“I won’t repeat what I say so listen properly.”

The envoy nodded his head vigorously.

“Is there anyone else who you are working with?” 

The envoy hesitated for a bit, though when the knife on his neck was pressed further, he quickly nodded his head. 

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he maintained eye contact, his quivering lips seem to have lost all of their color.

The crown prince leaned back in his chair.

"As expected,." Leopold muttered. 

The prince of Darlberg was notorious for his arrogant and terrible attitude, according to Rel, the prince was a well-known troublemaker that terrorizes others just for the sake of his selfish ego.

Having committed multiple counts of immoral and sexually explicit activities, assault to commoners, even general disrespect to the Emperor himself.

There was no way that a trash human being like him could orchestrate such an elaborate plan without making any mistakes. 

Other forces must have come into play for this to happen, maybe the faction supporting the envoy prince was the one to do this but what does he even know about them?

“So, who are you working with?" The envoy, who turned out to be a prince from the Empire of the West, bit his lips hard.

Even though he wanted to tell him, the one who he made the deal with was not something to be even messed with.

A being that was stronger than an orc, a being that was smarter than a sage, a being that lived longer than elves.

“I-I can’t tell you.” 

Leopold narrows his eyes; the trembling face of his captive gives him an inkling.

“Why did you make a deal with this…associate of yours?”

The captive prince opens his mouth but pauses.

At first, he was going to tell him that it was for his own ambition of gaining recognition, to prove to his father, the Emperor of Darlberg, that he was more than just a glorified spoiled brat.

Yet it didn’t seem like that’s what really motivated him…

Vaguely he remembers a strange feeling, but he couldn’t quite remember.

“I-I don’t know!” He repeated those words again and again as he trembled uncontrollably.

Leopold was quite sure that there was something wrong with him.

He glanced at the journal that they used earlier, it was starting to show signs of wear, the covers starting to tear apart and the colors starting to fade away. 

It was not even a week yet since they started using it.

“Rel knock him out and tie him up.” 

Rel, who had her hood down revealing her dark ebony hair, nodded at him, “As you will, your Highness.”

Without even having the chance to process those words, the envoy prince was knocked out cold.

Leopold turns around to check on his colleague, the young Rodin; he seems to have fainted from exhaustion, probably from sleep deprivation and overwork.

Checking his pulse and temperature, it seems that there was nothing to worry about.

He placed August on his bed.

While the unconscious Rodin was sleeping soundly, a wet sensation escaped from Leopold’s nose and droplets of it fell to the ground.

Some made its way down his lips, the familiar metallic taste of iron.

Even with the stigma of the Sun, their bodies couldn’t handle staying up all night. 

“Your Highness!” When Leopold stumbled, Rel was there to catch him.

Supported by Rel, he tries to stand up but feels his legs wobble unsteadily like a newly born foal.

Both him and August were just children, and he could understand why this was happening to the two of them, his premature mind couldn’t seem to handle the number of tasks and work his adult consciousness is able to output.

“Huh…I guess I pushed myself too hard this time.” 

Rel looked at him with worry, with her lips pursed upside down, a vial was on her hand.

“Your Highness. Please drink this, it’s a recovery potion.” He could smell the scent of medication and mana; it was strong that it reeked like alcohol.

Leopold faintly nodded his head.

Rel took that as the cue to administer the potion.

Tilting his head slightly, the potion was poured carefully into his mouth.

Passing down his throat, he could feel the rejuvenating and soothing sensation.

To him, the potion tasted like a tonic back when he was an exorcist.

Still despite the apparent feeling of being fixed up, he still felt drowsy.

“Rel, wake me up at the break of dawn.”

Then Leopold, the crown prince, fell asleep on Rel’s lap.

 

---

 

“Wake up brat.” 

Groggily waking up from his nap, a young man with brown hair and slightly pale complexion opens his eyes to meet a man in formal attire.

“B-buzz off…Let me get some more sleep.”

Irritated by his attitude, the man pulls out a lanyard and flicks it at his forehead.

“The hell was that for?!” He glared at the man and gave him the stink eye.

The man sighs and tosses the lanyard to the young man.

Without even any effort, he catches the plastic bit of the lanyard, the details on it indicating a pass to a convention.

“Can’t you bring someone else? You know I hate it when you bother me on my day off.” 

“Trust me, I would but you know I can’t, unless you want a repeat of what happened at the conference a year ago.”

“So what? Let them do their dog fights, just leave me out of it.” The man scoffs at him, and then turns around.

“Be ready in a minute.”

“Wait!” He clicked his tongue in annoyance, there was no way in hell that he’d miss this opportunity of sleeping all day, he refused to relent.

“What if I have someone to cover for me?”

If he’d force one of them to cover for him, then he’d have his day-off all by himself.

“Cover? Do you even have friends? And how are you able to make sure that they won’t cause any trouble?”

How rude of him to think of his so-called friends ‘troublemakers’...On second thoughts, it might be better for him to go.

Almost all of the colleagues he is acquainted with are all clinically insane to a degree.

—Fine, whatever. I’ll go.” The man smirks at him.

The young man grumbles, resigning himself to the fact that his peaceful day off was now a distant dream.

After changing into a formal attire much alike to the man, they were ready to depart.

“You ready?” The young man waves and gestures to him to go do the thing.

A glyph beneath them appeared as the man held out a scroll, then it glowed.

Engulfing their bodies in white motes of light.

The young man closed his eyes and meditated while he tucked his hands inside his pocket while the man looked at his watch.

“Welcome, esteemed guest, to the 14th International Convention of Alchemic Technologies.”  An automated and robotic voice broke the young man out of his concentration, he opened his eyes to see a holographic screen.

Then he looked around.

Ancient artifacts, monuments, figures of people and sculptures is what he deliberately took note of.

It was spacious, but that’s a given considering they were at a museum of sorts.

The man walked forward, and the young man followed suit, he had no idea where they were supposed to go.

Once they reached a seemingly dead end, another glyph appeared before them.

“Before you proceed, we must first verify your identity.” A voice rang out but this time, it was unmistakably human.

The man showed his ID while the young man let out a sigh before shoving it in front of the glyph.

“Great! Please head on and enjoy the convention!”

The glyph transported them to another space as they were covered once again in motes of light annoying the young man, he

When they arrived at the actual venue, countless exhibits were there for them to view, from product demonstrations to open seminars, it was a place filled with the wonders of the advancement of Alchemical Technologies and Sciences.

The young man inspected his ID to check which area they were supposed to head, “Prof…what’s the main agenda of this Convention again?”

“To be honest, I don’t have any clue either, but the general assembly starts in an hour, in the meantime, let's go to our booth first and set it up.”

The Convention this year was not something that the young man was really looking forward to, it was the same thing as last year, and the year before that.

Now that he thinks about it, why was it always him? Considering that the Institution has all sorts of talented people—And he stopped at that line of thought.

It is precisely because of those ‘talented people’ that an incident occurred three years ago here in this convention that resulted in a disaster, he could still remember headlines from the newspaper provided by the Council’s Press. 

‘Perpetual Motion Prototype ends up becoming an Artificial Blackhole’.

Because of that incident, the reputation of the Research Institute of the European Union plummeted due to backlash from both the attendees and the other institutes present during that time.

Even the Council had to step in and reprimand them for exhibiting an unsafe prototype and creating such a dangerous situation.

Since then, the Institution has been very cautious in choosing who their representatives are for the conventions.

“Hey Prof, I know I asked this exact reason a year ago but out of all the people to be chosen, why me again? Don’t tell me that excuse either.”

A year back then, he was forced to join via peer pressure, at first, he was excited but upon learning it was the controversial international convention, his soul left his body in despair.

But what can he do? He was just an assistant with no backing whatsoever. 

In the end, he became a scapegoat for the Institution to take the fall of the scrutiny of that year's convention, it was suffocatingly brutal for him.

He still remembered how he groveled at the floor and apologized for the mistakes that he didn’t have any involvement in, but for the sake of repairing the Institution’s reputation, he had no other choice.

The man stopped and mused, “Out of all the people from professors to trainees, you were the only one that doesn’t act out of line.”

Then he continues, “You're pretty reasonable.” The man strokes his chin, “…not much of a troublemaker either, definitely not a push-over too.”

Feeling a bit flustered at those compliments, he scoffs and looks away.

“You’re a good man, Theodore Strider.” 

 

---

 

I woke up to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. 

Rubbing my eyes clear, I think about what that dream or memory was all about.

Still, I couldn’t get a grip or make proper sense of it. 

Whatever, it’s not that important to me as of this time…

With my toddler body now awake, I sit up straight. 

“Good afternoon.” I snapped to the voice which alarmed me, it was the crown prince.

Wait…!

“What!? It’s noon already? How long was I out?” 

“...A week has passed, and you were in a very short-term coma, it’s fortunate that you got treated before things got worse, and if it weren’t for it, you’d be out for a month.”

Hearing that, I felt a bit shocked.

What the hell! How bad was my body that I had undergone a comatose state? 

Immediately I tried finding the culprits within my body but there was nothing to suspect.

No signs of damage on the pathways so the circulation of mana was good and dandy…

So, what was it?

I don’t have any history of passing out from mana exhaustion or overexertion, at least in this life.

And I’ve been trying to train my body at a steady yet fast rate careful not to fuck up my development…

Following what I’ve been taught in the aftermath in regard to mana utilization activities’ emergency in my previous life. 

If the channels within the user show no sign of any instability and that the pathways and spillways are checked to be clear, then the culprit of the emergency lies in the mana itself.

The quality of mana that I made an interference with must have not been compatible with mine, resulting in what I probably suspect it to be—“Mana reflux…”

“Is that what you call it? The apothecarist who treated you couldn’t name it, but she knew that it had something to do with mana…”

An apothecarist treated me…

“But she did describe it as ‘the opposition of both water and oil’.”

That’s actually pretty close, whoever made that analogy must be quite good at observing and interpreting things… 

He handed me a glass, there was a mixture within that smelt of earthy herbs.

“Drink this, it’ll help in stabilizing your body.” 

I drank it all down in one go, the earthy taste was apparent, but my mana circulation was getting better.

It’s like drinking a clarity potion. 

“So, how are you feeling right now?” 

“I’m feeling a bit sore but overall, I’m fine.”

It might be just some mild bed sores since I didn’t move for a long period of time.

I stood on my feet and stretched my body.

“Thank God…Anyways, about the whole operation.” 

…The Duke’s betrayal! How did that slip out of mind?

“Shoot.” I’m eager to know what happened.

I was hopeful that the plan didn’t go south.

“We’ve cleared their forces in half while the latter seemed to have retreated back to the west. All those who were involved with Duke Starheim’s Mutiny have all been dealt with, from nobles to merchant’s alike.” As expected, there was no way our fool-proof plan from a civilization much more advanced than this planet could ever topple the knowledge of 21st century earthlings.

Then he went on to the details of what exactly happened, recounting the battles that ended one-sidedly and what not.

After that, he handed me a document, in it was a list of names along with their ranks and statuses.

“Embargo? What’s that supposed to mean?” I wasn’t really into politics, so I was a bit confused as to what it meant. 

“Those are the people who voluntarily surrendered once I made a royal edict announcing the Duke Starheim’s attempted coup.”  

What happened to being covert? Did something actually happen? Does this mean we’re going to war?

I flipped to the next page of the document and there my questions and doubts were all answered in just a glance, yet my anxiety didn’t dwindle.

“So, the first prince, your brother, found out about our covert operation…huh, I guess war was inevitable.” I slump back down on the bed as I gloomily stare at the ceiling.

Yep, I’m fucked.

“What! No! I think you're misunderstanding this—I explained to my brother about the Duke’s planned coup but left out the details regarding the involvement of the Darlberg Empire.”

That’s actually pretty clever and if that’s the case then—Fuck yeah! My future is not in jeopardy anymore!

For the first time, I let out a triumphant sigh.

“Finally, it's over…”  

“Actually, there’s something else…”

Fuck me and my mouth.

“We still have the prince of Darlberg in our custody.”

What the hell!? We’re holding that envoy hostage. 

It’s not like I’m against it but…

We’re treading in dangerous waters here.

“Next week, a delegation will arrive to discuss terms.”

Okay, that’s a breather.

“While we discuss terms, I’ll try to get the most out of it.”

Aren’t you supposed to be royalty, why do you sound like a businessman trying to maximize profits?

I shudder at that thought.

“I’m not forcing you to join but if you’d like to come, I’ll be glad to take you with me.”

Hmmm…I don’t really see anything that’ll benefit me from joining the negotiation.

“I’ll think about it over some drinks.” 

The crown prince, Leo, let’s out a chuckle.

“Need I remind you, we’re still children.”

“Ah right, my bad.” 

Damn, I really want a drink so bad.

“One last thing...Since you helped me out, I’d like for you to take this.”

It was a ledger, when I opened it to see what’s in it, my eyes widened.

Half of the assets that were embargoed were listed to be transferred under my name.

Did I just win the lottery?

“Give credit to where credit is due...”

Seriously…

I just can’t find myself hating him. 

Sighing, I close my eyes in contentment.

Even though we just acquainted ourselves recently with each other, the encounter that resulted in this journey of preventing the fall of our kingdom, made me realize something.

If only the two of us met in our previous lives, I’m sure that we would be good friends and that my life wouldn't be so shitty.

“...Theo Strider, that’s my name.” 

For the first time in this world, I made a genuine friend.