Ever since the battle earlier that day, Princess Christina had a great deal on her mind, especially after her new Sister Eris' comments after the match. Even if Christina became aware of the reasons for her loss and understood why she had failed the test, that didn't mean all her questions were answered.
Chief among these questions was, what was she supposed to do now?
Fortunately for the young princess, her new Sworn Sister was a veritable fountain of energy and was more than willing to help take her mind off of such complicated issues.
Figuring she also wasn't in the best head-space, Christina decided to let Eris drag her around, temporarily setting aside planning for her future.
For the rest of the day, Eris took Christina sight-seeing, showing her hometown off to the latter and even taking her down to her favourite fishing spot at the river.
Thanks to the arrival of General Balfour and Commander Clark, a much larger portion of Redwood Town was now relatively secure, with most Wild Beasts avoiding the settlement where they could sense multiple powerful Cultivation Auras.
This also meant that much of the southern river was now safe to use.
It was a little chilly, and most of the townsfolk were still too frightened to venture far out from the designated safe-zones, but there were still a number of people looking to catch some fish in the Belton, so it wasn't completely deserted on the riverbank.
There was an awkward moment when Eris realized that she couldn't properly add bait to her hook or cast her fishing line with just her left hand, but surprisingly, Christina was quite adept at this as fishing happened to be one of her Royal Father's hobbies.
As king, Nathanial Rockwell naturally didn't have a lot of time to spend with his children or even his wives, but he had still managed to introduce all of them to his favourite pastime over the years.
Fishing was one of the few activities the whole Royal Family shared together.
Sitting on a large, smooth rock, the two girls enjoyed a moment of peace as they waited for a bite on their rods; however, the calmness of the moment caused Tina's thoughts to wander again, leaving her in something of a daze the whole time.
The princess even almost got dragged into the river when a large fish took her bait, catching her by surprise.
It was only as afternoon was turning into evening that Christina returned with Eris to the Town Lord's Manor, a rather large Peak First Order fish being carried between the two of them.
Still lost in her own thoughts, the princess wasn't quite prepared to apologize to Lucas as her new Sworn Sister wanted her to, but she was gradually coming around to the idea.
She knew why she should apologize, but that didn't mean she was looking forward to it; after all, regardless of his intentions, Lucas had still embarrassed her, fled from her, taunted her, then literally choked her until she passed out.
Christina didn't feel openly hostile to Lucas anymore, but it was a bit of a stretch to say her impression of him was favourable right now.
As the two girls entered the Manor's yard, though, Vanessa came up to them and said, "Tina, I need to speak with you in private."
Seeing the serious look on her aunt's face, Christina quickly set aside all her distracting thoughts and turned to her new friend, "Eris, can you take care of our catch?"
Eris wasn't always the most logical of girls, but she was more than smart and sharp enough to know when she was being politely asked to leave.
The young Baron's daughter had no issue with this, of course, so she smiled and nodded, "En, I'll take the fish to the kitchen and have them cook it up for us! Just be sure to be back in time to eat it with me!"
Smiling happily at her innocent little sister, Christina nodded back, "Of course! I was the one who caught this fiend, naturally I have to taste it!"
Nodding again, Eris slung the rod carrying the fish over her shoulder and then ran off into the Manor.
Observing the interaction between Christina and Eris, Vanessa couldn't help feeling a bit surprised. She had never seen her little niece acting so carefree and joyful before.
Usually, Christina had to put on a regal face in front of all her teachers, instructors, servants, and even just the general public as she was a famous figure despite her young age.
Even in front of her family and the few friends she had, there was typically a sense of measured distance between them in public. Only in the private confines of the palace, when she was certain no one else was around, would the little genius princess ever fully relax with her immediate family.
The fact that Christina could smile, laugh, and joke around with the young daughter of a countryside Baron she had only known for half-a-day was quite shocking to Vanessa.
Even so, it wasn't an unpleasant surprise; quite the opposite, in fact.
If she was being honest, this scene reminded Vanessa of the times in her youth when she would run around playing with Allina, and then later Cynthia. Those were precious memories Vanessa wouldn't trade for anything in the world, so she was glad Christina was finally getting the chance to make similar ones for herself.
Vanessa would have liked nothing more than to let Christina continue to bathe in the lax, countryside atmosphere, but the reality of their situation forced her to cut short this brief moment of revelry.
Schooling her smile, Vanessa coughed lightly to get the princess' attention before motioning for her to follow.
Arriving at the reception room inside the Town Lord's Manor, Vanessa had Christina sit down before calling out, "You should join us as well, Sir Green."
Once the words were spoken, with a gust of wind, the fully-armoured Sir Green entered the room and shut the door behind him.
Sir Green said nothing, and neither Vanessa nor Christina was surprised by his presence. The Royal Guardians were the most loyal bodyguards of the Royal Family, but that didn't mean they would stick next to their charges the whole time, that would simply be suffocating.
Given Sir Green's Peak Spirit Initiate Realm strength, guarding Christina from 1 metre away, or from 30 metres away really made no difference, especially when he was actively scanning the princess' surroundings with his powerful Soul Sense.
After the two women gave acknowledging nods to the Royal Guardian, Christina asked with a serious expression, "What is it you wished to discuss with me, Commander Clark?"
It had been repeatedly drilled into Christina's head to use formal speech and proper decorum when in official settings, so even if Vanessa was like a real aunt to her and the Sworn Elder Sister of her mother, that didn't change the fact that Christina was her superior in terms of noble status.
"As I'm sure you've been informed already, Your Highness, the number and strength of the Wild Beasts emerging from the Great Western Forest is increasing rapidly," Vanessa began explaining.
"Indeed," Christina nodded seriously.
Before all the craziness that happened, Lucas had provided her with a fairly detailed summary of what had been occurring recently in the local region.
Even if the young boy hadn't told her about the intense explosion and constant waves of Wild Beasts, though, Christina had arrived just as a massive battle was taking place on the western edge of Redwood Town.
The fact that multiple Spirit Initiates, and even General Balfour herself, were needed just to contain the enemy spoke volumes about the level of threat this small town as facing.
"Since you are aware of the situation," Vanessa continued, "You should also understand that this position is no longer secure. As such, we're planning on evacuating Redwood Town and falling back to Harold City."
This was a new piece of information to Christina and one that caused the princess' brow to rise slightly. However, after thinking about it for a moment, her expression returned to normal, "I understand. I carried very little with me when we left the capital, so you need not worry about me. I can depart at any time."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Your Highness," Vanessa bowed slightly.
When Vanessa brought Christina out of the capital, the plan was to have a temporarily layover in Redwood Town under Marquess Balfour's protection before continuing on to Misty City where she could lay low in safety until the Imperial Overseer departed, but the situation had clearly become more complicated, requiring some adjustments to that plan be made.
Fortunately, Christina wasn't like some of the more unreasonable young nobles and didn't raise any kind of fuss, making everyone's job much easier.
"When will the evacuations begin?" The princess asked out of curiosity.
"Assuming we can get everything organized, as early as tomorrow morning," Vanessa replied, though a look of annoyance quickly flitted across her face after she had said so.
Although it was just a slight twitch, Christina didn't miss it and couldn't help inquiring, "Is there something wrong, Commander Clark?"
Frowning slightly, Vanessa debated whether to tell her young niece about the various issues they were facing, but figuring should would soon find out for herself anyways, she decided to give Christina a brief overview of the situation.
Most of the problems they were dealing with were logistical ones, which wouldn't have been any different regardless of the time or place, but when Vanessa mentioned about how the nobles in Herald City were causing problems for them, Christina was internally quite stunned, There are people who dare cause trouble for Aunt Celestina? Are they tired of living?
Thinking about how these local nobles were ignoring the lives of their subjects and only trying to protect their own interests, Christina became somewhat angered and volunteered, "If there is any way I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, Commander Clark."