Magical Princess Makina 2: Prologue

 

“Have you heard the story of the princess afflicted with a sex curse?”

Yoko was sipping a cheap drink at a pub counter when the man seated next to her asked that bewildering question.

She had left her fishing village hometown, registered as an adventurer, and traveled ever southward until she arrived in the Magical Kingdom, which had the second most land and population on the island.

The small pub was a busy place and some rough-looking men were downing drinks there. They had previously asked her to drink with them and she had agreed on the condition that they treated her to the most expensive drink in the house, so they had grimaced and backed off.

She knew they had been drawn to her good looks and body, but she was not interested in men like that. Still, it was not a bad feeling to have people respond positively to her appearance for once.

She had eyes as red as blood and her silver hair and white skin were so bright they shined like a field on a snowy day. Back in her insular village, she had been shunned for her unique appearance and name. But people and techniques of all kinds gathered in this Magical Kingdom, so no one gave her appearance a second thought.

Well, that part of her appearance anyway. More than a few men had hit on her after seeing the large breasts and deep cleavage visible through the gaps in her adventurer’s outfit and the long legs extending from her skirt.

(Okay, this one is weird.)

But the man who had spoken to her this time was especially strange, so she was unsure how to respond.

She had more than one reason for this assessment. First, the cheap pub was visited by a lot of men laughing at dirty jokes, but bringing up a “sex curse” in the very first thing you said to someone was still unusual.

And second, she had initially assumed this person was a man, but they wore a mage’s white robe with the hood pulled down enough to hide the top half of their face. The visible half could have easily belonged to a man or a woman.

They looked beautiful, but she could not decide if they looked old or like a child. They simultaneously gave off the grace of a noble and the roughness of a vagabond. She was not even sure if they were human or monster.

“No, I can’t say I have. Is it popular in the city?”

But Yoko of all people was not going to judge someone based on their appearance.

When she had lived in that northern fishing village, she had avoided people and the sunlight while being constantly mocked as a witch or a vampire girl.

One day, she had been granted the freedom to move out into the sun, but she still remembered her old life and believed people were free to look and live however they liked.

“No one knows it, but it is very popular with the people who do know of it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

No one knew it, but it was popular with the people did know of it? The mysterious white-robed figure’s contradictory statement led Yoko to assume they were simply drunk.

“Not many people know about that mark on your left hand either.”

They changed the subject again. What did that have to do with a story about a sex curse princess? Drunks did tend to jump from topic to topic.

“This? To be honest, I don’t really know what it is myself. It just appeared recently.”

She had been struck by lightning at the fishing village, but it had failed to kill her. That was when the mark had appeared on her hand and when she had begun this liberated journey on the guidance of a woman’s voice that carried a knight-like dignity.

“That is the Mark of the Hero: Brave Burn. You should learn how to use it before long.”

“Is it now? Do you know something about it? I’ve done some research since arriving in this kingdom, but no one seemed to know what the mark is. A real disappointment since this is supposed to be the most advanced magical kingdom in the world. I was thinking of visiting Britannica’s Londomern next to check in their royal library.”

If this person knew something, she wanted to know what. She had lived in a tiny village where she was generally stuck in her home, so she loved learning new things about the world. And she figured even some drunk’s ramblings might contain some valuable information.

She rested her large chest on the counter to entice the white-robed figure to remain, but they did not even look her way and continued talking. Talking appeared to be the only thing they cared about.

“I know exactly what it is. I know about the first bearer of Brave Burn, the Hero Yuri, one of the Four Warriors who defeated the Calamity Dragon 600 years ago. And I know about Yuri’s companions Knight King Arthur, Great Mage Joseph, and Sun Priest Yalta.”

“Grab a random child off the street and they would know that. You would be hard-pressed to find historical figures more famous.”

“The great Knight King established the Grandel Kingdom, but all of its people vanished overnight about half a year ago.”

“Eh?”
Yoko was surprised by this. She had heard talk of a kingdom’s people vanishing overnight at some pub or another. She certainly had not expected to hear it again here. She had also not known that kingdom had been established by one of the Four Warriors.

“But there were two survivors: the princess and a knight who happened to be the princess’s childhood friend. The two of them set out on a journey to take back their lost homeland, but the sex curse cast on the princess creates a state of sexual arousal too great for her to-”

“W-wait a second!”

Something seemed off to her as the white-robed figure continued talking without drinking a single drop of alcohol, so she cut them off.

For the first time, the white-robed figure turned their hooded face to look in her direction. Their eyes shined like a rainbow, refusing to remain the same color from one second to the next.

“Who…told you that story?”
If it was just the Mark of the Hero, the destroyed kingdom, and the surviving princess, she could have written it off as the rantings of a drunk. Laughing it all off as simple rumors would have been so easy.

But the white-hooded figure’s abnormal appearance and aura were a different matter. What scared her most was how much it felt like he had only come to this pub to tell her all this.

And…

“I’m not sure. I know I heard it somewhere or other, but I don’t remember who was telling it. Wait, did you actually believe all that?”

Yoko’s tension was contrasted by the white-robed figure’s bright smile and laughter. Once she realized they had been teasing her, her face grew red.

“Ugh, I can’t believe you! This is why I can’t stand drunks!”

“Ha ha ha. Sorry. But thanks for keeping this drunk company. It was fun.”

They laughed, left their payment and a tip on the counter, and stood up. They had both called the white-robed figure a drunk, but their speech and gait showed no sign of intoxication.

“Hey.” Just before the white-robed figure left their seat, Yoko felt the urge to ask something even if that had only been a rumor or something a drunk had made up on the spot. “What is that princess doing now?”

If the story was true, destiny had not been kind to that princess. Her kingdom was destroyed, she only had the one knight left, and her attempts to regain her homeland were restricted by that sex curse. A sheltered princess would probably break in no time under that kind of pressure.

But if her journey to save her kingdom was still ongoing, Yoko felt like rooting for her as a fellow woman.

The white-hooded mage’s answer to her question was a simple one.

“Right now…she might just be going to school.”

“What?” said Yoko with a slight smile. “That’s a pretty dumb answer.”

They smiled back at her and then quietly left the pub.

“I see, Jeanne. So you have chosen that girl next.”

They looked back at the exit to see Yoko starting back at her drink at the counter. A somewhat sad look appeared on their face, but then they faded away like mist, silently vanishing entirely.