844: Bluff

Bluff

Princess Helana got to work and moved Ma Jiang to one of the hidden compartments within the tent. 2

The 'tent' itself was a magical item handed down through their bloodline. It was rumored to be able to expand endlessly and divided itself into many smaller subsections.

The grand priestess had even told her that a long time ago when her clan was moving to the city of Argham, close to 3,000 people were once able to squeeze in all at once. And although there was no actual proof of this, Princess Helana had little reason to doubt her grandmother's words.

She spoke a few words unknown and furniture started to rearrange itself. It looked like it had come to life as the chairs and tables moved aside while the beds had already 'walked' out of sight.

She made herself look as presentable as possible before sitting down in the same chair the grand priestess had occupied until a few moments. And just in time too since a flurry of footsteps came from outside.

"Princess!" a voice called out.

"Enter!" Princess Helana ordered.

The front flap lifted and in came a party of eight. Henrik was in the front with Ceni right next to him. There were a couple of unfamiliar faces mixed along with a few familiar ones like the hulking Fulke and the taned Hazel from Henrik's side and Princess Orna and Tamela from Ceni's side.

They stopped a few meters away from the table and everyone other than Ceni bowed lightly from the waist.

"Salutations," Henrik greeted her in the native language.

Princess Helana threw a second look towards Ceni but didn't show a change of expression. She looked them up and down with excruciating detail. They had tried to clean up before coming here but it was pretty obvious that their living conditions hadn't been that well recently.

Most of them had dark circles around their eyes from a severe lack of sleep. Unwashed hair and clothes that had been reused a hundred times left them more than a little wanting.

They just looked tired in general and no matter how much they tried to hide that, it was pretty obvious for someone as perceptive as Princess Helana.

She still put on a smile upon hearing such an outdated form of greeting.

She pointed towards chairs and said, "Please have a seat," in the Beast World language, surprising the group.

Ceni and Henrik sat in the middle while the rest hunkered down behind them, leaving all other seats unoccupied.

"You speak our language very well," Henrik commented after settling down.

"It's not JUST your language," she responded smilingly, effectively silencing Henrik and leaving almost all of them pondering.

If what she said was correct then that meant there had been someone from the Beast World among their ancestors and the language was passed down even before they landed on the planet, which was all new information to them.

Princess Helena kept a positive attitude through their meeting and kept dropping various hints here and there that left everyone more than a little surprised.

Henrik's group had come here to 'lend' her people a helping hand and for that, they needed to prove that they could basically protect and support the natives without a shadow of the doubt.

Their usual strategy included several stages. The first one was obviously to reveal the existence of other worlds and races, summarising much of it.

Then they would tell them about the other two powers and how joining their side was the best decision they could make. And if that still didn't work then at the very end they would reveal the existence of some stronger threats and offer to help once again.

But Princess Helena had shut them down at the very first stage. As soon as Henrik started telling her about the greater world she jumped in and filled in the blanks FOR him.

They were all more than a little taken aback by this sudden twist and it was only until Ceni spoke up that Henrik realized the most obvious reason for all her information.

"You've already met someone from our side, haven't you?" Princess Ceni stated.

She crossed her legs and leaned back into her chair, half a smile adorning her pretty face. If one didn't know any better they would think Princess Helena was the guest here and not her, going by her relaxed state.

Princess Helena also leaned back, crossing her arms still painting her bright smile as if everything was under her control.

"What makes you say that?" she asked casually.

"You have 'his' scent on you," Ceni answered.

"His?"

Princess Helena frowned but she didn't have to think about it for very long before Hao Xuan's image popped into her mind. He was the only man she had come into contact with and he was also from the surface.

But she was 100% sure there was no actual 'scent' of his on her self so she naturally assumed Ceni was bluffing.

"I'm afraid I do not know of whom you speak."

Ceni's fist clenched as she released a tinge of bloodthirst.

"Where is he?"

"I really don't know what you-"

"PRINCESS!" before the mood could get any worse a panicked voice called from outside.

"What?"

"P-Please come out, there is something happening in the sky!"

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