Foreboding Storm - Chapter 147

Princess Qamari stood beside the training ground, her Jinn Hunters’ chain swirling in a resplendent display of perfect harmony and control, their dips and rises, twists and lungs seemingly dancing to her tune.

After three months of arduous training, she had managed to control the chains with her Stage 3 Elemental Fusion energy thanks to Snow.

The Jinn Hunter’s chains could only be activated with the three elementals that the chains were composed of. With Snow’s guidance, she could control the chains with her stage 3 Elemental Fusion for two reasons.

One was because of her light magic ability. As an attribute naturally against dark, the moment her light-infused into the chain, the dark was bound to disperse. And since light and darkness elementals were both a part of the chain’s composition, a chain reaction was bound to be produced upon their clash.

This resulted in the indirect activation of the chain.

And second, her Stage 3 level 1 Elemental Fusion had stepped into Stage 3 level 2. Even though it wasn’t at the required Stage 4 Level 2, the slight improvement in elemental energy had made all the difference.

“Princess, you can stop now!”

Chiiink!

Another fling and the lapping pools of chains contracted and receded into themselves. They shrunk until they were at the size of a bracelet and latched onto her wrist.

“Haha…well done. Truthfully speaking, I thought it would be so. Your elemental energy was already at Stage 3 and there were visible signs of your light elemental energy reacting with the dark elemental energy. With such a head-start, you became the first Jinn Hunter to wield the chains without stepping into StakeHill.”

“StakeHill?”

“Yes, a place of gathering to exchange skills between hunters. Jinn Hunters usually go there to exchange pointers and find shortcuts to increasing their elemental energies. Now that you’ve completed your training, it’s about time for you to depart.” Bai Lan’s expression turned crestfallen and her melancholy gaze scanned the girl from head to toe.

It has only been 3 months, and yet, the little chick had already grown into a full-sized eagle, brimming with unimaginable energy that dwarfed above their own.

Princess Qamari smiled and moved towards the sulking girl.

“Bai Lan, we both knew our encounter was meant to be short-lived. You have your way and I have mine. But thank you for housing, feeding, and training me for the last three months.”

“What are you saying? Even if this meeting is short-lived, there’ll be another in the future. Since destiny brought us together, it will guide us to each other in the future as well.”

Princess Qamari grabbed the other’s rough hand and turned to Leader Ku.

“Leader Ku, thank you for training me. I know you probably had some ulterior motive in doing so, but I still want to thank you for investing time and money into me.”

“No need to thank me. It was my pleasure training you.” Leader Ku shook his head and smiled.

He felt embarrassed at her blunt remark. Yes, at the start, he did it with the intention of making a connection with the girl of prophecy. But as time passed, his original intentions change to pure desire to make the girl stronger so that she could make the most of her ability.

“Let’s go. We still need to send you off.” Bai Lan turned and left before the other could reject.

Taking a deep breath, Princess Qamari’s gaze shifted into the distant horizon.

Three months.

She had been gone from the Sealand Academy for three whole months. In these past months, she never left the Bai settlement nor did she send any news of her well-being. She wondered if her Master was okay.

After all, the Magical Kilin Mission had concluded three months ago. She might take her disappearance the wrong way.

Just like the way she’d disappeared from the Amayan Empire…

She withdrew her sight and followed after Bai Lan, Leader Ku right on their tail.

It would be a while before she could return to the academy, then to the empire.

Inside the largest cave of the mountain settlement, Bai Lan, Ku Yan, and Princess Qamari sat around a dinner table, eating in companionable silence. The dishes weren’t much, consisting of a few vegetable dishes, slices of fish, and rice. But Princess Qamari wasn’t complaining.

To her food was only a means to end her hungry. In the days she lived in the Jinn Kingdom, she barely slept with a full belly after her parents’ disappearance.

Bai Lan set down her chopsticks and looked at Princess Qamari with a serious expression.

“Qamari, I spoke with my tribes and decided to transfer my position to someone else.”

“Transfer your position? Why?” The girl hadn’t said anything about transferring her position to someone else before. Of course, this could be due to the fact that Princess Qamari wasn’t a member of the Bai Settlement and was just passing by.

But in the last few months, she and Bai Lan had grown very close, to the extent that Princess Qamari even considered her more of a family than Princess Nari.

So the sudden declaration came as a surprise.

” Because I want to go with you.”

Puff!

Well, that was a surprise…

Princess Qamari still had her face veil on, eating her meal under the veil. When Bai Lan disclosed the shocking news, she messed up her veil and clothes.

“Bai Lan, have you gone crazy? Do you even know what you’re saying?” Princess Qamari thumped on her chest and glared at the girl.

“Of course, I know. Otherwise, do you think I would’ve taken this long to decide? I figured it’s about time I left these rocky plains and explored the world.” Head held high and chest out, the girl crossed her arms and proudly declared.

“Huh…you’re saying you gave up your position as Tribe Leader to run away from here?” Princess Qamari scornfully asked.

“Not exactly run away. I just think that I need a change of scenery, you know?”

“Bai Lan, you’re leaving your home to come with me, a nobody who could leave you in the lurch at any time?”

“No, Qamari. I am leaving my home to live my life and explore the world. I’ve never liked being the Tribe Leader. But because the position always fell on descendants of previous generations, I had no say or right to decide otherwise.” Bai Lan sighed despondently, her eyes flickering with deep loneliness that stabbed Princess Qamari’s heart.

“But after meeting Leader Ku, I realized that a tribe leader didn’t necessarily have to come from the Bai family. As long as someone had the capabilities to treat the villagers well and place their best interest before themselves, then anyone can be a tribe leader. So, I passed my position to the most capable one.”

“You…” Princess Qamari was rendered speechless.

Matters like emptying your position for someone else were hard to come across as no one in their right mind would let go of a status that gave them power and authority. In smaller and most conspicuous regions of the realms, genocide, patricide, and regicide always occurred because there were no authorities to supervise or oversee such situations.

However, Bai Lan was willingly letting go of such a position to wander from place to place homeless?

“Bai Lan, you probably don’t know what you’re doing. Living on the road isn’t an easy matter.”

“Who said I was going to live on the road? I’ll be following you. Didn’t you introduce yourself as Princess Qamari? If you’re a princess, then I can be your bodyguard or handmaiden. This way, not only will my meal and board be covered, we can also explore the world together.”

“Huh! I see you’ve got everything covered…” Princess Qamari could only sigh in defeat.

Bai Lan wasn’t one of those pampered princesses that decided everything on impulse and acted recklessly. She was the leader of a tribe for more than 5 years. For her young age, she was probably more mature than Princess Qamari who had never looked out for anyone but herself.

From this point of view, she was more capable than Princess Qamari. As such, her safety and responsibility wouldn’t be on her shoulder, as the girl could take care of herself.

Bai Lan laughed proudly and resumed her meal, her expression more relaxed and at ease after getting the load off her mind.

“Of course! Do you think I decided to follow you just like that? I made sure to cover all grounds.”

Ku Yan watched the two girls ignore him and chat together. He felt a tinge amount of jealousy at their close relationship and wished he had someone he could freely banter and joke around with as well.

Unfortunately, his fate wasn’t that good, so he didn’t hold any expectations.

Night descended and another Dark Moon covered the sky.

Bai Lan stood in the cave she’d lived in all her life and felt reluctant to part from it. But the moment she thought of Princess Qamari, her eyes became determined and firm as her resolve strengthened.

“Princess Qamari was attacked by the Dark Jinn. This means someone paid a price to have a wish fulfilled. There were also a few corpses with the symbol of the Hunters Guild found in the rubbles and debris. This means there’s someone who wants to get rid of her once and for all.”

She raised her clenched fists, in the middle of each palm was an image. One was of a veiled female in red-purple robes and the other was a man in golden robes.

“In the search and track spell, these two individuals’ appearances showed up. They are either the ones after Princess Qamari, or are in cahoots with the one trying to kill her.”

The determined gleam in her eyes grew fierce and Bai Lan clenched both of her fists, reducing the images to dust.

“Either way, I have to follow the princess and protect her from any harm. No matter what happens, I won’t ever allow her to get harmed in my presence. Once the six-month cycle ends and chaos descends, she’ll be the only hope for humanity’s salvation.”

The next morning, Princess Qamari and Bai Lan stood outside the Bai Settlement, Ku Yan and his group standing behind them, as they bid the settlers farewell.

“Bai Lan, you need to look after yourself out there. There won’t be anyone for you to order around.” The female from the group of ten joyously remarked.

After Bai Lan left, it would be a while before she returned. Why wouldn’t she be happy that this demon was leaving?

“Yes, Bai Lan. You must always focus on your goal and never return without achieving it.” Another female added.

“Don’t worry about the settlement. We’ll keep a close eye on everyone and everything. We’ll be extra cautious with outsiders and strangers.” The new female Tribe Leader reassured.

Bai Lan’s gaze swept across the men and women and felt her heart pound, both from the sudden separation and excitement to the future.

This was the first time she was leaving her settlement, and although she felt worried and anxious for the settlers, she was also excited at the prospect of seeing more mountains and rocky plains.

“Don’t worry about me. I am more than capable enough to take care of myself. If anything, you should focus on yourselves. I’ll be gone for an indefinite period of time, so from now on, your safety is your responsibility.”

Bai Lan dusted off non-existent dust from her leaf cluster skirt and yanked the robe in her former subordinate’s hand. The robe picked up a gale of wind as she twirled it and drooped it over her shoulders.

“Well, this is goodbye, so take care.” With a wave of her hand, she turned and walked away.

Princess Qamari looked at her receding figure.

Knowing the girl was probably feeling too emotional to say anything more, she clasped her fist and nodded to the settlers, before turning and following behind.

With Ku Yan and his group of Jinn Hunters, Princess Qamari headed to Laining City to find the portal back to the Sealand Academy.

It was time to turn in her mission and depart for the Amayan Empire.