A/N. So here's the (long-awaited?) update to the story. My bad for not updating for a long time, I just had no time (yes that includes during Christmas, I'm sorry). Maybe I can do biweekly updates on this, but no guarantees.
If it seems like that the castle visit development was too fast, it's cause I didn't want to write the standard isekai exploring/dungeon diving/monster hunting developments (which we all know and for sure are going to expect and predict). So yeah, my bad for skipping that stuff.
Morning was a fresh start for everyone. Breakfast was a feast. Not because a huge table was lined with extravagant food fit for royalty, rather because it was one which both Hana and Rena prepared. Earth food, let alone food from their long lost mothers was something none of their children expected they would be able taste in this new world. It was truly a meal filled with nostalgia, sentiment, and love.
"Wow Mom! Your cooking hasn't changed, it's as delicious as ever!" A delighted Yotsuba happily claimed as she savored her sweet rolled eggs. Her face radiated happiness, being able to taste this kind of food with everybody.
"Yotsuba, don't talk with your mouth full. But thank you." Rena curtly replied. She wanted to spoil her daughters more, but doing so in the presence of the Uesugi family was more than a little embarrassing. Still, she appreciated that everyone seemed to be enjoying the food.
"Enjoy it, everyone! We made sure to make it extra special for you." Hanako on the other hand made her feelings more well known. As she scooped up another bowl of rice for Fuutarou, a guard stationed outside the room came in.
"Sword Priestess-sama, Crystal Sage-sama, a member of the royal family wishes-" calmly informed them. The families were too busy with their reunion that they nearly forgot to meet with the owners of the castle.
"Tell them that we are currently in the middle of breakfast. We'll meet them later." Hanako calmly requested.
"But the princess insists on-" The guard continued, not realizing that he was being rude to the two most powerful mages in the building.
"As a member of the royal family I assume she has the virtue of patience, correct?" Rena calmly sipped her coffee, but there was an obvious aura of annoyance from her. To think that she could just casually brush off the princess like that.
"As you wish." The guard proceeded to go outside and inform the princess that she may meet them after breakfast.
"So cold." At least, that's what Fuutarou thought. On one hand he can understand being annoyed at having breakfast interrupted, but on the other this was the royal family they were talking about. Who knows what'll happen if someone gets on their bad side. Well, someone other than the two women that calmly resumed eating.
They finished breakfast without any more interruptions, apart from Itsuki and Fuutarou asking for seconds.
"So, what was it that the princess needed to see us?" Hanako asked a guard as she rested her hand on her sword. it was not a gesture meant for attacking, rather it was one that exuded confidence. She was accompanied by only Rena, the kids being asked to remain inside the room for the time being.
The guard, already used to her behavior, started talking "Yes, it was about your guests-"
"I'll take it from here." A girl in her late teens walked from behind the guard and faced the Royal Mages. Her flowing golden hair and bright purple eyes were a rare sight on Earth, let alone Japan. She wore a dress unlike any of the ones seen on earth. It was not just a dress befitting a princess, it was also a dress that more or less formed the basis of a magician's robes. "Sword Priestess-sama, Crystal Sage-sama, your guests, we found them from outside the city. They showed that they were no ordinary mages, being able to summon their own familiars, and can I take it that gathering means your relationship goes deeper than talent?"
"Well, I guess the apples don't fall far from the tree." Hanako answered.
"I guess you could say that." Rena gave a small laugh. It was the first time she showed such emotion to other people apart from Hanako.
"Then... can we ask them to meet with Father and Mother? Surely they would like to meet the king and queen of this country?" The girl answered.
"We get to meet actual royalty?" A certain ribbon haired girl excitedly pushed open the door. Unfortunately that meant that the rest of her eavesdropping party would fall onto the floor.
"Yotsuba? I thought I told you to wait inside the room."
"But mom, it would be rude not to meet them! Besides, we have nothing else to do right?" The girl would regret saying this later, but she didn't know that yet.
"Mom? So does that mean that this girl is the Crystal Sage's daughter?"
"That girl has sisters too, you know?" An annoyed girl's voice escaped from the pile of bodies on the floor. "And you, get off of Fuu-kun!"
"Mmmff!" A man's grunts seemed to agree.
"That's..." Itsuki proceeded to regain her footing, but not before blushing as red as her hair. "I'm sorry, please forgive me!"
"Puhaaa..." Fuutarou breathed a sigh of relief. Or just breathe. His face was right in the middle of three soft mounds, so he had difficulty breathing. "Why did it have to be Itsuki?" he said as he opened his eyes.
"Wha? How'd you know it was me?"
"Cause you were heavy."
"I can't help it, I just had breakfast!"
"Yeah, for like five people!"
"Ahem, if you're done having your lover's quarrel over there, it's quite embarrassing..." Ichika, of all people, was embarrassed. Then again, they were just exposed for peeping.
"My my, does this always happen? That boy's such a rascal!" Hanako stated as she lifted them up using what appeared to be columns of light.
"Not always!" Miku quickly spoke up on their behalf. "Fuutarou's always nice to us, even if he can be a little rough sometimes..."
"Oohh! Tell me more!"
"Yes, do tell me more about you being rough with my daughters Fuutarou-san!"
"Ah.. Maybe later. What were you talking about again princess?"
The girl was so dumbfounded that she forgot her reason of going there in the first place. "Did.. did the Crystal Sage find the magic for duplicating humans?"
"Duplicating humans? No, we're sisters!" Yotsuba corrected her.
"Sisters? I've heard about twins before, but they're a rare occurrence."
"Enough. You were talking about an audience with their Highnesses." Rena interrupted.
"Ah.. Forgive me for getting distracted. Yes, I would like for everyone here to meet with father and mother. I'm sure they would be delighted to meet more mages who are able to summon familiars."
"No." A reply as cold as ice escaped Rena's lips. She set up the question just to deny it. It seemed like she wanted to already end the conversation.
"But... I'm sure that they would be delighted to see you. It's been a long time since you've showed such expressions on your faces, I'm sure father and mother would like to see the reason why."
"The answer is still no, princess. I'd rather I spend my time with my children."
"You heard her." Hanako merely shrugged as if she's already not part of the conversation.
"Aw c'mon mom. I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like the king and queen are enemies with you right?" Ichika instead joined the conversation.
"Of course not. It's their castle. Why would we live in their castle if we were enemies?"
"Then it's fine right?" Nino agreed.
"Yeah, I don't think it would hurt." Along with Miku.
"Plus I'd like to see more of the castle! It's so big!" Yotsuba couldn't contain herself. The castle was even bigger than Maruo's hospital.
"If we hurry we might catch them eating breakfast." Itsuki tried to casually mention , though her true intentions of wanting to see the kitchen and more food was already obvious.
"That's right! Father and mother might still be eating."
"Fine..." Rena was defeated by her daughters' assault. What power these five held. "But we're training afterwards."
"Well, good morning, Hanako-san and Rena-san! What brings you here?" A man with a stocky build asked as he enjoyed a meal with his wife. Contrary to what you would expect for royalty, they were eating at a rather modest table.
"Perhaps these children are the ones our daughter brought here yesterday? We could have done with some introductions before they were led to your rooms you know?" The queen responded. Her daughter seemed to already be nearing her twenties, but the queen looked no older than Rena and Hanako.
"True. Then if you wouldn't mind the setting." The man stood up proudly. "I am Sig, the King of Solana. Pleased to meet you."
"I am Queen Meredith. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything. Any guest of the Sword Priestess and Crystal Sage are our guests. And I assume you've met our daughter Allis?"
"Ah! I forgot to introduce myself!" The princess bowed deeply not befitting of royalty. As she lifted her head, she performed a curtsy. "I am Princess Allis. I was the one who sent for you to meet with the Royal Mages. I am sorry for the sudden request."
"It's fine. You've done us the biggest favor. You reunited us with our moms." Fuutarou was not used to a girl as elegant as this one. Or girls showing him so much respect on their first meeting.
"These children are yours?"
"Yes, they are. The boy's my son, and the girls are Rena's daughters. Though soon they'll become my daughters as well." Hanako had no hesitation in her claims, though that also resulted in every teen in the room lighting up red as the apples on the table.
"Ahahaha! How poetic! Who else would be able to summon familiars!" The king made a hearty laugh, clearly enjoying the events that have unfolded. In turn the familiars looked at their masters. Even Fen-kun looked away from the food to meet Itsuki's gaze.
"Careful dear, you might choke on your food. Please drink some water."
"Hahaha! So, Rena-san, care to explain why your daughters look like one person?"
"That's cause we're quintuplets! I'm Yotsuba!"
"Ichika here." The girl tried to copy Allis's curtsy with her simple dress.
"Nino." The girl imitated Ichika's move as she introduced herself.
"I'm Miku." Without realizing that she looked like she was copying her sisters, Miku also did a curtsy. This worked to her advantage though, since this hers looked the best and most natural among her sisters.
As the last sister covered her mouth, she muttered. "I'm Itsuki."
"Ahaha! That sure explains a lot. And what about the young lad over there?"
"I'm Fuutarou." The boy just looked at them with his serious eyes.
"Fuutarou huh? What do you feel about marrying Allis?" The king stated with a carefree expression. Even the queen was surprised. Fuutarou could only hope he was joking.
"Hah?!"
"How about it? She's a beautiful girl, set to inherit this kingdom one day. But we need her to produce an heir as well."
"Yo-you can't do that!" One voice seemed to echo five times around the room.
"Hahaha! Do you girls want to marry Allis instead? I'm sorry but I don't think she can produce an heir that way. I can introduce you to the princes from the other kingdoms though."
"Alright King that's enough, we can resume this joke later. We'll be going now to the training grounds. Please excuse us, and enjoy your breakfast."
"Wait! If you're training... can I please come with you too?" The princess earnestly requested.
After a few moments of silence, Rena calmly stated "You're with me."
Hanako was in charge of the quints while Rena was in charge of Fuutarou and Allis's training. They headed to the training grounds after exiting the King's dining room.
Hanako quickly tried to take advantage and tried to dress up her so-called future daughters in cute outfits, clearly not meant for training, but Rena made sure to check on her before she actually went through with it. In the end they settled for form-fitting sports bras and shorts for the girls while Fuutarou had to wear a tank top and shorts. Once they were satisfied with this set-up they headed to their own separate training grounds.
"Alright girls! Let's have you do a couple laps for to get the blood flowing!" Hanako cheered for the Nakano sisters. "Once you're done we'll do do some magic practice!"
Of course, only Yotsuba was happy with exercise. Ichika was also quite comfortable, apparently already used to simple exercise for some roles she was playing. The rest were not doing as well. While it was true that they were more used to being active thanks to work, that still wasn't enough for Hanako's physical training.
"Hmm... Only Yotsuba-chan and Ichika-chan seem fit for this type of exercise." Hanako's remark was met with an "ehehe" from the aforementioned sisters. "But don't worry. We'll be focusing on magic anyway." She pointed to a few practice dummies with markers along the area. "Let's see your magic." Hanako's eyes finally turned serious.
The girls went in order.
[Hydro Bubble], [Fire Shot], [Vacuum], [Constrict], and [Void Eater] were all demonstrated in front of Hanako. She had expectations, but it seems like the girls already knew how to invoke their magic. It was embarrassing when Yotsuba tried to make her sisters shout the names of their magic, though.
"I'm not shouting every time I want to use magic!" Nino exclaimed as she pulled away Syr-chan from Gaia-chan. It seemed the little salamander shared its summoner's sentiments.
"C'mon! It's cooler that way!"
"I'll side with Nino on this one" Miku claimed as she played around with her [Vacuum] on the falling leaves.
"Yeah, it's not like this is some manga where everyone needs to shout." Itsuki added, along with a yip from her puppy.
"Then would you girls try shouting if I told you it'll make your attacks stronger?"
"Really?"
Then another barrage of [Hydro Bubble], [Fire Shot], [Vacuum], [Constrict], and [Void Eater] barraged the training dummies. Unfortunately, it was obvious that the damage increase, if any, was minimal.
"Wha?! Hana-san! It's the same!"
The girls' reactions were met with Hanako summoning a window of light that replayed the scene she just saw. Five girls adorably shouting out attack names as if they had chuunibyou. "Awwww. I could look at this everyday!"
"Wha? You can do that? Don't look!" At this point it was hard to tell who was saying what thanks to all the embarrassment and confusion.
"Hahahah! I gotta show this to Rena-chan and Fuutarou! You girls are so cute!"
"No you can't!"
"Ho? Then what's stopping me? Are you girls going to?" She looked at them with a teasing gaze.
Then the quintuplet sisters realized this meant that Hanako was willing to fight for the rights to the video. As they all gulped, Itsuki said "If we have to..."
"Then make me~~~" The woman playfully teased as she tied up her hair into a battle ponytail. "Tell you what, if you can snatch this practice sword from me I promise I'll never show it to Rena-chan or Fuutarou."
"Really?"
"Yeah, sure... If you do get the sword." Said Hanako as she twirled it.
"Then let's go!" Yotsuba quickly sprinted towards the sword. Unfortunately, befitting her title as the Sword Priestess, Hanako successfully repelled Yotsuba away with the wooden sword. Not that it was too hard to predict her movement.
"You're gonna have to do better than that Yotsuba-chan~" Hanako teased the ribbon-wearing girl.
Miku was the next one to take advantage. She summoned a [Vacuum] right above Hanako's sword, creating gusts of wind that seemed to direct the sword upwards.
"Still not good enough girls. At this rate even Kira can take you all on." As she said that, her familiar leaped up at the sword and grabbed it for her.
"You five! Sic Kira and help us get that sword!" Nino quickly ordered the familiars. They all lunged at the cat in unison. Unfortunately, the cat was agile enough to avoid their assault.
"Tsk tsk. Don't just rely on your familiars either. There's still a fight going on here, you know?" Hanako lunged aat them with a newly formed tool. A lance tipped with a heart, clearly meant as a joke item. But the force with which she was going to hit the girls was enough to fling the dirt around them.
"Whuh? Are you trying to kill us?" Itsuki was the first to complain.
"This is a battle Itsuki-chan. It can't be helped if you get injured. But don't worry, I'll try not to hurt your pretty faces. We don't want Fuutarou to see that now would we? Anything he can't see is fair game though."
"Ahhh! Hana-san noooo!"
"Hehehe. Don't worry, as long as I don't hit your face you won't have proof of what we did." The woman said so as she cut up Miku's tights.
"What are you talking about? If we get cut up we'll just show Fuutarou-kun-" Ichika started to talk. Unfortunately, she couldn't finish since Hanako just continued her assault.
"Hoh? I don't think I like that you're using Fuutarou to shield yourselves." Hanako's eyes lit up, and she seemed to focus more on hitting their torsos, stomachs, and thighs.
As she swung the lance, Yotsuba tried to catch it. Unfortunately, Hanako quickly redirected the swing to meet with Yotsuba's body and sent her flying. "What a shame Yotsuba-chan. If I were you I would catch myself with [Constrict]."
"It's not me that's caught." Yotsuba announced as she flew through the air.
As Hanako looked down, she saw [Constrict] already wrapping its way around her legs. "I would never use Uesugi-san. But that doesn't mean we can't protect each other! He already risked his life for me before coming here. And here is his shield!" Yotsuba produced a heavy shield with floral and leaf designs around its center, with the border being engraved a layer of tendrils. The shield was definitely heavy, allowing Yotsuba to gain more momentum as she fell towards Hanako.
"You think just because I can't dodge that I can't do anything else?" Hanako quickly reformed a bigger spear and seemingly hardened it. "If you're going to use a shield, then I hope you can block!" Her summoned spear was meant to receive Yotsuba's attack.
As Hanako was about to launch the spear and send Yotsuba flying again, she quickly realized that the girl would not even be able to hit her. Soon Yotsuba fell to the ground right in front of Hanako on top of her shield. The fall seemed to have driven her unconscious, though miraculously she seemed to sustain no physical damage. Maybe because of her natural affinity for the grass around or that the shield absorbed most of the impact.
"Good job Yotsuba!" Hanako was taken by surprise by Ichika's sudden remark. "As you said, Hana-san, we're not the ones forgetting that we're in a fight. And that means that you're up against all five of us!" Ichika and Nino were already holding hands and blending magic together. It was another combination magic [Steam Eruption], that blasted straight onto Hanako. Miku also used [Vacuum] to help guide it towards the Sword Priestess. The attack left her disoriented, and before she knew it the ground she was supposed to be standing on was already a void of darkness. It seems Itsuki had been using [Void Eater] underneath her the whole time.
"Heh. You girls can work together like this?" Hanako merely smirked in satisfaction. "But if you think this is enough, then you're wrong. You should have focused on Kira when you had the chance."
"What are you talking about? We've already caught you. Now we just have to take the sword from Kira and-" Ichika's triumphant speech was interrupted when Hanako pointed to her familiar.
"You girls still have a lot to learn." Hanako created a ball of light and made it explode, engulfing the area around with light. When it dispersed, all that was left were the quints and their disoriented familiars. As well as a glowing Hanako and Kira. "Never take your eyes off your opponent. Even if it seems like they just finished an attack." The ball of light was all but a distraction, and Hanako's real attack gathered light unto herself. The last thing the sisters could remember was Hanako and Kira exploding into a large mass of light. It was not hot, nor was it blinding, but the pure force it generated knocked all of them unconscious.
Taking the sword from Kira and seeing how many marks it had from getting splashed, burned, and cut up, Hanako then left the sword at the girls' feet. She healed the girls but didn't bother mending their torn clothes. "Make sure to let Fuutarou see your injuries, okay?"
Over on Rena's side, Fuutarou and Allis were sparring together. Well, more like Fuutarou served as Allis's training dummy. It was hard keeping up with the princess who seemed to be dancing circles around the poor boy.
"Get it together Fuutarou-san! This is just a sparring session to see what you're capable of! If you can't beat Princess Allis then you're only getting bread for lunch!"
"What? Seriously? Even if there's so much food there?"
"And you, Princess! If you lose to him you're getting married immediately!"
"What?! That's..." Allis was shocked at the surprise stakes Rena made.
"How does that work?!"
"Just beat the Princess so we can go get lunch, Fuutarou-san." Rena smiled at him.
"And get hitched while I'm at it? No thank you!"
"If you lose on purpose..." Rena quickly made a long and sharp crystal that she pointed at him. "You're fighting me next!" She said with a malicious grin.
The distraction was enough for Allis to make Fuutarou lose his footing. Before he even realized it her sword's tip was already pointed at his throat. He could swear that he saw the princess mouth off "I'm sorry" to him though.
"...Bread it is then!" Rena folded her hands and smiled at his misfortune. "I'm gonna go now to make lunch for everyone. Go clean yourselves up and meet us in the dining hall in around thirty minutes."
"Tch. That woman." Fuutarou then noticed that Allis had already extended a hand to help him up. He took it and tried to pull himself up. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the amount of force in getting up and instead managed to pull down the princess to the ground with him.
"Kya!" Allis let out a cute voice as she fell down.
"Ugh. Sorry. My bad." Fuutarou tried to sit up on his own, and the princess did the same.
"Oh, uh. It's fine." Allis replied. Then came a *gurgle* from her stomach. "Ah! It's not what you think! this is-"
"So you managed to beat me on an empty stomach? Somehow that makes the defeat feel worse than just getting bread for lunch."
"Ah! As I said, this is-" Then another *gurgle* escaped her tummy. The princess could only look down as she blushed. "Nevermind." As she was looking down, she noticed Fuutarou's slime approaching them with some fruit.
"You! When did you take this?" Fuutarou tried to ask his slime, but since it was not really capable of communication he didn't expect a reply. He then took an apple and started eating. "Nevermind. Here Princess, let's eat."
"Eh? No, I couldn't. It's food your familiar brought for you." It was actually from the royal family's dining table, but no one bothered to mention that fact.
"Just eat. You haven't eaten breakfast yet right? I think we made you wait outside before we met with your parents."
"That is true... Ah, but you don't have to worry about me."
"Just eat already. Consider it my payment for you not telling Rena-san that I ate something other than bread."
"I never said I would do that."
"So you will tell them about me eating fruit? You're a mean princess." The comment made the princess blush.
"No I'm not! Fine!" She quickly took a banana. "Happy?" Unfortunately, her irritated face was quickly replaced with one of embarrassment when she realized that she couldn't even peel it.
The boy tried to hold back a chuckle before assisting the princess. "Here, you're not supposed to peel from there." He rotated the banana and pulled back on the skin, successfully demonstrating to Allis the proper way to peel a banana. "You really are a princess huh?" He smiled at her as he finally released the laugh he held onto. It was at these times when he was laughing and smiling that Fuutarou really showed how handsome he was.
"Man, that was good." The boy said as the slime ate the leftovers. "What about you, princess?"
"Yeah, it was delicious. Thank you."
"Yeah... thank you too."
A/N. I'm thinking of starting to write from different people's perspectives instead of as a third person viewer. What do you guys think? And be sure to let me know your thoughts by writing something in the box below, thanks! Till next time!