[ Princess Anastasia P.O.V, before the summoning ]
My name is Anastasia, the first and only Princess of the Kingdom of Paran. For the past five years, I, Hero Alex, Spirit Archer Muriel, and many others have been fighting against the Demon King and his army. After finally vanquishing him, I thought that everything was over, but as he was dying, he left a last curse on the Hero, one that I couldn't remove.
After trying everything in my and the priesthood's power, we still couldn't do anything. I felt powerless, I wouldn't be able to marry the Hero if the curse wasn't lifted and this would put the Kingdom at risk, as a member of the royal family it was my duty to marry the Hero and help maintain the peace we so hard fought for.
I'm 25 years old now, and the Hero is 20. For many years during our travels, I mostly saw him as an unruly but righteous younger brother. I knew that I would need to marry him, as it was my royal duty, so during the years of our journey, I did my best to change my view of him. And I finally fell in love with him in the last battle when he protected me with his own body from the devastating power of the demon king.
Why am I saying all of that? Well, the ritual says that the person who would be summoned was related to the mental image of the summoner. I didn't give it much serious thought at the time, but...
We summoned a handsome man, he had a chiseled face, unkempt beard, and sharp blue eyes, wearing what seemed like formal clothes that couldn't hide his muscles. He seemed tired, maybe we summoned him at a bad time? Well, who would like to be suddenly kidnapped from their home and family to an entire new world after all? I feel guilty for this but it is absolutelly necessary... Or at least that's how I forced myself to make peace with the situation.
We talked for a while and he seemed like a serious person. I'm thankful that he seemed like an understanding person and didn't lash out at us for summoning him.
After we explained why we summoned him he seemed surprised, who wouldn't? But he didn't make fun of our predicament and was really kind.
Maybe it will be fine if it is with him.
[ End of Anastasia's P.O.V ]
....
[ Daniel P.O.V ]
Man that party was exhausting, I don't know the etiquette of this place I was on my toes to not say anything wrong.
Right now I'm walking together with Princess Anastasia, we're going together to the room that they prepared for me to stay. There's an awkward silence between us, probably because we're both aware of what we will do in a bit.
I'm not one to like those silences so I want to start a conversation but when I look at my side the view makes my words get caught in my throat like a teenager.
Each time Princess Anastasia walked, her soft breasts swayed gently, invitingly, like waves in the sea. Struggling desperately not to be drawn to it, I followed her to the depths of the palace.
Our walk continued as a silent endeavor, it was understandable but I needed to break the ice as there were too many things I wanted to know.
"Princess Ana-" "Mr. Dani-" We spoke together.
"Um... You first, please." She said.
"Well... Don't mind me then." I'm ten years too old to do the whole 'you first'. "Princess Anastasia, as you know, I come from a world without magic, as such I'm curious about many things. Could you please enlighten me a bit about it?"
She seemed relieved that I wasn't talking about our soon-to-happen entanglement.
She then explained a bit about how magic worked in this world. And it seems I was right before, she said that everyone in this world has mana in their bodies and that mana creates an usually invisible barrier around each person. By using some special artifacts or specific skills their mana could be observed, the amount of mana someone has is seen through how saturated their aura color becomes.
"Oh, so that means Alex has a lot of mana seeing how golden his aura was, and you have even more mana than him?!" I asked excitedly
"... Pft..." The princess looked at me surprised at first, and laughed after a couple of seconds.
What a beautiful smile, seeing her trying to hold back her laugh almost stole my air. I was confused though, and she seemed to have caught on to that as she stopped giggling.
"Hehe... I'm...Hehe... I'm sorry Mr. Daniel if I offended you just now, it's just... you looked really cute just now."
"No offense taken, but c'mon it's magic!" Cute, huh? that's a point for me.
"Mr. Daniel just now you said that you saw... my mana and the hero's... If so, may I ask since when?"
"Well, just now during the party, and am still seeing you enveloped in it. Is that rare?" I asked.
She seemed to ponder for a bit, formulating the answer, probably.
"As I said before, we can see it through artifacts and some skills, so you seeing it naturally is rare. There's no need to be anxious though, this might be a result of mana entering your body and releasing the mana previously suppressed by your own world on you. I can help you start to feel and control your mana."
"Thanks, does it take much time?"
"It doesn't take much time." she stopped in the hall as did I before continuing. "Try to calm your heart and mind and breath in and out at the count of three seconds. Repeat this while imagining that inside you there's a river, this river passes your entire body from the soles of your feet to the top of your head and it's flowing out of you."
I did as instructed and at first, nothing happened after a few minutes I finally started to feel it, a warm feeling running like a river current through my body in a metaphysical way. I felt it going everywhere inside me and flowing out of my eyes.
I have an Idea. Immediately I tried doing it. Instead of letting the river run free, guide it, make it more sinuous so it's speed seeps away and make it cicle inside. It took some effort, I lost my sense of time during this.
[Anastasia P.O.V]
Seeing Mr. Daniel asking my help for mana control I decided to help him fully.
'Grant Skill, [True Mana Sense] to Anastasia'. I bestowed myself with the best mana sensing skill I could. 5% of my mana is alocated until I dispell it.
Okay, now I can see his mana and WOW, I almost couldn't see him inside his mana cloak, his was a deep azure green, he probably has great affinity with nature. It is like an untamed beast running around his body, this might actually take more time than I thought.
Oh my Goddess, if it was someone from this world they would be squirming on the floor screaming in pain, but he isn't showing any sign of discomfort as if it didn't do anything to him.
"Huh?" I let my voice escape, thankfully he was deep in concentration and didn't notice.
Already? The great torrential river inside him started o flow in sinuous patterns, until he made it cycle back inside him. Wait, was that possible? I never saw anyone bend the flow like that, his mana is being cycling inside him in a tame way, even the strong flow to his eyes was reduced to almost nothing.
His mana is cycling through every part of his body and organs, that's amazing. Even his mana cloak started to get more clear, before I couldn't even see his features clearly, now it's like looking through an azure tinted glass. So, the opacity of a mana cloak changes according to how much mana you're saturating the atmosphere around you with... I had some theories but seeing them unexpectedly confirmed in such a way makes me happy.
'Release, [True Mana Sense]'
You're really something Mr. Daniel...
[End of Anastasia's P.O.V]
After what felt like hours I finally opened my eyes and felt assured in my assumptions since I couldn't see the Princess mana anymore.
Sighing with relief I noticed her expression, it seemed like the eyes of a cat that found a interesting toy.
"Wha-what happened? Did I take too long?"
She answered with a small smile.
"No, it has only been 15 minutes, I barely had to guide you and Mr. Daniel figured everything out by himself. Please tell me how without previous knowledge of mana did you achieve this?" She asked clearly impressed but interested in my answers.
"Well, I may need to clear a misunderstanding. We may have no mana in our world, but we have knowledge of hundreds of different power systems, from different worlds." Well, all those years being a nerd had to mean something, right?
And after trying and achieving this 'Ten-like' state I'm positive that using Nen's principles of aura control will help me master using mana.
The Princess was slack-jawed, and it seemed it would take her a few moments to come back, so I joked a bit.
"Thank you for your help, now I can finally see your beautiful visage without the mana filter."
She came to herself with a blush.
She laughed a bit and after she let out the mother of all sighs.
She breathed deeply and started to talk.
"Um… Da… Mr. Daniel…"
"Daniel is fine."
"... Okay. Daniel... I want to ask for your forgiveness..."
"For what?" She suddenIy got serious, so I am a bit nervous.
"Because for a selfish matter we robbed you of your world, your family, your friends, your entire life." Anastasia seemed ashamed. While bowing her head a little.
"I understand your feelings, but theres no need to feel ashamed." I answered and she looked at me, curious. "Maybe your summoning magic had some inbuilt filters because, while I am sad to admit, there wasn't anything holding me to my world. My parents were gone, friends... I had a couple but it had been years since we actually met in person, no lover, I was tired of my work and just lived day to day in a unchangeable routine. So I should actually thank you for summoning me, I'm feeling my inner kid is still alive even after all these years!"
I said, and I mean it.
She smiled a little at my enthusiasm at the end. And seemed more relaxed.
"And also, " I said in a slower tone, looking from her feet to her face who was blushing furiously this time. "I think I got a better deal out of it than most."
She seemed to catch my implied meaning.
She gulped and started to walk while looking ensewhere to hide her embarassment which couldn't be done since even her ears were red. Hey, that's a good sign.
As we walked down the long corridors of the castle, Princess Anastasia's voice sounded a bit strained and anxious. Of course it would be. She was about to have sex with a stranger.
"I, this is my first time… and, if I make any mistakes, I'm sorry…"
"Huh!? No… it's okay. It's been so long for me too that you could almost say it's my first too. Hehe" I said trying to keep a lighthearted mood.
If I had been a womanizer who never had trouble with women, maybe things would have been different.
But sadly, I was an introvert that only had something with my last girlfriend a decade ago.
I wanted to minimize the burden on her, so I kept my tone light and cracked a few more jokes while we walked.
Suddenly she said.
"I'll do my best for you. For the sake of the hero… So please, until the end… please take care of me, okay?"
Touched by the princess's awkward smile, my lower body was already beginning to heat up.
"Leave it to me."