Chapter 43

43 The Palace Ball (Part 4)

Vale was running as fast as he could to the maze, “What happened? I’ve heard that there’s a monster outside the maze?” Asked Vale to his friends.

Henry and Xavier look at each other, and both of them kept on silent. Jason came and look around them.

“Where’s Justice?” Jason was asking Henry and Xavier.

Finally, it was Henry, who answered Jason’s question, “He was inside the maze.”

“If he was inside, why were the two of you...”

Before Jason could finish his question, Xavier pointed at the entrance of the maze, “Because that freaking thing couldn’t let us.”

Vale and Jason turn around and see a peculiar reflected material at the two entrances of the maze.

“F*ck! What’s that?” Said Jason, he turned to Vale for an explanation.

“Time bubble, someone cast a time bubble for the whole maze.” Answered Vale, he look closely at the material and was amazed by it, “This is a high-level magica, only a handful of people could conjure it, especially at this size.”

.....

“Do you know all the magi who can conjure the time bubble?” Asked Henry to Vale.

“Yes, all of them were dead.”

Jason, Xavier, and Henry were so surprised, their head turned around so fast at Vale, “What?!”

“Time bubble is an ancient magica, ancient and forbidden, there’s a reason why the academy never let us learn this magica.”

Henry stared at the time bubble on the maze, his hard-on thinking for a way to go inside, “Well, can you... destroy it?” He asked Vale, once again.

A looked in Vale’s eyes was discouraging, he neither answered Henry nor even spoke any word. Instead, he called Silver Hawk, and the huge bird appeared from his shadow, looking all mighty with his glimmering silver feather.

‘You called for me, master?’

“I need you to fly up into the sky and gave me a view of the maze.” Vale commended his familiar.

‘Do you mean, synchronize with me, master?’

Xavier grabs into Vale’s arm, “Are you crazy? You know the risk of synchronization!”

“I know the risk, just calm down Xavier.”

He looked into his friend’s eyes, Vale was determined, and there was nothing Xavier can do about it, he knows how stubborn his friend is. Vale closes his eyes, focusing solely on his familiar, strange aura appearing on his body, and when he opens his eyes, what he sees is the view of himself standing circling by a strange aura.

Vale successfully synchronizes with Silver Hawk. The bird familiar flies above and looks directly at the maze below him. What he sees is something beyond his comprehension. a man with red hair is visible inside the clear bubble, it was Justice. Something is wrong with Justice, or rather he becomes awfully fast.

Releasing the synchronize, Vale was fallen to the ground, Xavier and Henry catch him on time. His breathing is fast while his eyes blinked rapidly.

“Vale, are you alright buddy?” Xavier asked his friend, he knew so well about the consequences of using synchronization with the familiar.

Trying to smile, Vale patted Xavier’s hand, just to calm him down, “Yeah... Yeah... Don’t worry, my head hurts a bit, but I’m fine.”

“So, what did you see?” Asked Henry, as usual, he was the one who is mentally focusing on a mission.

“I have my suspicion, but it seems I was right. time bubble makes everything inside the maze faster than it should be.”

Henry asked him again, “How fast?”

“In theory, ten minutes in here equal one hour inside the time bubble.”

“F*ck! it’s almost twenty minutes since Justice was inside that cursed time bubble.” Cursed Henry.

Jason paced around the area, feeling desperate, “What should we do? We can’t let Justice alone with Gods knows what inside that maze.”

“Relax Jason, I’m sure Vale already figured something out,” Said Henry to the prince, he then turned his attention back to Vale and whispered, “You do figure something out, right?”

“Yes, I know what I need to do, Henry, thank you for the boost of confidence,” Said Vale with a bit of sarcasm, he then added, “Oh, and by the way, all of you need to help me.”

“Ugh, I was hoping you never said that. What do you need?”

Standing up, his hand pointed at the far end of the maze, “There’s only one exit, right? it is at the north side of the maze.”

Jason nodded and answered his question, “Yes, of course, two entrances, one exit.”

“Good, now we just need to break the time bubble by force.” Said Vale with a grin on his face.

Anne was panicking, Justice still unconscious after his fight with the Dryad. She hides beyond the shrubbery after pulling Justice with her remaining strength. She feels desperate, at a time like this how she wanted to have even just a bit of magica just to give Justice a first aid healing.

This is her secret, the one that she wanted to keep away for a while, she doesn’t have any magica.

“Oh my God, what should I do... come on, come on Anne, think of something, remember your training!”

While Anne muttered and tried to focus, Justice regained his consciousness.

“Ugh... What happened?” Said the red hair crown prince to our heroine.

A sigh of relief came to her immediately after seeing him, “Ju... Justice? Oh, thank God! How are you feeling?”

“Feeling a lot of pain, I could use some first aid healing right now.”

The blood disappeared from Anne’s face. “I... I can’t give you first aid healing.”

A frown came into Justice’s face. “What do you mean, you can’t give me a first aid healing? That is basic knowledge for a healer.”

“Yes, I know that is basic knowledge for us, healer, It’s just that I...” Anne let out a sigh and looks at Justice with a bittered smile on her face, “I can’t do it... I don’t have magica in me.”

Instead of being astonished, Justice asked her another question instead, “When did you aware that you don’t have any magica?”

“When I was ten years old, they tested me and were aware that I don’t have any magica inside of me.”

Justice looks very carefully at the purple-hair girl in front of him. Her dress was torn, even the wildflowers on her hair wilt and her make-up was a mess. She was an anomaly in Justice’s life. He went crazy when he couldn’t see her face, but also got irritated when Anne was beside him.

“Gods, what is happening to me?” Muttered Justice.

“You’re injured. The Dryad stabbed you. Thankfully, it’s not fatal.” Anne, who doesn’t know that Justice was talking to himself, provided the crown prince with an answer.

“... Right, so what can you do about this situation? You don’t even have any magica.”

Anne was fuming and glared at the crown prince. She was thinking about all the children that love to tease her because of her lack of magica. She will prove to this arrogant crown prince that she could survive without any magica.

She looks around the area, trying to find something to help treated Justice’s wound, and what she had seen made a grin on her face. She goes away for Justice after she put him in a comfortable position.

“Hey, where are you going?” Yelled Justice at Anne. Although his voice was harsh, deep inside he was worried for her.

Anne turned around and glared, “I am searching the plants to treat your wound, your highness!”

“Don’t go far! And it is your majesty!” Shouted Justice at the girl who was walking away with a grumble on her voice.

Justice, on the other hand, has a slight smirk on his face. This is the River Anne that he knew, fiery and challenging Anne. He tried to be as comfortable as he can be while Anne looking for medicinal plants.

Ten minutes had passed, and the young girl was finally back with two plants in her hand. She crushed the plant together and mix it into a curve small stone and put some water on it.

“Your majesty, please open your uniform for me.”

“What?! absolutely not!”

Annoyed by his objection, she grind her teeth and fake a smile, “Oh, come on, your majesty, I just wanted to address your wound!”

The source of this content is n0v//el//bin[./]net'

Justice’s eyes stared deeply into Anne’s. “Call me Justice.”

“Excuse me?”

“Call me Justice and I will open my clothes for you.” Said Justice with his red eyes still locked on Anne’s face.

Surprised by Justice’s approach, Anne prefers to look innocent instead. “Right, Justice, please open your clothes.”

The crown prince just chuckled and with a swift opened her royalty uniform in black color, there’s another layer of shirt with three buttons open on his chest, his lean and muscular chest. Anne need to clear her throat and hide her blush when she addressed the wound on his arm.

“Thankfully, the wound wasn’t severe, but you still need to get a full check, we don’t know what kind of disease the Dryad has.” Said Anne while she put the herbs on Justice’s arm.

“What’s that?”

“Redonian and nettleroot, redonian for the major cut, but good to eliminate dead tissue, while nettleroot is good for a small cut.” She explained to him, little by little, “I’ll combine them to stop the bleeding and treated the torn tissue, gladly your architect of this maze has some sense of humor putting redonian inside.”

“They were not...” Muttered Justice to Anne.

“Excuse me?”

“I said the architect never put redonian inside the maze.”

As soon as he said the words, a growl was coming from behind them. Justice saw it first, he grab Anne’s body and avoided the swift attack from another monster. A large shadow now appeared. Justice called for his sword while he shielded Anne with his own body. They are once again in danger.