brother's retry (the beginning after the end)

She really is a princess

flawless.

That was the word that popped into my head as I gawked at the elven city. It appeared we had directly teleported right past the gates. What I saw before me were buildings that seemed to be built out of a jade-like material. These jade buildings were so flawless and smooth that each seemed to be carved from a single, huge stone.

Making this place look even more awe-inspiring were the huge trees that intertwined with the buildings, filling this whole city with a more distinctive and organic ambience. Looking up, I see homes built on unnaturally thick branches extending out of the massive trunks even larger than the buildings with smoke drifting out of their chimneys.

The entire ground inside this city was covered in a lush field of soft moss, with only the narrow sidewalks and the main road paved with smooth stone. The dense array of branches that fanned out from the trees covered most of the city in a canopy of shade, but there was a warm, luminescent glow throughout the city thanks to numerous floating orbs of light situated in every corner and street.

While I stood, slack-jawed, still processing the world around me, a shadow whizzed in front of me suddenly, jolting me awake.

Tess was still holding onto my hand when a group of what seemed like guards arrived out of nowhere. These elven warriors emanated a dignified air, all dressed in coordinated black suits with green trimmings and a golden shoulder guard on their left shoulder. These five guards all carried a rapier strapped to their waist. I mentally noted that these guards had no sensible aura radiating out of them.

augmenters and conjurers both naturally emit a faint aura from their bodies. The fact I wasn't able to sense any mana leaking meant one of two things: Their mana cores were at a high enough level where I wasn't able to sense it, or they had enough control over their mana to not let any leak out. Either way, it meant that these guys were as impressive as their attire made them look.

The guards ignored my presence as they suddenly kneeled in front of Tess In unison. "We welcome back the royal princess."

"Huh" My gaze flicked back and forth between the guards and Tess and I'm reminded of the time when I jokingly called Tessia 'your highness'.

Tessia was actually the princess of this whole kingdom?

When I tried to let go of Tessia's hand she suddenly squeezed her hand tighter. In a voice so cold and apathetic that I mistook her voice for my old one, she said, "You may rise."

They stood up with their right fist still crossing their chest when the knight in front speaks. "Princess, we arrived as soon as we saw that the royal teleportation gate had been used. The King and Queen are"

Before he could finish speaking, I heard a cry not too far away.

"My baby! Tessia, you're okay! Oh my baby!"

Running towards us was a middle aged man and woman. From the crown on the man's head and the tiara encircling the woman's forehead, I assumed that they were the King and Queen.

The King's tall, built body was uniformed in a loose, decorated robe. His emerald eyes were pointed upwards and his thin lips were tensed, matching his short, military style hair.

While the King had a dignified but somewhat reserved appearance, the Queen was breathtaking. Although she was a bit past her youthful stage, her age couldn't mask the beauty that she was. Her round eyes shimmered a light blue hue, contrasting well with her lush, pink colored lips. Her silver hair was curled down, flailing past her back as she ran towards us, her well-proportioned figure visible underneath her dress.

The mother's cheeks were lined with tears as the father had a tense expression that looked like he was holding back tears as well.

I shifted my gaze to see Tessia's face visibly soften as she started tearing up as well. I let go of her hand as Arthur gently pushed her towards her parents, feeling a little sentimental myself.