1 Against the Nobles

In a quiet nook of the library, the muffled sounds of rustling paper could be heard. A young man leaned against a wooden bookshelf and grasped a book while sitting on the floor. His pale fingers quickly, but gently flipped through a yellowed page of a leather-bound book. Black irises scanned every page with precision and carefully taking every detail in.

In the midst of his reading, a man dressed in a black footman's suit intruded upon his space and quietly waited for the other to finish his reading. Noticing the invader, the pale hands stalled momentarily before continuing to turn the pages.

"Speak." The man reading said in an impatient voice, not even lifting his face to give a courtesy glance at the servant. His movements slightly stiffer compared to before the arrival of the butler.

The manservant took no note of the other's rudeness nor did he show basic respect towards the man by bowing, he was completely neutral. "The Emperor wishes to see you."

At that time, the man had reached the last page and shut the book with a little force, bringing about a small bang that echoed in the library. He ruffled his ebony hair in irritation. His black hair covered the sides of his ears, with his bangs reaching the edges of his eyebrows. By messing with it, he looked unkempt and inelegant, fitting with his loose dress shirt and comfortable pants.

He gently placed the finished book into the proper shelf, before sighing in resignation. The man signaled the butler to start guiding him towards the Emperor.

The servant obliged and perfunctorily started walking into the hallway with the black-haired man dragging his feet to follow him. The man crinkled his nose in distaste at the hallway was adorned with garish gold and red decorations on one side, turning his face to the large windows on the other side, which revealed the beautiful landscape that is Olinthus. The land was fertile and the climate was ideal. Despite all the good conditions, the country had not been prominent until ten years ago. Olinthus started to initiate and win numerous wars, revolutionized agriculture, avoided catastrophes, and the people began to live a higher quality of life. The common masses had owed it all to the royal family. However, the royal family had never clarified nor gave credit as to who helped the country overcome these disasters.

The ebony-haired man narrowed his eyes when the butler finally stopped in front of a large, ornately gold-lined door before firmly knocking it three times. The door then opened from the inside to reveal a glorious room with the throne being especially conspicuous in the middle of the room. The room was filled with many people covered in riches and fine clothing, the most notable of them all was the man sitting on the throne with a gold crown on top of his head.

The ruler of Olinthus, Emperor Jove. He lazily sat on top of his throne surrounded by his gaggle of beautiful women. The moment the messy-haired man saw the Emperor, he inwardly gagged and clicked his tongue in disgust. Not from the physical appearance of the ruler of Olinthus, in fact, he was extremely handsome: piercing green eyes, a head of fiery red hair, a sharp jaw and tall height, plus he was in his prime age. Thus, a dream lover of many women for his gorgeous looks, high status, and strong magic. However, the Emperor was lazy, ignorant, lascivious, and apathetic, only caring when some negative event affects the upper class of his country would he take action.

The country would have long disappeared from the face of the world if it were not for it suddenly being "lucky" the past ten years.

The raven-haired man bowed low enough to be considered not rude, but not submissive towards the incompetent Emperor. The nobles long seemed used to this and dismissed it as they all know how important the unkempt man is. Despite that, they did not acknowledge him, no one spared him a greeting nor a small smile. Everyone was quite neutral, similarily to the butler that was formerly guiding him.

The Emperor also paid no mind to his subject's lack of courtesy and instead gave out a hearty laugh. "Rowan, I see you're just as grumpy as usual-"

"Cut to the chase." Rowan coldly cut him off and looked up at Emperor Jove with an annoyed look. The Emperor took no offense to the interruption and shrugged his shoulders, though the woman wearing a crown and standing behind him thought otherwise. His Empress Juno, secretly clenched her firsts and bit the insides of her cheeks at her husband's leniency towards this "inferior."

But remembering her future plans, Juno quickly calms herself down and amiably smiles at Rowan.

The Empress steps up and lovingly leans against the Emperor's shoulder, "Rowan, don't be uptight. We just want to reward you for your recent achievements." Emperor Jove vigorously nods his head in agreement.

"Yes, yes! Your advice was spectacular this time around! Whatever you want, do tell us!" The Emperor jubilantly announced, emphasizing his willingness by throwing his arms up... to wrap it around his wife who pushed all the other women away to monopolize her husband.

Rowan's displeasure towards their words was only shown through the downward hook of his lips. His stomach rolled in disgust at the actions of these so called human beings. His advice has been listen to and used by the royal family and the nobles as to help the country become prosperous for a decade. He had been serving since he was ten and was currently twenty years old. Every piece of suggestions he has given was never attributed to him, but rather to the Emperor or his useless sons. This time around, his words had cornered another country and helped the Emperor gain another princess to add to his large harem.

"Your Majesty, we had an agreement." The young man spit out through his gritted teeth.

"You're still going on about that?" Emperor Jove's eyes become colder as if to warn Rowan to not say another word.

Rowan still presses on. "Yes, your Majesty. The agreement was that when the Empire's conditions improve, I would be permitted to leave, and-" Rowan motions with his hands towards the riches casually placed upon the nobles, "your country's conditions are clearly beyond improved. You must fulfill your part of the deal."

The entirety of the upper class of Olinthus stare at him in silence, their piercing looks prickle the skin of Rowan. The young man want to curl up in a hidden corner with a book in hand, but he does not cower and instead straightens his back to prove his resolve.

Rowan concentrates his determined gaze upon the Emperor. The Emperor tightly gripped the arm rest of his throne, blue veins could be seen bulging out of his hands.

Anger began to boil within the pits of his stomach, but the Emperor knew that he was right. Rowan was always right. Emperor Jove knew it was time to let him go. Infact, Olinthus should have set Rowan free years ago, but they were unwilling. Such a money maker, who would be dumb enough to let him go!? The only reason they were able to grasp onto Rowan was due to him being a naive orphan and tricking him into a vague magic contract. The young man does not know, but the contract had indeed expired the moment he gave his knowledge to the kingdom and made it prosperous. Which was nine years ago, it took that young boy to improve the country within a year! He had not noticed the contract expiring due to him missing out the magic contract being dispelled from his body when he was asleep.

Rowan, a treasure trove of knowledge and experiences, was and still is a little green in common knowledge and street smarts due hidden away from the public as a child and now an adult.

But, still! The Emperor is extremely unwilling to let him go, if there's the slightest chance of him running to another country, it would ruin them! The air around Emperor Jove began to heat up due to his turbulent magic and began to expand throughout the room. Before the Emperor could completely reply to Rowan, Empress Juno placed her hand upon his shoulder. She soothed the Emperor with her ice magic and cooled the room, much to the nobles' relief.

"Do not fret my Emperor." She twisted her lips into a smile and bent down near his ear, "If you want him here, I know a way to keep him here."

The Emperor looked at his wife skeptically, but nonetheless nodded.

"You are free to go, Rowan. But, first, please take this. It's the least we can do." The Empress snapped her fingers and a maid held a wooden, handheld mirror before Rowan.

Rowan glared at the nobles of Olinthus, not hiding his disgust for them and refused the mirror, he tried to leave the room. Before he could turn around, he felt the soles of his feet freezing to the ground and he looked towards the Empress who stopped him with her ice magic. He started to struggle, his heartbeat began to accelerate and cold sweat started to drip down his forehead. Rowan was getting all sorts of red flags from the actions of Empress Juno, and his worries were proven true as she began to chant under her breath and Rowan felt himself being sucks into the mirror that the maid held.

"This magic, it's-" lost magic... Rowan's words were cut off as he was transported into the mirror.

Lost magic was universal magic, everyone could use it and each spell was very powerful. Although everyone can utilize the magic, regardless of element affinity, it was very complex and took years to learn one spell. Thus, Rowan was surprised when he witnessed such a useful, but difficult spell first hand.

Now that he's experiencing it and not enjoying it. He was fuming, he would spit at all the nobles if given the chance but he is now trapped in a mirror. He is unable to do anything, he can only think in the mirror. He could not even speak or curse at the Royals. His only view was whatever the mirror was facing, which was the delighted Emperor who joyfully hugged his wife and Empress Juno preening in the attention she was getting from the Emperor.

Now, the country had a tool that could tell them all the answers and not be able to run away.