The chamber's opened and allowed Sheira to rush in without any sense of decorum. Sheira stared at Aqua and then jumped at her.
"Mommy!" Sheira's hands wrapped around Aqua's hips tightly. The princess pushed her head into Aqua's chest and rubbed up and down. "I missed you!"
"Sheira?" Aqua placed her hand on Sheira's head. "What's wrong?"
"Ah!" She unwrapped her arms and jumped slightly back. "Lira had sent some assassins after me; however, I think they were mind-controlled. I beat them up, so they are in my room right now." She grinned with the pride of a seasoned warrior.
Her hands wandered to her hips as she tilted her head slightly up.
Does she want praise? Aqua couldn't help but find Sheira absolutely adorable.
Her lips formed a small smile as she grabbed Sheira's hand and pulled her into a hug. "You did well."
"Hehe~ Thanks." Sheira adjusted herself before she separated from Aqua. "I thought you would like to come with me and see if there is anything strange with the assassins."
"Strange?"
"They are surely innocent, so I wanted to see if you could dispel whatever spell they are under."
Aqua placed her hand on her mouth and let out a soft chuckle, "Sure."
The behavior exhibited by the princess made her unable to feel any anger toward the so-called assassins, despite them targeting someone who had grown dear in her heart.
Sheira grabbed Aqua's right hand and pulled her toward her, "Great! Come with me!"
The girls rushed through the empty halls toward Sheira's bedroom; fortunately, no prying eyes were out at this time of night, otherwise rumors would have spread about the princess Sheira and a specific red-haired maid.
The door slammed behind them as the girls entered Sheira's room. Sheira let go of Aqua's hand and approached the assassins.
"Sheira, what exactly happened?" Aqua followed closely as she studied the duo of Assassins.
The princess grabbed the hood of the male and dragged him to Aqua.
"So the evening before, I was investigating Lira, and then I wanted to take a nap." Sheira pulled the unconscious man up and leaned him against her bed.
She then approached the woman and pulled her next to the man. "Then my room filled with some kind of gas, and shortly after, these two attacked me. I accidentally broke the girl's wrist, but at least she is not dead."
A small hum escaped Aqua's lips as she carefully scrutinized the room and the attackers.
This mind control is very amateur when compared to Rolan's. She crouched in front of the unconscious duo and lifted the man's chin.
Their minds were shackled, yet in such a crude manner that it made it impossible to fully control, but instead merely command them to do something.
She placed her fingers over his closed eye and forced it open. "If I didn't know better, I wouldn't have guessed that this kind of mind control belonged to someone in Red Dawn."
"Is it strong?"
"On the contrary." Aqua pushed against her knees before she turned to Sheira, "It's pathetic when compared to what I have seen in Red Dawn."
"Oh?" Sheira stood right next to Aqua as she stared at the assailants. "So Lira is just trash?"
Aqua chuckled, "In a way, more of that she is underestimating the elves."
I can't blame her, my kin in this world is weak. She shook her head. No matter how much she hated to admit it, the underestimation was in fact not when it came to the vast majority of people she had met.
The education and the technological advancement of the elves were primitive and a millennium behind the human kingdom of Red Dawn.
However, she could not discredit the possibility that Lira was merely incompetent.
Even if she had been arrogant, which she certainly was, she would have had to shackle the mind properly if she wished to conduct her duty.
She placed her hand on the female's head.
In an instant, Aqua found herself in the mindscape. It was a vast forest with a small stone path leading to the quaint log cabin. Smoke billowed from its chimney, and the birds sang.
Despite the fact that the sky was covered in dark chains of mind control, it truly was tranquil, yet she could notice the parts of the mindscape shattering and cracking.
The mind control that Lira used would leave the victims mentally scarred and, at worst, brain-dead.
"Incompetence, I got it."
She took a step forward and walked the path toward the cabin. The girl was indeed under mind control, unlike the assassins that were sent to attack Soleah, which made her feel a small sense of empathy.
"You still attacked my Sheira." A frown formed over her face.
As she got closer to the cabin, a change in atmosphere hit her in the face. The wood had dark scarring, and the doors seemed to have snakes coiling around them.
"Lira, you really like the snake motif, huh?" She leaned forward and channeled her own power. The coiling beasts separated, and the cracks seemed to heal.
The mind control that Lira had placed did not even require Aqua to step into the mindscape to dispel such a parlor trick.
When compared to Rolan's, where she had to put in some effort to dispel and extract the shards, Lira made it as easy as blowing out a candle on a child's cake.
At least she doesn't seem to have access to the temporal shards. She pushed the door open and made her way inside the modest interior of the cabin.
However, the inside had fared much worse than the outside. The table was overturned, and the chairs made a makeshift barricade.
A wooden bowl hit Aqua right in the face, yet she was unfazed.
Behind them was the same assassin woman that Aqua dispelled the mind control from.
She cowered behind the barricade. "Snakes! Why Snakes! I hate snakes!"
Yet another scream reached Aqua's ears; the assassin's tears poured down her cheeks as she peeked out behind the barricade.
The woman was in a scarred state; the spell she had dispelled had instilled a crippling fear of snakes into the woman.
"Mental scarring…" She sighed as she approached the barricade.
"Snake?!" She threw another bowl.
With a flick of her wrist, the barricade dismantled itself and rearranged into its previous position.
The log cabin was cozy, the fireplace crackled with serenity, and the table and chairs fixed themselves in front of it.
The victim fell back and attempted to crawl away.
Aqua stepped closer, her body leaned forward, and her hand gently stretched toward the terrified woman who had her back against the wall. "Hey, I am not a snake. I am an elf, just like you."
Just as she was about to touch her face, the woman slapped Aqua's hand away.
She sighed, damage has been done already. I will have to repair her mind; at least it's merely wounded.
Compared to the monstrous treatment Red Dawn was capable of, the mental scars and new fear were nothing spectacular.
Aqua's hand glowed, and the woman slumped down, her long brown hair flowed down her body, and her face contorted as if she had suffered from a nightmare.
"Let's fix you right up." Aqua smiled warmly as she crouched in front of the woman, her hand lay gently against her forehead, and glowed with ethereal light.
The mind was fragile; it was easy to break and thus had to be treated with great care.
She unraveled and searched the assassin's mindscape. She had to find the new fear of snakes that had been developed and erase it.
Once the scar had been removed, the woman would return to what she was.
The glow stopped as the woman's face relaxed; Aqua clapped her hands together as she let out a satisfied sigh. "That's done."
The heroine closed her eyes as she was pulled out of the mindscape, into the real world.
Outside the mindscape, only a mere moment had passed. Sheira looked at her with sparkle in her eyes.
"She is fixed." Aqua smiled as she turned to Sheira.
"I knew it would be easy for you!"
"Now I need to do the same to the man." She adjusted her shoulders before delving into the man's psyche.
Sheira leaned closer as she observed Aqua's technique, yet just as her hand shone, it returned to normal.
She is so quick. The princess could not help but admire Aqua's proficiency in magic. I will become as good as you are one day!
Aqua pushed herself up and crossed her arms, "That's done. Those two seem to be a married couple, and apparently, Lira had literally grabbed them from their home and smuggled them into the palace…"
Sheira's face contorted in disgust, "That damned snake…" Her face relaxed as her gaze fell on the pair. "I guess I can help them get them back on track when we deal with Lira."
"Indeed so…" Aqua reached into her pocket dimension and retrieved a small vial of red liquid.
"What's that?!" The princess slumped back as Aqua removed the wooden cork.
"A healing potion, I made thousands, it is only good for physical injuries though." She approached the woman and picked up her hand.
She smiled as the flow of red washed the shattered wrist. In an instant, it repaired, and the bones mended.
"Alright, teach me that too!" Sheira demanded.
"All in due time, for now we have to deal with Lira's sin of incompetence."