Chapter 375: Jealous Hearts
The day after arriving in the city, in the privacy of his own thoughts, Kassin’s mind buzzed with all the strange possibilities of what might occur over the next few hours. All the while Montmorency maidservants picked and plucked at the formal clothes he was being given, talking about adjustments and how soft the fur on his tail and ears was.
In truth, he found Montmorency fashion a bit stuffy compared to the looser-fitting styles of Gra’Rhuel. Kordia got away without being hemmed and hawed over for measurements because she had enough mana to fit a change of clothes in her storage.
Kassin didn’t even have a regular tattoo, much less a storage one. He had more mana than was average for his age, but that was because his mother had insisted he start learning enhancement magic in case he ever needed to escape a situation. She’d also said it was how she got her second tail earlier than most, but he didn’t feel anywhere close to that event... and Kordia was already at six.
He sighed to himself, wondering if there was anything he could do to catch up, unaware that from outside the room, several other maids were watching him with adoring expressions.
"That should be all for measurements," the maid in charge said. "We shall have your clothes tailored within the hour, young prince."
Stepping behind a screen, he stripped of the clothes he’d just put on, tossing them atop so that they could be taken while he donned his travel clothes. The sounds of the leading maid shooing away onlookers caught his ear for a moment, and he peeked to find several rather fetching women fleeing as they chatted with each other.
They were all rather fetching beastkin, which made him suspect it was now widely known that a beastkin prince was staying in the palace.
Wandering out into one of the three palace yards, he found a small contingent of thirteen or so mages exchanging spells with each other or at stone targets. In manasight they seemed more like fireflies compared to the bonfire that was Kordia’s silver-edged near-blue.
She was out there too, demonstrating what she considered proper shielding. Segmented, hexagonal sections instead of the singular solid bubble. Lattice shields, which were relatively well known of but expensive in mana... and she wielded hers as readily as any warrior with a board strapped to his arm.
What does she even need from me? He wondered. Theirs was an arranged marriage. He’d somehow thought that, even if she only had three tails when last they met, he could catch up quickly. Perhaps be a warrior for her like his father was for his mother.
But he didn’t have much talent for weapons. He could do a bit of hand-to-hand combat, but after having seen Kir’s "martial arts" in a fight between him and a demon general, he felt completely outclassed even there. He was a competent mage, but competent didn’t feel good enough...