Having already exposed himself, Lucas saw no reason to hold back on using his Soul Sense anymore. Carefully extended his detection range to its limit, his idea was to pinpoint his opponent in order to avoid her. Unfortunately for the boy, he soon realized that he couldn't sense anyone around him at all.
There was no way he had put that much distance between them, and given how strong Christina was, it shouldn't have been possible for her to hide form his senses, but after thinking about it for a moment, Lucas smacked his head as he recalled the strange cloak she had been wearing.
Whatever that cloak was, it had completely concealed the princess' aura, to the point where if he hadn't been standing in front of her, Lucas wouldn't have been aware of her presence at all.
If Christina didn't release her aura at full blast in close proximity to him, there was no way Lucas would be able to locate her.
With no other choice, Lucas could only stick to the shadows, moving from building to building stealthily while hoping for the best. Whether he could make it to safety, or the violent princess found him first, that was up to the Heavens to decide now.
Normally, moving from the eastern edge of town to the Town Lord's Manor would only take Lucas 15 minutes, 10 if he was jogging, but with him having to take detours and stay hidden, it actually took half-an-hour to arrive at one of the back entrances where he paused and cautiously observed the gates.
"What are you doing?" A voice suddenly called out to Lucas as he was peeking around a certain corner, startling him so greatly he actually leapt up and yelped.
Whipping his head around, Lucas saw Jake, Baker Jerry's oldest son, looking at him funnily, clearly also startled by the former's overreaction.
When Lucas saw that it wasn't the hungry lioness hunting him, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked up to the older boy, patting him on the shoulder as he complained, "You nearly stopped my heart there, Big Brother Jake."
"Are you alright?" Jake asked with some concern. From what he could see, Lucas was out of breath and sweating heavily, he was also constantly looking around, as if he had been frantically escaping for his life.
Shaking his head, Lucas did his best to catch his breath and casually replied, "I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all."
Raising his brow, Jake could tell that Lucas wasn't telling the full truth, but he decided it wasn't a big deal so he simple nodded along and said, "You should head inside then, someone from out of town was looking for you."
Lucas, who had just started to relax, stiffened up again as he creakily turned his eyes up to meet Jake's, gripping the latter's shirt tighter as he asked, "Someone from out of town is looking for me? Was it… a girl?"
"En! It seemed like she was worried, so she asked a bunch of us to help her find you," a slightly dazed look appeared on Jake's face as he recalled his earlier encounter with that enchanting fairy.
Like most of the local youths, Jake had never left Redwood Town before, so the number of people he had met in his life was quite limited. Even so, the moment he saw her, he was certain he would never meet such a beautiful girl ever again.
In an instant, he became totally smitten, and when she smiled pitifully and asked for his help, Jake had agreed without hesitating.
The only issue was that his dream fairy was actually looking for a different boy.
Turning back to look at Lucas, Jake felt a tinge of envy, Why does this brat have all the luck with the ladies? First it was Eris, now it's the new girl!
Seeing the look on Jake's face, and realizing the danger he was in, Lucas gulped and haltingly inquired, "D-Did she say why she was looking for me? W-Where is she now?"
"I'm right here," a familiar voice suddenly called out from right behind Lucas, one that was clear and refreshing, yet somehow also icy and malevolent.
Without any hesitation, Lucas clenched his fists tightly, shifted all his weight, and pivoted on his right leg, throwing the still dazed Jake towards the direction the ominous presence behind him, catching both the baker's son and the vicious princess completely off-guard.
As the two teenagers crashed into each other and tumbled to the ground, Lucas wasted no time in sprinting off towards the Manor. He felt no need to apologize to that traitor, Jake, though he did say a silent prayer for him, hoping he survived Christina's fury.
Alas, in war, sometimes sacrifices are necessary in order to obtain victory.
For now, all that mattered to Lucas was making it to his Master, where he could finally rest at ease.
…..
Landing on top of the beautiful fairy, Jake felt like he had received a blessing from the Heavens above. He didn't even feel any anger towards Lucas, who for some inexplicable reason had thrown him into the already fairly well developed bosom of the enchanting girl.
As far as Jake was concerned, everything about this situation was perfect; that is, until he felt a huge force sock him right in the stomach, sending him tumbling away again.
The beautiful flower he had so coveted clearly had razor sharp thorns and did not hesitate to strike with them when touched!
As poor Jake lay flat on the ground, doing his best to keep his breakfast from coming back up, Christina leapt up as a fierce light flashed across her eyes. Fixing her gaze on the brat who had repeatedly humiliated her, both rage and anticipation swelled up inside of her heart, I have you now!
Kicking off the ground, Christina dashed after the fleeing Lucas as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Stop now and I'll only punch you 50 times! Make me catch you and it will be 100!"
The number of punches had risen once again!
Unlike previous times, though, Lucas could all but taste victory, so he decided to vent the stress and anger that had been building up inside him instead of just remaining silent, "Damn violent woman, catch me if you can!"
Never in her life had Christina been so insulted!
Fury exploded out as she put even more strength into her legs and roared, "500! No, 1,000! I swear I'll punch you 1,000 times, you little bastard!"
All this commotion naturally attracted many people's attention, but when they saw that it was Lucas running away from the newly arrived girl from the capital, most of the adults simply looked on in amusement. Many even began whistling and calling out to Lucas, accusing him of toying with the young maidens' innocent heart.
Everyone was feeling on edge after all the disasters they had been forced to endure, so the villagers and townsfolk needed some distraction and entertainment, something to ease the stress of their current reality. Teasing Lucas and the new girl seemed like as good an outlet as any, so it wasn't long before everyone began joking and laughing at their expense.
Hearing all the conversations around them, Lucas's expression darkened considerably as he felt like he was dying a little on the inside. As for Christina, her cheeks blushed furiously from embarrassment once more.
Both of them wished to curse out the crowd for their terrible misunderstanding, but with one focused on escaping, and the other on chasing, neither could spare any effort to deal with such minor concerns at the moment.
Dodging through the crowd, under the wagons, and over the various boxes, Lucas put on quite the show, earning him more cheers from the crowd. Even Christina couldn't help feeling a bit impressed when she saw this display of agility for the second time today.
How a boy, who she recently learned was just 10-years-old, was able to achieve this level of speed, agility, and precision was completely baffling to her. She was undoubtedly closing the gap between them, but given her Third Step Sea Establishment strength, Christina felt she should have caught Lucas ages ago.
Even if she was impressed, though, Christina was still determined to punch this country boy silly; that had not changed!
Darting into the halls of the Manor, Lucas found himself desperately trying to avoid running into people, constantly calling out, "Sorry! 'scuse me! Sorry! Coming through!"
When she arrived a moment later, Christina took a much more direct approach to this problem and simply commanded in a regal tone, "Make way!"
As a real princess, Christina carried with her a natural authority which was difficult to ignore, so when she ordered everyone to stand aside, basically everyone unconsciously obeyed, clearing a path down the hall for her.
While this opening was what Christina was hoping for, it unexpectedly provided Lucas with an opportunity as well, one he took full advantage of.
Dashing through the now clear path, Lucas even took a moment as he rounded a corner to wave back at his pursuer and shout, "Thanks, Tina!"
The sheer audacity of this boy once again astounded Christina as she froze in place for a moment, her jaw dropping with incredulity. Her stunned state didn't last long however as veins began popping up on her forehead.
Unable to even think of a harsh enough threat, the young princess simply unleashed a fearsome roar as she dashed after her fleeing prey.
Almost there, almost there, almost there, Lucas chanted to himself as he traversed the various corridors, heading straight towards the room where he sensed his Master's aura.
Despite drawing closer to safety, Lucas also felt the ominous presence of impending death quickly catching up with him, drawing cold sweat from all over his body.
Still, the boy pressed on, determined to make it to sanctuary.
At last, Lucas arrived at a certain door, which looked oddly familiar to him, and shoulder tackled it, darting inside as he cried out, "Master! Save m…"
Unfortunately for Lucas, before he could get his plea for rescue out, his voice caught in his throat as he gawked at the sight before him.