a loud roar, Cid was blown away by a swing from Alicia, though he stood his ground, he noticed something different about her.

Energy was flowing out like a harsh river stream, and while it is powering up Alicia....

'Power up cliche from the Main Heroine, cool. But, that power up looks incredibly wasteful.... I'm pretty sure she'd learn how to use it better in the coming years.'

With some determination, Alicia dashed towards Cid in a swifter manner.

The Princess' attacks became more wild and unrestrained, as if sacrificing some skill for pure power.

But, with a small misdirection, Cid created an opening that allowed him to land a clean hit on Alicia's jaw, holding back his strength in order to make her believe that she become stronger.

She smirked at Cid, barely feeling anything other than a pounding pain on her jaw.

"Got you!"

With a punch of her own, Cid was hit straight to his solar plexus, making Cid cough out some saliva as he flew to the bushes.

Alicia looked incredibly surprised, and as she stared at Cid, she was feeling down.

"Oh no.... I did it too much!" She yelped, running towards Cid to try to help him out of the bushes.

Claudia ran towards her brother, obviously looking angry at Alicia who hurt him.

"Alicia, next time watch yourself!" She reprimanded the princess, and after Cid was taken out of the bushes, she further became angered at Alicia.

Then, Prim approached Cid, kneeling before him.

"Stay there for a moment, I'm going to heal you!"

Because all healing magic supposedly originated from Celestine, all healing magic have a faint flow of a heavily tempered mana which Cid felt. It looked like borrowing mana from somebody while making a small exchange of mana.

With the healing spell that Prim used, which involved her praying before silently healing the two of them.

"This feeling...."

Cid felt like his stamina had been restored, while some wounds Alicia had were healed up.

Now what?

To put it shortly, Alicia tried to get some advices in fighting from Claudia then vowing to become stronger, learning the powers that she now awakened thanks to Cid.

Prim didn't mind being close to both Alicia and Cid, and once it was time for them to leave, Alicia took one last glance at him.

Cid has already left, though and it felt quite saddening for her.

But soon or later they might meet again and Alicia expected Cid to feel quite lonely for her, except that wasn't the case since he is going to begin looking for newer members of Shadow Garden.

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]

Next few chapters are focused on the recruitment of Shadow Garden's Seven Shades, before moving on to Cid's Shenanigans. PoV Switches are in next chapter too.

Corrections and advices in making this fanfiction and even those willing to spout out random Kuroinu-Verse lore are welcome.

Prim seemed useless so I turned her into a healer.

No problems so far.

Shamuhaza will be a member of Shadow Garden's Subdivision

Glossary:

• Ugmon - Ugly bastards in short