Anomaly

The other six people already sat together, waiting for Allan. On the first couch sat Aya, like always Shades head laid in Aya"s lap who was playing with Shades ears and petting her head.

On the second couch, the one in the middle, sat Loras, Cale and Julia in that order. While Cale sat there to better lead the discussion and Loras to support him, Julia had made it her job already long ago to give Cale a good smack if his cursing took overhand.

Magus sat in the last couch, the same where Allan and princess Alice where sitting down at that moment.

„If i look at your faces you already realized who i am. But please relax, just treat me like one of you, you can just call me Alice."

„In that case i"m very happy that you are here, but is there a specific reason for that, Alice?", Cale got comfortable with the princess almost instantly.

„Well, i was personally a little curious and wanted to get to know you better. Also, my father asked me to have a message delivered to you so i thought it would be a good opportunity."

Although Alice didn"t lie, probably, Allan still realized that what she said right now and on the way here weren"t exactly the same. The way she expressed herself earlier, her actions seemed to be driven much more by her fathers intentions. Allan didn"t know if she just felt like she could be more honest with him or if there was any other reason, but he still decided not to call her out on that.

„Good, what is that message about?", Cale asked straight away.

„I will tell you later. I don"t want to distract you from your meeting."

„Ok, i don"t think we have anything to hide, so lets just beginn.

The first thing on our list, like f* ck-OUCH!... like always, would be our training accomplishments. Anyone who made some special improvement or found out something important?"

Since a month, and several of these meetings, ago Cale"s abilities as a leader had become much better. He had already gotten accustomed to leading these meetings. All in all, his abilities as a leader were probably what made the biggest progress since their arrival. Still, he had one flaw, even though it hab become less, he just couldn"t stop cursing completely. Every time that happened Julia would hit him, and even without her he would flinch reflexively.

He looked first at Shade, who shook her head in response. Well, as much as one could shake their head in the lap of another person.

Next, he looked at Aya.

„I think i figured out how my [protector] t.i.tle works, it"s just an a.s.sumption, but i think my [physical defense] and even my equipment get stronger, but the equipment only very little. The t.i.tle is activated when im thinking of protecting someone or something, but the important thing is, the increase of defense is dependent on my [willpower]."

„A t.i.tle that converts [willpower] into [physical defense]? That sounds very interesting! I have never heard of something like that!", Alice exclaimed.

„We can"t say that clearly yet."

„He? Why are you saying that?"

„Several reasons. First, if it is really ‚converted" as you said, that means she gains [physical defense] but loses [willpower] in return. That would make her very vulnerable to mental attacks. And second, [willpower] can also be considered as ‚defense"."

„So if it is ‚conversion" it could also be able to convert [physical defense] into [willpower], or it"s ‚just" her [physical defense] increasing together with her [willpower], is what you want to say."

„Yes, more or less."

The other six looked once again astonished at the casual way Allan was conversing with the princess. As if something like that happened already many times before. Considering that they came together and that Allan seemed to know that she would take part in the meeting, they wondered what their relation with each other was.

„With that as a basis it should be easy to make further tests in this regard. Anyone else?"

„Just the usual."

„No."

-Not much, i might gain the [elemental magic] skill soon though.-

„I made some new discoveries about the [anti thesis] t.i.tle, to be precise i got better at determining the effect that would occur when using it. But not much else, no."

„Good, let"s continue with the next item on our list.", Cale continued.

Just like this, they continued to discuss all the little discoveries they made since the last meeting. It didn"t really matter if it was in relation with skills, levels or stats, or even more important, the ‚common sense" of this world. With every meeting they discovered several ‚goes" and ‚no-goes" and tried to adjust to this world as soon and perfect as possible.

It didn"t take long for the princess to get accepted into the group, as she was very friendly and was a big help at answering some of the questions.

After several hours they finally concluded their meeting when the princess spike up again.

„I wanted to announce two things. First, the next three days are going to be rest days. I"m sure the last month was exhausting for all of you. That is why, considering the improvements all of you made, my father wants all of you to enjoy some rest outside the castle walls. At this point you should be able to go out without acting to weird or creating misunderstandings. But don"t worry, even though you wont see them, you will always get protected by some of the royal guards that specialize in stealth. Even though it is supposed to be resting time, it is said that heroes tend to get themselves into quiet troublesome situations out of the smallest of incidents. So be careful!

But while the guards will protect you in the worst case, they won"t do anything as long as your lives aren"t in danger. So act as if they don"t exist. Also, attendance is mandatory."

Somehow Allan felt like the princess directed the last comment at him. He did consider continuing with his research as he was just about to complete the basic framework for the ‚core".

„The second announcement is, that afterwards there will be an additional training in basic etiquette of the Loreley kingdoms n.o.bles. Some time in the future you will have to attend to banquet where you get introduced to the most trustworthy n.o.bles, especially those who you will be working with the most in the future.

On a side note. I was told to ask you to try sleeping less. My father knows that it is said to be hard to adjust when your level rises quickly, but some of your trainers were complaining that you were way to lazy. They don"t know that you are heroes, so we can"t ask them to be lenient.

I wish all of you a good night!"