As she awoke from her sleep, our eyes met. For some reason... There was a feeling of familiarity coming from her eyes and something else, a deeper emotion I couldn't make out. Before I could inform every one of the pieces of information I found out. I felt a Spell being fired in my direction. Peter must have felt the jig is up. As fast as I could, I cast Barrier on Sarah, with plans to cast it on myself after, but after casting it on Sarah, I felt a powerful drowsiness envelop my mind. It's at this point that I noticed the Spell was aimed at me. All I could do was stand there and wait for it to make contact with me, so I closed my eyes and waited... but it never came?

  I opened my eyes to the flutter of white hair in front of me and a figure standing taller than I did in front of me. Sarah had jumped out of the bed and protected me. At this point, I fell back and landed on my butt on the floor. Through the exhaustion of my mind and body, I heard Sarah speak in a voice that was unstable, yet cold as ice and filled with hate.

  " HoW DaRe YoU AttAck HiM! YoU'LL PaY WiTH YoUR LiFe!"

  I felt chills run through my body and it seemed to be the same for everyone in the room except for Warrick, Aqua and Peter. Though unlike the men, who had scowls on their faces, Aqua, who for some reason, looked like she understood everything that was happening, had a smile on her face. As I returned my gaze to Sarah, she launched herself at Peter with a spear that seemed to be made of mana. She screamed in a burst of rage as she flew through the air in front of me. Her dress-like lavender colored pajamas flowing in the wind as she went further and further away from me.

  "HOW DARE YOU!"

  With a thrust of her spear, she launched herself at Peter with great speed, in response, Peter was able to dodge the fast thrust with ease. Following his movement, Sarah tracked him effortlessly and proceeded to thrust her spear at a speed I doubt I could keep up with even if I wasn't nearly keeled over from exhaustion. Peter, perhaps realizing he was seconds away from being stabbed, pulled two daggers out from windows made of mana that appeared on either side of him. They were put to quick use as they ended up blocking the spear thrust from Sarah. Aqua jumped into the air preparing another attack for Peter to deal with. At that moment, Peter smirked, most likely thinking Sarah was a sitting duck in the air. Peter fired 3 Lightening Spells simultaneously at Sarah, but she looked calm as the Spells came towards her. Sarah used some type of Spell that pushed her to the side of the Spells coming at her and they passed by without much of a fuss, connecting with the ceiling of the room and leaving 3 scorch marks where they had hit the ceiling at.

  / Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!/

  Sarah then attacked Peter with a sequence of jabs from her spear tip. To which Peter used some Spell to create distance between himself and Sarah. Sarah, probably losing what little patience was left in her. Began to channel a massive amount of mana that scared the maids and guards. It's at this moment Warrick and Aqua moved. They both cast different types of Binding Spells from what I could gather looking at the Magic appear from thin air. Warrick cast his Spell on Peter and Aqua to Sarah. After confirming the capture of their targets, Aqua began speaking in a whisper to Sarah. Warrick commanded the guards to grab Peter and throw him into the dungeon as the room finally quieted down.

  / Woosh!/

  Whatever Aqua had said to Sarah seemed to have worked, she had calmed down and so did her mana. She.. Also occasionally looked back and forth between me and Aqua while her mother spoke to her. It's after a few seconds of this that Warrick came to Sarah and along with Aqua, a family hug happened in front of me. All 3 began to cry and shortly after, the maids and guards started to weep as well. Crest's wailing wasn't too far behind. Safe to say I started getting teary eyed at this display of familial love as well. I was really happy for them through the drowsiness. After a few minutes of hugs and laughter from relief. The Royals turned and noticed my current state.

  " Hm?"

  Aqua used some kind of Magic and pulled a bottle of purple liquid out of a window she opened at her side. I made a noise as I was curious about it. Obviously, I'm assuming that the bottle was for me. That was confirmed more or less as Aqua began to walk towards me. But then I started to question my assumption. Aqua made a face like she seemed to have stumble on a good idea and turned to speak to Sarah in a whisper. She then handed the bottle to her daughter whose cheeks had turned a shade of vermillion for some reason? After taking a breath, Sarah began to walk over to me with the grace and demeanor of a Princess who didn't just have a fight in her lavender pajamas.

  / Step. Step. Step./

  She came to my side and proceeded to sit on her knees and began to speak to me in a warm tone... Did Aqua tell her who I was?

  " My name is Sarah Dreadnought, Princess of Diablos and Eldest Daughter of King Warrick Dreadnought and Queen Aqua Dreadnought. For saving me, you have my Upmost Gratitude, Sir John. What you're experiencing right now is Mana Overuse. We also call it Mana Exhaustion since it's more or less what it really is. Basically you've used up all your mana and now your body is trying to rest to recuperate itself."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  She began to explain to me my current problem, like a teacher to a student. She reminded me of her mother for a moment, but before I could even form a full thought to respond to her, Sarah continued on speaking to me in an energetic tone.

  " To cure it, you either need to rest or drink a Mana Potion. Which thankfully, is what I have here in my hands. Please, allow me to help you drink it!"

  At her friendly way of talking, I decided to casually speak to her, maybe as a way to thank her for saving me and the guilt of being in her head and eavesdropping? Either way, I'm a bit too tired to really think everything through... Here's hoping I don't get beheaded by Warrick in the process...

  " Thank you, Princess Sarah, please do. Also you can just call me John... Is something wrong?"

  Having a complicated look on her face, I decided to ask what was wrong. She looked at me and spoke.

  " Having saved my life and to do so being trapped, away from your foster family whom you love dearly. Is it truly ok to use such casual language to address you?

  I chuckle at her, since I thought I was being mostly informal already. But it looks like it wasn't enough for her. So with a smile on my face, I speak how I feel.

  " Well to be honest... I really stress myself out trying to be so polite with Royalty. Besides, you saved me too. When I couldn't form a Barrier for myself, you jumped in front of me and protected me. To me you're also a Hero. So why not call it even and just have a relaxed way of talking to each other? Besides having a beauty like you treat me on friendly terms fits me better than being treated as someone you're indebted to."

  The pangs of guilt at being in her head and viewing some of her memories still ached in me a bit. I tried to be overly nice to her and it looks like I left her feeling sad. I can't have that going forward, so I tried to lay my feelings out for her. I waited to see what she had to say, fighting back the drowsiness in my eyes and body as much as possible.

  " Yes, of course You'd be like this, my feelings were correct."

  She muttered something to herself? I couldn't quite make it out over the chatter of the guards and maids that was happening over our own conversation. I thought that maybe I made some kind of an error for a moment, but then I looked over to see a beaming Aqua and a dispirited Warrick look on at us. If I had to guess, I was doing okay? Maybe? Possibly? Warrick's reaction doesn't look like it's from something I said at least? I guess he's taking the betrayal of Peter pretty hard? I feel bad for him. As I was thinking this, Sarah invaded my sight and said she would help me drink the potion.

  / Pop!/

  After opening the bottle, she placed her hand on my back. I thought it was strange, but just as I was going to say that I was fine, Sarah was quick to speak.

  "For stability!"

  She said that to me before I had a chance to say anything. Looking at her face, I guess it'd be a bad idea to refuse. I just let her do it since it wasn't worth turning down her kindness towards me. She began to feed me the potion slowly. The potion looked like grape juice and tasted like citrus... Like someone took orange juice and added food coloring to it almost... It was pretty pleasant as I glugged it down.

  " It's really good?"

  After finishing the potion, Sarah looked at me like she was waiting for something? I said my honest opinion of the potion. Sarah replying with a look on her face as if she's thinking deeply about something.

  " Yes, I'm glad that's the case. You should feel the effects pretty quickly... yes, it's so compact and feels so strong."

  " What?"

  Sarah responded to my answer... And then she mumbled again? I couldn't make it out, so I leaned in to see if she would say it again after I responded that I couldn't hear her. She quickly spoke to me after.

  " Yes! The Potions My Mother makes are stronger than the average mana potion on the market! They also taste much better!"

  She spoke so fast, I almost struggled to understand what she was saying. Sarah saw the look on my face wasn't changing, so she looked like she was beginning to panic? As she tried to calm herself down, I felt the drowsiness slowly dissipate from my body. At that point, Warrick and Aqua came over to us. Crest and the others ended up going with the guards to make sure Peter was taken care of safely. Aqua was still beaming while Warrick still looked downtrodden. I spoke to try to lift his spirit.

  " Warrick, I know it'll be tough finding a replacement for Peter, but look on the bright side! Sarah's up and energetic again! All the hard work has finally paid off!"

  " Huh? Oh yeah that's right. I'll have to appoint a New Chief Of Logistics!"

  " Huh?"

  He responded to me with a look of realization on his face to my reassurance. Then it looks like it finally clicked for him? Maybe... Maybe he wasn't thinking about the work that was going to come from all of this? I don't know how close they were... Maybe they were really good friends? Either way, Warrick looked up at the ceiling for a moment, with his hands on his head... Then he then took a side glance at Aqua, then looked at Sarah who was still sitting next to me on the floor.

  " !"

  Wait! Is it just my imagination or did she get closer? Warrick looked at me in the eyes and spoke to me with a calm, almost monotone tone of voice for some reason?

  " John, now that you healed Sarah, do you know what you want to do next?"

  " No? I haven't thought that far ahead. If there's a place here for me though, I'd like to help out anyway I can."

  After saying that, Aqua beamed an even brighter simile and seemed to be in a fever pitch of a good mood. Sarah was smiling at her mother as well... Almost like they were talking though their eyes? And Warrick sighed with a hand on his forehead.

  " If that is the case, I suppose I should explain the tertiary matters now."

  He said that... Almost sounding exhausted. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown I guess?

  / GRUG!/

  * Tighten!*

  At that moment my stomach growled, sounding like the roar of a beast. I felt my stomach tighten as well... All 3 royals looked at me, chuckled and Warrick was the first to speak to me.

  " I guess we can talk about it over dinner then, John!"