Kelmania erupted in outrage when Princess Alice was abducted in broad daylight, and soon after, the disappearance of Princess Éléonore — their newly married "princess" — was discovered as well. Duke Yanryu flew into a rage. He remained at the border, requested imperial authorization to deploy more forces, then mobilized thirty thousand local troops, casting a human net across every town and village to hunt down the culprits.
At the same time, he suspected the mysterious flying unit had come from Toristine, and sent a harsh letter of inquiry to Queen Henrietta. If Toristine was not responsible, he demanded, then they must prove it by sending troops to help search.
Henrietta, still unaware of Sora's scheme, replied that Toristine was absolutely not involved in the kidnapping. She sent a letter to the border, instructing Duke Vallière to assist Kelmania in finding the criminals who had taken the two princesses.
Upon receiving his orders, Duke Vallière mobilized his own troops and the private forces of thirteen neighboring nobles — seven thousand men in all — to sweep Toristine's side of the frontier.
Because the abduction of princesses was not something either nation wished to publicize, Kelmania and Toristine both suppressed the news. Only Duke Yanryu and those who witnessed the attack knew the truth on the Kelmanian side, while, in Toristine, only Henrietta and Duke Vallière were fully informed. Officially, two maids disguised as the princesses remained in the carriage and were escorted by a thousand of Yanryu's guards back to Kelmania's capital.
Meanwhile, Sora — who had claimed his strength was lacking and that he needed a month of closed-door training — had obtained Henrietta's permission to "train" at the border with the Griffin Squadron. In reality, this allowed him to carry out the kidnapping of both princesses at Kelmania's frontier. Now, the Griffin team and their companions camped in the forests along the border, living in temporary tents.
Princess Alice's hands were bound, and her mouth sealed with tape, which was only removed when a masked Sora brought in roast game at mealtimes. Each time she could speak, she attacked. Once, as soon as the tape came off, she silently cast a fireball at him, but Sora, prepared for this, dodged with a flicker of movement and drove his fist into her abdomen. The blow hurt so much that Alice nearly lost consciousness.
Expressionless, Sora tore off a piece of roasted leg meat and pushed it into the half-fainting princess's mouth. Then he clamped her jaw shut. When she began to choke and struggle, he lifted a cup and forced a few gulps of water down her throat.
After making sure both food and water were inside her, Sora taped her mouth again and walked out without a backward glance.
Alice glared at his retreating back with pure hatred, her resentment growing deeper with each passing day.
She did not know that Éléonore had been taken as well, assuming this gang was targeting her alone. She drafted plans in her mind: if the kidnappers wanted money, she could offer millions of gold coins; if they wanted power, she could recruit them as members of her personal guard; if what they desired was women, she could gather hundreds of beauties for them.
But she never got the chance to speak. Every attempt to slip away was foiled by Sora, Tabasa, or William, who took turns guarding the entrance. After several days, even Alice had to accept reality. This group clearly did not intend to kill her. Duke Yanryu and the emperor would come for her; she only had to endure until then.
Éléonore, on the other hand, was treated far more gently. These days, she spent her time rambling through the mountains and woods with Sora, shedding the restraints of her role as Louise's elder sister and, for a little while, her worries about the future. She savored these few days alone with him. At night, she responded to him with passionate enthusiasm, revealing every side of herself. When Sora asked to "play with her chrysanthemum," Éléonore blushed crimson but consented in silence.
On the fifth day after the kidnapping, Fukai brought the news Sora had been waiting for.
The bridal escort had arrived at Kelmania's royal capital, and the wedding ceremony between the Kelmanian emperor and "Princess Éléonore of Toristine" was proceeding as scheduled.
At the same time, the joint search along the border grew increasingly intense. Duke Yanryu and Duke Vallière, old rivals who rarely agreed on anything, now worked in rare harmony, shifting their search from towns and villages to the uninhabited hills and forests. A massive search net spread from the heart of both countries toward the frontier, two semicircles forming a great ring that closed slowly but relentlessly. Sooner or later, the kidnappers would be found.
That night, Sora, Tabasa, and Éléonore mounted Tabasa's Cloud Dragon and flew toward Toristine's side of the search net.
Soon, the ground patrols spotted them, and the Cloud Dragon descended.
"I'm Sora," he called down. "I request an audience with Duke Vallière."
The message was passed up through the chain of command, and an officer soon arrived. As general of Duke Vallière's personal troops, he had heard plenty about Sora and Lady Vallière. Seeing him in person, he felt reassured.
Éléonore remained hidden under a black cloak.
"Who is this?" the officer asked.
"The person my father-in-law most wants to see," Sora answered. "Don't ask too many questions."
The officer wisely shut his mouth, though his imagination wandered. He'd heard the duke was henpecked; perhaps he had found himself some company while "overseeing the search"? Best not to dig too deeply.
Led by the officer, the three of them reached Duke Vallière's temporary headquarters.
After the butler confirmed Sora's identity, he led the trio inside.
Duke Vallière received them in his study. Éléonore spoke first. "Please don't blame Sora, Father. I begged him to take me away. I don't want to marry that old man. I love Sora. I want to stay with him."
Sora stepped forward, resting a hand over her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Éléonore. Anything I've done, I'll bear," he said. "Besides…"
He turned to face Duke Vallière directly. "Now that it's happened, our job is to steer events in a way that benefits us, right? As for Éléonore — isn't she already 'in Kelmania,' marrying that emperor?"
Duke Vallière stared at him for a long time.
At last, he exhaled heavily. "Why didn't I realize before just how bold you are? The kidnapping of Princess Alice… that would be your work as well, wouldn't it?"
"Of course," Sora answered, smiling slightly. Now that the duke was willing to play along, a weight lifted from his heart.
The duke summoned guards to escort Tabasa and Éléonore to rest, then sat alone with Sora in the study and discussed matters in secret until deep into the night.
At the same time, Duke Yanryu and Duke Vallière each received the same anonymous letter of threat and extortion. The letter stated that if the two countries did not stop narrowing their search and continued tightening the net, the kidnappers would "tear up the tickets" — in other words, kill Princess Alice and Princess Éléonore. On the other hand, if they wanted the two to return alive, they would have to pay a sufficient ransom.
Duke Yanryu did not dare to act rashly. He secretly confirmed the letter's contents with Duke Vallière. The two then agreed to keep their troops where they were and stop tightening the search ring. The net remained a circle instead of closing further.
At the same time, Yanryu wrote back to his emperor, requesting a decision. The bandits were not asking for mere gold and women, but for technology — specifically, the resonance casting technique demonstrated by Kelmania's red-robed mages. Rumor had it that the price they demanded from Toristine was five thousand sets of enchanted armor, each piece engraved with first-tier magic. Such a massive quantity might be within reach for a large nation like Kelmania or Gallia, but not for a small, resource-poor country like Toristine. Toristine simply lacked the materials to produce so many enchantable helmets and breastplates.
This gang clearly wasn't a petty group of highway robbers. Only a nation could truly make use of magical technology and enchanted armor. It had to be one of the great powers — Albion, Gallia, or Romalia — seizing an opportunity to strike.
Since Toristine was also being extorted and clearly lacked the means to pay, Yanryu quietly crossed them off his list of suspects.
In reality, of course, the entire plot was Sora's idea, aided by Duke Vallière, while Queen Henrietta remained in the dark from start to finish.
When Vallière's letter reached her, Henrietta's first reaction was excitement — a chance to ransom Éléonore back. But the demand for five thousand sets of enchanted armor weighed heavily. The ministers, including Headmaster Osman and Marshal Gramont, immediately voiced strong opposition. Paying such a ransom would cripple Toristine, perhaps destroy it.
Henrietta wept in private. Louise and Cattleya nearly fainted when they heard. Only the Duchess remained composed. She had her daughters taken away to rest and instead turned her efforts to consoling Henrietta.
Toristine's response was quietly relayed to Kelmania through secret channels. To the Kelmanian emperor, it revealed one thing: Toristine's national power was weaker than he had thought. It also strengthened his resolve to recover his daughter and uphold the royal dignity.
How could the country I built be any less resolute than Premier's? he thought coldly. As for the resonance casting technique — even if they obtain the instructions, it will not succeed without my involvement.
The emperor of Kelmania sat on a towering dais dozens of steps above the hall. He was tall and imposing, draped in red and gold robes. Blonde hair and a full beard framed his stern face; crimson eyes glowed beneath heavy brows. None of the courtiers below dared meet his gaze.
"Tell Nilent," he said, voice calm but iron-hard, "I agree."
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied the foreign minister, stepping forward before withdrawing to send the emperor's answer to Duke Yanryu.
With imperial approval, Duke Yanryu launched a powerful signal the day the ransom exchange was set to take place. One after another, enormous fireballs burst into the sky, rising tens of meters high before exploding like deadly fireworks. The display lasted through sixty volleys before he finally stopped, pale and drained.
Seeing the familiar signal from afar, Sora sent a carrier pigeon with a letter to Duke Yanryu, specifying the exchange location, time, and method.
That evening, five thousand meters from the main camp at the foot of a hill, the terms were clear: only Duke Yanryu and ten guards carrying the resonance casting parchments were permitted to approach on foot.
In Sora's forest camp, he stepped into Alice's tent.
She glared at him icily. Sora had been the one feeding her every day for ten days — and no one had helped her with the inconvenient, humiliating needs of the body. Though she tried to endure as long as she could, during one feeding she finally lost control. The filth went everywhere. Alice, ashamed, furious, and humiliated beyond words, almost wanted to kill Sora on the spot for seeing her in such a state.
Sora's cheek twitched; he knocked her out, then returned with a basin of clean water and a set of plain clothes. While she was unconscious, he washed and scrubbed her, dried her by the fire, and dressed her in the fresh garments.
When Alice woke and pieced together what must have happened, her hatred for the man in black, and for Sora beneath that disguise, deepened immeasurably. She carved the outline of his back into her memory.
Even if you turn to ash, I'll recognize you. The shame you've given me — I'll repay it tenfold.
Princess Alice made a vow in her heart — one she believed she would never forget.
Sora lifted her and carried her out of the tent.
It was Alice's first time outside since the kidnapping. Trees surrounded them in every direction, with only faint traces of a campsite to hint at human presence.
Sora tied her to the back of a horse, mounted up, and rode toward the designated exchange site. Cloud Dragons and Griffins were too distinctive; anyone seeing them in daylight would recognize them at once. This job required something as inconspicuous as a horse.
At the exchange point, Duke Yanryu and his entourage arrived first. His ten guards fanned out to inspect the surroundings, then returned to report.
Before long, a lone horse approached, bearing two figures.
Bundled in thick robes and cloak, Sora disguised his voice as a hoarse, elderly rasp. "All right, your Princess Alice is here. Where's what I asked for?"
He hoisted Alice up by the rope, lifting her into the air like a sack of goods. The humiliation burned her, but Yanryu's eyes urged her to stay calm.
At his signal, the guards stepped forward and unrolled a parchment scroll on the ground about ten meters from Sora.
Sora studied it carefully. The diagrams and text were dense and detailed, almost too perfect. But he knew better than to trust the Duke blindly. His thumb rubbed lightly over the water gem on his left hand.
Don't summon me, came Shui Linger's calm voice in his mind.
Despite her protest, the tiny water spirit leapt forth from the gem, perched on the horse's head, and inspected the parchment. Yes, this is it. It looks like that guy's handwriting. It's genuine — but without an elf's help, resonance casting is impossible.
Sora frowned slightly, then smoothed his expression as he rolled the scroll again. As long as Shui Linger was with him, he had nothing to fear.
Don't drag me into your mess, Shui Linger grumbled inwardly.
Since Sora had claimed the water gem from Louise to strengthen himself, the water spirit residing in it had gradually developed a telepathic bond with him — something Louise had never experienced. Shui Linger suspected that, because Sora had been "baptized" by the water spirit once before, he had become, in a sense, one of the spirit's children, able to connect with her in ways ordinary humans could not.
Thanks to this connection, every time Sora "worked" with Éléonore, Tabasa, or Louise, Shui Linger involuntarily received a "cultural baptism." She absorbed knowledge from his thoughts — learning not only of another world called Earth, but also picking up all sorts of things that left the once-innocent spirit increasingly "dirty." It was all Sora's fault — or so she insisted.
"The goods are confirmed," Sora said aloud. "On the count of three, we throw at the same time."
The lead guard glanced at Duke Yanryu.
Yanryu nodded.
The guard nodded back toward Sora.
"One."
"Two."
"Three!!"
Sora made as if to swing Princess Alice forward.
The guard quickly tossed the parchment and spread his arms, ready to catch their princess — if she were dropped, he'd never hear the end of it.
Sora let out a raspy laugh, kept his arm raised, and simply extended his free left hand.
With a quick snatch, he caught the parchment.
"Thank you," he said. "Once I'm safely away, I'll let her go and she'll walk back. For now, do not follow."
Duke Yanryu and his guards could only watch in fury as Sora rode off with both the princess and the scroll.
After sunset, the Duke waited for an hour. At last, Alice staggered out of the woods and collapsed to the ground. To make sure the exchange went smoothly, Sora had starved her for a day and a half. The fact that she managed to drag herself back at all spoke to her iron will — fighting back was out of the question.
Yanryu hurriedly ordered his men to lift Alice up and took her back to camp.
Though he had been led by the nose the entire time, at least Alice was safe. As for Toristine, there was no way they could produce that many enchanted armors. Whatever trouble that caused them was none of his concern.
Two days later, Toristine's turn to "redeem" their princess arrived.
In front of Duke Vallière and ten witnesses, Sora snarled, "Since you can't pay the ransom, then what use is she to me?" With that, he turned and ran. Those who had come on foot could not hope to catch him.
After that, no one heard from the bandits again.
Once Toristine's ransom attempt had failed, Vallière and Duke Yanryu allowed the search net to close, but when it finally tightened around the border forests… nothing was there. It was as if the kidnappers had sprouted wings or dug a tunnel and vanished from the border hills of both countries.
Both nations concluded that Princess Éléonore was likely dead.
Yanryu, bitter, scoffed that some small countries could not even muster a ransom — and that it was his daughter who suffered for their weakness.
Duke Vallière, by contrast, rejoiced inwardly, though he maintained a furious front. A certain "great power" couldn't even retrieve their own princess and had to resort to selling magic technology just to trade for her.
"Hmph!" The two dukes snorted at each other in unison. Their relationship, already strained, only soured further.
Thus the kidnapping incident came to an official end, shrouded in secrecy. "Princess Éléonore" resided safely in Kelmania's royal palace, and "no kidnapping" had ever occurred. Whenever foreign envoys sought clarification, that was the story they heard.
Other nations pieced together their own versions of the truth from scattered rumors. The real story, however, was known only to one man.
Back in Kelmania, Princess Alice ground her teeth in hatred. Damn that man in black. I'll catch you someday. After returning home, she threw herself into brutal training, piling responsibilities of government and military affairs on her shoulders. Ministers were astonished by her sudden intensity. Only Alice herself knew the reason — the deep humiliation that still burned inside her.
In Toristine's royal capital, at the residence of Louise and Cattleya, Louise still sat in her room wiping away tears when Sora finally returned. He brought Éléonore with him, hidden beneath a black cloak, to see her.
Knock, knock, knock.
"What is it? I said I didn't want to be disturbed!" Louise yanked the door open, eyes red and swollen.
"Louise," Sora said softly, smiling.
She froze — then lunged at him in a flurry of fists and nails, scratching at his face.
"It's all your fault! All of it!" she shouted through fresh tears. "That stupid wedding competition — because of you, Sister Éléonore ended up like this! It's all your fault! Waaaah… Sora, Sister Éléonore is gone, she's gone!" Her voice broke into full sobs.
Sora bore her grief and blows in silence. With servants peeking curiously from the corridor, he gently guided Louise and the cloaked Éléonore into the room and closed the door behind them.
Éléonore pulled off her cloak and threw her arms around Louise.
"Louise! My dear Louise!" she cried, showering her sister's cheeks and hair with kisses.
Louise stared, stunned, at her sister's familiar face — then hugged her back fiercely.
"Sister Éléonore!!"
The two clung to each other, and for a moment, Sora became completely unnecessary.
He slipped quietly out and fetched Cattleya from her room.
"Sister Éléonore!" came another gasp of joy.
All three sisters embraced, laughing and crying as they poured out their feelings about their forced separation and miraculous reunion.
Sora left them to it and stood guard outside the door.
After the Vallière sisters had reunited to their hearts' content, Sora took Éléonore to see the queen.
Hearing the full truth at last, Henrietta rapped Sora several times with her wand, forcing him to defend himself.
"If you'd known beforehand," Sora said, "you might have shown a reaction spies could read — and the whole thing would have fallen apart. That's why I kept you out of it."
Henrietta scolded him in mock anger, then hugged Éléonore tightly.
"I'm so glad you're safe, my sister."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty," Éléonore said, overwhelmed.
Word was then shared with Headmaster Osman, Marshal Gramont, and the Duchess of Vallière. Naturally, Sora received his fair share of withering glares — especially from the Duchess. Her explosive fury was enough to send Sora to bed for a week.
Only then did Éléonore realize how deeply her seemingly strict mother truly loved her. The reunion between mother and daughter was tender and warm, while Sora lay in bed, sighing.
Other women might forget their mothers once they found a man. Éléonore, on the other hand, had nearly forgotten her man the moment she had her mother back.