"Have you calmed down?" Saryll gently asked her daughter.
The two were alone in the palace hall.
Alea released the tension in her hand and softly asked. "How can you stand the sight of that man?"
"He is a crucial part of the nobility and our military. You are still immature in this regard."
"I'm going to be a bad ruler, mom," The princess smiled wryly. "I value personal connections too much."
"That's fine. When I hand you the throne, you can do whatever you want," Saryll softly replied and hugged the girl.
"Thank you-" Alea's words were cut short when Saryll pulled on her cheeks.
"This is better! You are much cuter when you are not tense."
"Mom! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"I'll do this even when you become Queen!" Saryll laughed at the struggles of her daughter. "You can't stop me!"
Several minutes later, Alea was nursing her swollen cheeks in front of the mirror. "My face looks too big now..." She mumbled.
"You're my daughter so you look good no matter what, don't worry!" Saryll gave a thumbs up from the side.
In return for her mother's comment, the Princess returned with a pouty face.
Meanwhile, Ari and Earl were exploring Artasia together.
"Mom, that store looks big. Let's go check it out!"
In the distance, there was a 3-storey building that was streaming with people. It was built with light coloured bricks and a splash of colour from stained glass. The architecture was elaborate and served as proof of its elven heritage.
"Sure." Ari readily agreed.
The streets were busy but now that Earl had a bigger frame, it was easier to navigate. He took his mother's hand and lead her to their destination.
Another point to note about Artasia was the lack of stalls. Every store here had its own buildings and smaller merchants had to resort to selling via proxy to a bigger store to make a living. This lead to a very clean and organized city.
"A wand store?" Earl lifted an eyebrow when he walked in.
There were numerous wands of various designs on display. Some were encased in glass, others were placed freely on shelves.
"Let's look around," Ari smiled and said.
Under her school of teaching, wands were unnecessary. There were many reasons behind this decision but the primary one was due to all their spells being chantless.
Wands served as tools to control mana better. This is useful to the majority of mages who had to rely on chants as a medium to control mana.
"Did you ever use a wand before, mom?" Earl asked as he looked through the myriad of wands encased in glass.
"It's been so long. I think only back when I was going to school and learning the basics." She told him. "Come look at this,"
Ari signalled and held up a wand on display. A current of mana gathered around her and rustled her clothes. Like a gust of wind, her hair was lifted showing the nape of her neck.
She was wearing a dress that lightly showed off her cleavage under her mage robe. The small amount of skin was enough to leave Earl dazed.
Pa!
Ari smacked Earl on the forehead with the wand to regain his attention.
"Your turn," She grinned.
"O-okay," He accepted the wand and sure enough, the same phenomenon happened to him. "Woah, I feel powerful!"
"Silly, it's purely cosmetic," She laughed.
"Ahem," He awkwardly coughed and placed the wand away.
They continued to look around the wand shop for a while. Lightly poking each with wands and laughing it off. Showing off little spells to each other and being surprised by it.
"Look at this, Earl!" Ari held a wand in her hand and the next moment, it disappeared from her hand.
"It's gone! I wonder where I should look for it?"
p
"It's back in your hand now!"
"It's your turn."
"Ah- I got something." Earl took the wand and injected Spirit Magic into it.
He laughed as Ari's face turned from that of curiosity into that of pure surprise.
"W-what are you doing?" Her voice turned a higher pitch when she realized that leaves were growing from the wand.
In the end, money was paid for compensation and they were left outside the store.
"Why did you have to go ahead and do that?" Ari sighed.
"I didn't expect you to react like that," He laughed. "That makes it worth it,"
"Hey, don't make fun of your mother."
"Yes, mother."