The present Earl, Malachi Morando, has been in charge of the smaller territories for three years and in these three years the Earl has deflowered and played around with countless women. Conniving and cruel, Malachi Morando always managed to charm his way out of anything. Despite his reproachable character, other royals could not interfere with his actions because of two things. One, was a law that forbids a royal from interfering with a noble's personal life and the second, was his immense control over the wind.
Present.
The wind that flowed out of Aldric's mouth deflected the wind spear and the kidnappers were pushed back by the sheer force of it. Lorraine sensing that the wind would get worse, activated her defensive skin to stop her from flying off the roof. Struggling not to get blown away, the kidnapper that was blessed by the wind, tried to cancel Aldric's wind by creating a wind barrier to push him back but the kidnapper's barrier shattered like broken glass and both he and his partner struggled to breathe.
"Princess Marina!" Princess Marina's female guard yelled in alarm.
Quickly assessing the situation the female guard turned her eyes to the kidnappers on the roof. Raising her hands, the female guard muttered "Condensio" and the air around the kidnappers condensed into water and before the kidnappers thought to flee, the female guard turned them into ice statues.
Noticing that the threat was immobile, Aldric levitated himself and Princess Marina down and once they were on the floor, Aldric grabbed Princess Marina's by the shoulders.
Staring into Princess Marina's eyes, Aldric didn't see the green of her eyes but the blue of another's. Aldric didn't see her green hair but the long orange hair of his mother's.
Giving Princess Marina a heart breaking look, Aldric said "It's never okay to sacrifice yourself."
Looking into Aldric's eyes, Princess Marina pictured the little boy she could have saved and said "I am glad that I made it this time."
"Princess Marina!" yelled Lorraine and Aldric stepped away from Princess Marina.
"How could you dive off a roof like that?" Lorraine asked, as she pulled Princess Marina into a hug.
"It could have gone really bad." Lorraine said as she pulled Princess Marina close.
"But it didn't." Princess Marina said as she locked eyes with Aldric.
Clearing her throat to get Princess Marina's attention, the female guard stepped forward and bowed.
"We are sorry for our incompetence." the female guard said, apologizing for her and her partner.
"It wasn't your fault." Princess Marina replied.
"It is hard to follow anyone blessed by the spirit of the wind." Princess Marina said with an understanding smile.
Noticing that the female guard was alone, Princess Marina asked "What about your partner?"
"He is questioning the stall owners in the Grand square." the female guard replied.
"And what about the potion?" Princess Marina asked curiously.
"My partner is verifying its contents." the female guard said and Princess Marina nodded in understanding.
"I guess the only thing left is to head back to the square." Princess Marina said and everyone nodded.
As they walked back to the square with the two ice statues on a wagon, Princess Marina realized the long distance between the place where the battle took place and the Grand square. Powered by the ore in her bracelet she didn't realize that she had run two kilometers in a span of minutes. Despite her borrowed speed, a scarier and more incredible feat was the ability of Lorraine to keep up with her despite using the powers of one being blessed by the earth.
Discretely looking at Lorraine, Princess Marina analysed her physique. Lorraine was a little bit shorter than Princess Marina with a shorter stride, shorter arms and an overall small physique but despite that she was able to keep up with the chase without breaking a sweat. As if sending her gaze, Lorraine turned her head to Princess Marina with a smile.
Arriving at the grand square after two hours, Princess Marina spotted the male guard with the stall owner that handed Aldric the potion. Noticing Princess Marina walking over to him, the male guard bowed.
"We are sorry for our incompetence." The male guard said, apologizing for both himself and his partner.
"Its fine." Princess Marina said with a kind smile towards the male guard.
Switching her gaze to the stalls owner, Princess Marina asked "What did you find out?"
"The potion he sold him is real." the male guard said, referring to Aldric.
"And this type of incident hasn't occurred in the Grand square in years." said the male guard.
Going to the stall owner, Princess Marina brought out her coin bag but before she could dip her hand into it, Aldric rushed forward and handed the stall owner one gold coin.
"I can cover this much." Aldric said with a beam.
"This much?" Princess Marina asked in confusion and Lorraine rushed forward to whisper in her ears.
"One gold coin is worth ten thousand pieces of silver, one silver is worth a thousand bronze coins and a bronze coin is the lowest currency in Alvonia so a gold coin is much!" Lorraine whispered yelled and Princess Marina turned to look at her in shock.
Seeing the shock on Princess Marina's face, Lorraine whispered "I thought you knowingly gave them those two gold coins!"
"What are you doing?" Lorraine asked in astonishment as Princess Marina began to dig inside her coin bag.
"A bronze coin!" Princess Marina declared.
"I must go replace the two gold coins with a bronze coin." Princess Marina said as she continued to dig through her coin bag with increasing urgency.
After digging through her purse yhrer times and failing to find any currency less than gold, Princess Marina looked into the distance and brokenly said "I handed them twenty thousand silver coins for free" and Aldric muffled his chuckles with his fist.