Chapter 4: Presentations 2
If there was something that Henrietta had become accustomed to, it was being burdened with people's expectations.
As heir princess to the throne of Tristain, she always had to live up to everyone's expectations, her tutors, her parents, her people.
At an early age, she understood that her life was not, is not, and would never be hers to live it.
The only thing that consoled her was the fact that she still had some small freedoms in the form of hobbies which she was allowed to practice with the excuse that they would be useful during her future term.
But even that was taken away from her the moment her father died, unable to bear the pain, her mother abandoned her duties as queen, and this sparked a power struggle within the palace where a large number of ambitious politicians saw the perfect opportunity to expand their influence.
And it was at that moment that Enriqueta Ana Estuardo disappeared, she could not withstand the pressure, she was just an inexperienced girl who, without the support of her parents, would be unable to stop this situation that threatened to lead to a civil war.
Ana was not what her nation needed, and that was why she disappeared, buried under masks, lies, and appearances that shaped Henrietta de Tristain, the heir princess to the throne, the symbol of unity and hope, loved by her people, respected by the most renowned officials and political leaders in the country, the only one who would be able to guide Tristain to a better tomorrow.
Standing at the top... alone, without a mother to support her, away from the only person she considered to be her only true friend, and unable to express her feelings for the man she had fallen in love with.
But she had no right to complain, right? What kind of selfish person would complain even with all the luxuries she had? Pretty clothes to wear, delicious food to eat, and servants who obeyed her orders while their eyes shone with admiration.
Henrietta thought of herself as a spoiled child every time the idea of complaining came to her mind, but deep down, all those luxuries made her uncomfortable in a certain way.
And in the end, she just had to accept her situation, after all, life doesn't always develop the way one wants or expects even if that person were royalty.
And it was on a day that seemed completely like just the others in which Henrietta's life took another unexpected turn, she was to leave the palace to meet with one of her country's Marquises, Jacob Darnley, who had requested that a representative of the court outside his territory because he had discovered a plot against the princess.
Normally Henrietta would not have to deal with matters like these, but because in the last few weeks she had been overwhelmed by her duties and this was a matter that directly involved her, she decided to be herself along with the representative of the court who would receive this information, that way she would know firsthand what happened, and could take a short break from her duties.
2 days had passed since they left the palace, and while she was reading some documents in her tent next to the road that they had set up so that she could rest for a moment, a blue box appeared in front of her.
Welcome to the Alternate Multiversal Chat "Unfortunate Princess"
This was so sudden that she had a slight start, letting the documents fall from her hand, and after a couple of seconds she took her scepter as her voice rose. "Guards!!!"
As the tip of her scepter emitted a light blue glow, ready to unleash a water spell at the slightest sign of danger, Henrietta watched as other people communicated with her through the screen, so she talked with a serious voice. "I don't know who you are, but using unknown magic against royalty is a crime, my guards are on their way here, identify yourselves"
"Lady Henrietta!!" And a second after seeing her words register on the screen, 5 guards entered her tent, all with wands drawn and ready to attack.
"!!!" Henrietta intended to explain the situation to her guards, but as soon as she opened her mouth a stab of pain shot through her head, the scepter she she was holding fell from her hands, hitting the ground as did her knees.
And her hands pressed on her head in an attempt to lessen the pain.
"Princess!!" The cry of magicians clearly expressed panic over the situation they were in, but they quickly took their positions, 4 of the magicians surrounded Henrietta while the remaining one took out a vial from a small bag tied to her waist.
"Princess, drink this!!" The magician instructed, removing the cork from the small bottle and bringing it closer to Henrietta's face, but before she drank it, the painful sensation disappeared, even so, the magician managed to pour the contents into the princess's mouth, and she drank it.
"What happened princess?" The magician asked while the 4 that surrounded them waited for her orders or the appearance of an enemy.
"I-" Henrietta stopped when a new box, this time red, appeared in front of her face.
NO ONE BESIDES THE MEMBERS CAN SEE OR FEEL THE EXISTENCE OF THE CHAT, AND ITS EXISTENCE CANT BE REVEALED TO ANYONE IF TWO OR MORE MEMBERS ARE NOT PRESENT AND AGREE, AN ATTEMPT TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN A PENALTY
Her eyes moved frantically between the guards surrounding her, each of them giving her sidelong glances every few seconds, and although tense, none of them seemed to recognize the existence of the red screen.
And when she saw the guard in front of her, a female mage gray-haired woman in her thirties, who looked at her, still worried, but through the red box, completely ignoring the fact that this box had appeared out of nowhere and was in front of her.
Henrietta swallowed and felt her skin crawl as she confirmed what was written on the sign as true, so she made her decision.
"Please prepare everything to return to the palace, I have a bad feeling". She said without explaining what had just happened to her.
"But princess, what about the meeting with the Marquis? We already sent a letter explaining to him your attendance at the meeting". One of the guards said.
There was a moment of doubt in Henrietta's mind, but in the end, she decided that her situation took priority, if, for some reason something happened to her, the palace was much better equipped to deal with most situations compared to the Marquis' house.
"I will send a letter to the Marquis explaining the situation as soon as we reach the castle, but for now, we must return". She requested, and her guards, although slightly surprised, nodded in response before leaving the tent, but leaving two of them at the entrance in case the princess suffered another headache.
Being alone once again, Henrietta sat in the chair she had occupied until recently and looked back at the box before her.
As far as she knew, no magic could produce anything she was seeing, so, was this the product of some magical artifact?
Were these people the members of the plot that the Marquis had mentioned? No, that would not be possible, after all, in the letter, he said that they had all been arrested, and with no other options, she directed all her attention to this "chat" hoping to get answers.
The minutes passed, and after a while, Henrietta was now sitting in her carriage on the way to the palace, digesting all the information obtained so far, she honestly didn't know what to think, everything these people said sounded fanciful.
First, there was this "Tag-along", who took responsibility for everything happening, but his story was quite confusing and difficult to believe.
Henrietta had never heard of any country called Japan, much less of any magic school called Tegumi.
On top of that, there was the fact that he mentioned a person appearing when a paper with strange symbols flashed, which slightly reminded her of the summoning system that magic academy students used, but even that sounded different enough that she would classify both things as different.
And when the "Cool Bad Student" accused him of lying about everything she thought he would expose the clear inconsistencies in his story, but instead he told a story several times more impossible than the previous one.
Who in their right mind would believe something like the world had been invaded and most of the population had been killed by bugs and dolls?
The worst of all? This person claimed to also live in this "Japan", how would it be possible that both "Tag-along" and "Cool Bad Student" lived in the same country and their stories were so different? Not even children would believe such a blatant and obvious lie.
The annoyance that came from the other 2 members was quite obvious, although both seemed to be excessively hostile towards everyone else, including herself.
Plus it had not escaped her notice that this "Rude Big Sis" had mentioned assassins sent from the capital, which was impossible since she had been in charge of expelling and/or imprisoning all the criminal organizations that inhabited the city that surrounded the castle.
And there was also the fact that the "maid" seemed to serve some lord, however, she did not remember any kingdom with the name of Lugunica.
Maybe it would be a country that did not belong to Halkeginia? She remembered that there was a country called Rub' al Khali beyond the land of the elves, maybe this "Lugunica" would also be from there?
Henrietta shook her head a few times dismissing these thoughts, if she said something like that then any of these people could take advantage of her lack of knowledge to try to convince her of their words with the simple excuse that they were a country beyond the land of the elves.
In the end, she didn't know if she preferred the hostility of the last two members who had spoken, the obvious lies of the first two, or the silence of the last member, although the nickname "Greedy Heir" did not inspire any confidence in her.
And when the atmosphere seemed to be heating up again, "Tag-along" asked one more question, one that was directed at her and the member who had not yet said anything.
Henrietta didn't know if she should respond, what reason was there for doing so in the first place? Everyone besides the "Cool Bad Student" and the "Greedy Heir" had expressed their refusal to know about the country he claimed to be from, so she did not fully understand his intentions.
Greedy Heir: I've never heard of any place called Japan, nor Lugunica.
And when that answer came, Henrietta sighed and decided to add her own, perhaps this way the "Tag-along" would be cornered and confess the truth.
Unfortunate Princess: I don't know of any nation named after Japan, nor any kingdom known as Lugunica.
And with that, she hoped that the next information she received would be more enlightening than what she had been reading so far.
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"Damn, I think with this I have no way to deny it or look for a different explanation, all these people really seem to be inhabitants of other worlds". I said with a sigh because I could already see the headache coming that it would be to explain this to them and prevent everyone here from going for the other's neck, or worse yet, mine.
For the moment, the best I can do is organize everything I know so far.
First, there's me, my version of Japan seems relatively normal, although the blonde emerging from what I can assume was a magic circle makes me assume I'm in an urban fantasy world.
Next, we have "Cool Bad Student", who apparently lives in an alternate post-apocalyptic Japan with a touch of fantasy if the fact that the survivors awakened some kind of supernatural power was any indication.
And taking into account that no other members of the chat recognized the existence of Japan, it would be correct to assume that there are more than two different worlds.
Regarding "Unfortunate Princess", since the first thing she thought was that someone used magic on her, it is obvious that she is from some magical world, and if I had to bet, medieval, that added to the fact that apart from Japan, she also did not recognize this "Lugunica" now we have at least four different worlds.
The next one would be "Maid with Survivor Syndrome", who seems to be quite defensive towards everyone, and, so far, the only thing that can be inferred from her is that she occupies a position on the staff of some noble member of some kingdom, and as I said before, her world should be fourth on the list.
And finally, there are "Rude Big Sis", and "Greedy Heir", the ones that have revealed the least information.
Of the first, I can only say that she seems to be some law enforcement agent or a member of an organization that does dangerous jobs if the first thing she thought when seeing this chat is that a mission she was on turned out to be a trap.
In addition to the fact that she has companions that are possibly as violent as her, and she doesn't know Japan or Lugunica.
The second has only said that he does not know any of the 2 countries either, so, although it is unlikely, it would not be completely impossible that these last two are from the same world, or it could even be that they along with "Unfortunate Princess" live in the same reality.
So, to summarize, in questions of different worlds we have:
Two versions of the earth, one of possible urban fantasy and the other, one of post-apocalyptic fantasy.
A possible medieval magical world.
And 3 other possible unknown worlds at most if "Maid with Survivor Syndrome" does not live in the same world as "Rude Big Sis"; and "Greedy Heir" and "Rude Big Sis" are not from the same reality as "Unfortunate Princess".
While if we talked about the personalities and situations of the members, I would say that they are all equally dangerous.
Whether it's people with dangerous jobs, misunderstandings with royalty or the staff of influential people, apocalypse survivors, or mysterious silent characters, they could all be a threat to my life if I didn't take this situation with the utmost care.
So the next thing would be to get them to believe me or at least not think that separating my head from the rest of my body is an attractive idea.
And as my eyes moved around the screen I noticed certain features in this chat that could perhaps be of help, so my next course of action was decided.
X-X-X-X
Chapter 4, and we have another character revealed, personally I always thought that Henrietta's character was a little wasted in the Zero no Tsukaima novel and was even worse in the anime.
She is the type of person who even when she doesn't want to and knows that she is harming herself, would not turn her back on her country.
She is frustrated by her situation but does not show it. There was even a part of the story where she became a little alcoholic to cope with the stress of her work.
I would have liked to see more of these aspects worked on in the novel.
Remember that there are updates every Friday and Monday, if you like this story, please leave a comment, review, or a power stone, see you in the next chapter.