The next scene was an absolute massacre. Ariel showed no mercy to the bandits as she swept them all with her water Magic. Although there were no bloody or gory scenes, it was still brutal by human standards.
What do you think would happen when you're fighting against someone who can produce and control bodies of water with a mere flick of her wrist?
Here's a clue, it rhymes with Crown.
"H-Help me!" Among the brigands, one particular bandit finally couldn't hold it anymore and tried to reach for Ser Liam and his retinue instead. The desperation is evident on the man's face.
Behind him, a scene of absolute carnage is occurring, the screams and cries would make one have nightmares every night. Waves and waves of water kept swirling all over the place, uprooting the trees, submerging everything in water, especially the bandits who were now helplessly flailing their arms to swim while others were already drowning to death.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator of this was looking at the scene with a gleeful smile on her face. Only a single thought running on her mind, 'This would make Henry proud of me!'
Truth to be told, Henry was indeed a little bit proud of her. While at the same time, he was worried about her mental state. Her change was so abrupt and significant that Henry felt what he was seeing was the true nature of Ariel.
After all, she's the son of a Greek God, and demigods tend to be…unique in their own ways.
On the other hand, Ser Liam and the rest of his retinue simply watched this scene with interest. They've witnessed their prince unleash a sea of flames that could swallow an entire shore of an island.
That was their first time witnessing magic in person and now, they're watching a different side of magic, the opposite of the flames that their Prince uses.
"Fascinating. So this should be Water Magic, right?" Unfortunately for them, they're clueless about Ariel's true origin so they see her as a magician just like Prince Henry, not a Princess of an underwater Kingdom nor a daughter of a literal Greek god.
Eventually, the brigand of bandits either surrendered to their fate and were spared or resisted to the end until the water got a hold of them and drowned them. Unsurprisingly, none of them died, only unconscious from drowning.
Though if they don't receive help soon, they will indeed die after.
Henry looked at Ariel's side profile and thought to himself. 'It would probably weigh on her conscience if she knew that they would die.'
With that decision in mind, especially since he still has questions for the bandit leader, Henry raised his hand and snapped his finger to Ariel, getting her attention to him.
"Hmm?"
"Ariel, I have questions for them. Do you think you can remove your water?"
Her face beamed and she eagerly nodded her head without hesitation, "Oh sure!" Before waving her hand and the large bodies of water suddenly spiraled around like a toilet being flushed, dragging some bandits to spin along with the water.
There was a sound of gurgling before the grassy ground seemed to have absorbed the water, turning the previously wilted grasses and plants healthy and greener than before.
'How fascinating. So this is what Absolute Manipulation of Water looks like, very similar to Elsa's Absolute Manipulation over her ice element.' Henry's mental tone was dripped with small jealousy. And here he is, still struggling to achieve it on his Fire Magic.
Talk about his talent when there are girls like Elsa and Ariel who are gifted with it from the start. It's like a Pay-To-Win game except there's no such thing as Pay when it comes to them.
"Ser Liam. Tend to them, make sure they'll arrive back at Lioncrest to face punishment." When Henry spoke, there was a tacit understanding between the two as everyone knows the laws in Lioncrest.
All laws about crime and justice that Henry passed are different from those of the other Kingdoms. Unlike them, who would either put their criminals behind jails or even unleash death sentence even on meager crimes, Henry's laws would put all criminals into servitude.
The duration of their servitude would depend on their crime. If it's severe such as rape or other things, it would be either a lifetime or a death sentence, depending on the choice of the victim's family and relatives.
As for what the servitude is? It's either mining in the mines, tending to the farms, or serving as a strategic grunt in the barracks where they will be on the frontlines during battles or skirmishes. Obviously, they'll serve as the first ones to die to save the valuable ones, which are the knights.
Of course, they have the right to choose which among the three they'd like to serve their years. Most of the time, they'll choose to be a grunt in the barracks, thinking they'll be able to escape easily since they'll be provided with swords and armor. After all, during skirmishes, they can just desert their posts.
If only it were that easy, Henry is not an idiot, and being a grunt is not what one might think it is. There's a reason why there's a word Strategic in it.
A strategic grunt is provided with no weapons and the worst and most used armor in the armory. Not to mention, there will be an archer equipped with poisonous arrows assigned to watch over them 24/7. Meaning their dream of escaping would remain only a dream once that poisonous arrow found itself piercing through their shoddy armor and their flesh.
Though there are still cases of escaping but it's occurrence is very minimal and they tend to get caught a few days later to serve in another servitude.
However, now that Henry has knowledge of magic and has started to delve into runes, the servitude law might get an upgrade in terms of security and failsafe.
Once the bandits were rounded up and tied in a single rope, they resumed their journey. The bandits were forced to march on foot.
Meanwhile, Henry stared at the paper in his hand. It was handwritten and there were no signs of recognition for whoever the paper belonged to.
The only words inscribed on the paper were a few.
{Kill Henry Charming. 500 gold coins.}
"I can't believe I'm only worth 500 gold coins. They're really looking down on me." Henry clicked his tongue and pocketed the paper. How can they accept the offer of 500 gold coins for his head?
He's literally the Crown Prince of Lioncrest, one of the Great Kingdoms! Don't even mention his status as Master Elias's student. He's gotta be worth more than a meager 500 gold coins.
'If this weren't a medieval world, I would've complained to their HR about this.'
On the side, Ariel noticed his conflicting face and couldn't help but ask, "What's the matter, Henry?"
He shook his head in reply, "Nothing. By the way, you did well earlier. You really handled them well. Are you sure you're still the Ariel that I first met and saved my life?"
Ariel shyly bowed her head and fiddled with a single strand of her red hair, blushing as she responded, "I-I'm still the same Ariel you once knew. I just…grew up I guess?"
Seeing her like this, Henry couldn't help but sigh, "You're right. You've grown up. I heard grown-ups tend to hide their personalities and push their fake ones on the front." His words suddenly caught her off guard.
"Henry?" She stared at him and blinked her eyes several times.
"…Ariel, you don't have to force that fake persona in front of me. I can see it, the innocent smiles, cute tilts of the head, and everything you've been doing. I know all of it." As soon as he dropped those words, her innocent smile suddenly crumbled, replaced by surprise and guilt.
With a sigh, Henry patted her shoulder, "Ariel you don't need to pretend to be someone you've already outgrown. That island changed something inside you, Ariel, I can see it. You've matured. You didn't even flinch when you took down those bandits."
Seeing her head bowed down and lips quivering as if trying her best not to sob, Henry realized he was a bit too hard and mentally sighed, "I just want to tell you that the innocent and naive Ariel is not the one who attracted me to become friends with her. It's just…you. That's it, nothing more and nothing less."
Leaning forward, he patted her head and continued, "I want to see the real Ariel, the one who has learned from her past mistakes and has finally grown up."
Raising her head, Ariel wiped off the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes before giving him the brightest smile she could muster, "If I show it to you…Will you finally see me as more than a friend? More than someone who just saved you?"
Her vague words confused Henry, however he had an inkling of what she was trying to say, especially after recalling her conversation with Queen Arianna back from the Corona Kingdom.
"Ariel I…" Henry's voice strained, the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat. He wanted to clarify things with her, to try and steer her from the path she's going to take.
But what else can he do? He's just a man after all and it would be a lie for him to say that he didn't find Ariel attractive. It's just that, his heart was already tied and promised to someone.
He's not rejecting her because he doesn't want her. He's doing it because he doesn't want to hurt the person he loved first.
Seeing the complex look on Henry's face, Ariel allowed a curved smile to plaster on her face as she spoke, "It's about Elsa, isn't it? Her name would always pop out of your mouth every now and then."
Instead of answering, Henry simply looked down in guilt. However, her next words surprised him.
"Say, if Elsa were to agree. Would you finally reciprocate my feelings for you?"
He snapped his head back to her with disbelief on his face, "W-What do you mean?"
Ariel pouted and crossed her arms, "You clearly heard what I just said, dummy!" Though she still repeated what she said, "I said, if I could convince Elsa to agree, would you finally love me back?"
Henry gulped his saliva, his Adam's apple moving up and down in a single motion as he bashfully replied, "I-I'm not sure. If I say yes to that, it's like I'm telling you that I'm eager to love you back, if so, then what's the point of being hesitant?"
"I don't care about what you think about it, Henry. Your face says it all, you feel the same way that I do but your promise to Elsa stops you from fully committing to that feeling. If that's the case, then I'll do my best to convince Elsa. You can love the two of us, right? How hard is it to love two people?"
Henry scratched his head, feeling like the situation just spiraled out of control, 'Is this Ariel's true face? She turns out to be this scary when she's no longer pretending to be naive.' Henry couldn't help but find this personality of hers more attractive than the immature and innocent one.
Should he thank those pirates who kidnapped Ariel and forced her to finally change and mature for her own betterment?
From the looks of her stance and raised chin, she doesn't look like she'll be backing away from her decision.
"It's not just about love, Ariel. There are many other complicated things like marriage, our Kingdoms, and—" Before he could finish his sentence, Ariel interrupted him.
"You once told me that your father has a wife as her Queen and three concubines, right? Then I'll let Elsa be your Queen while I'm good enough to be your concubine."
As soon as she finished those words, Henry stared at her with a deadpan expression, "Ariel, if you want your father to strangle me to death using his trident, you should just go ahead and directly tell that to him in person…"
"As a matter of fact, if he discovered you became a concubine, I might not even be worthy of his trident and use a seaweed instead."