A Sudden Flashback
Bright walks out of the royal dining room, his belly stuffed full of the delicious food prepared by the skilled royal chefs. He felt proud of himself, for managing to successfully blend in with the Royal family, all while gathering information on each member by eavesdropping on their conversations, or through Kant's unlocked memories.
With this new information, he now knows even more about Kant Maybale himself, and what might have happened to him. He knew that Kant Maybale was seen as the black sheep of the family. Now he knows that his family, although very loving and protective of him, looked down on him because of his strange appearance and his inability to cast magic.
Growing up in such an environment must have built up an urge within him to prove himself to his family, to show them that he is not as weak and pathetic as they thought. Howard suspects that this desire to prove himself is what got him into that fight with whatever beast he was facing. The only things left a mystery were a detailed account of this fight and any unknown circumstances about the incident.
"Note to self; Investigate about the fight," he spoke to himself, before going on his way.
He traverses through the long halls of the palace, trying to find the royal library, a heaven of knowledge preserved on the pages of parchment books. According to the intel he received from Kant's brain, the library contained information on a wide scale of topics, from alchemy to history, a lot about magic, and a little bit of everything else.
It was the perfect place for Howard to get educated in this new world he found himself in. So convenient for him to have this information right at his fingertips! Who knows how long it would have taken to learn anything if he were to be born to a lower class?
Before he could investigate what happened to Kant, or anything really, he would need to understand this world at a fundamental level first. If he failed to educate himself on the basic principles that run and govern this world, then he might as well be an alien who crashed his ship on Earth.
He can hide from everyone in plain sight, but he will just end up stumbling hopelessly around this strange world he could never fully understand. Howard wanted to make sure he was not that alien.
Upon opening the door, he was greeted by the librarian in charge of the place. She had often helped Kant with finding any book Kant wanted ever since she got the job. In Kant's personal opinion, she was the best librarian ever.
"Good morning, your highness. Are you feeling well?" Suzan greeted Howard
"I am glad to say I am doing great, Miss Suzan. Thank you for asking." Suzan smiles while closing her eyes and tilting her head.
"I am delighted to hear that!" She straightens her head and opens back her eyes.
"Say, would you mind telling me what happened in Alderney? I would like to know how you managed to fight off a Pierrevol!" she asked. Howard, unable to recollect the events of the fight, gave Suzan an excuse.
"I am sorry, but I do not feel comfortable discussing it right now. Maybe later?" Suzan nods.
"I understand, your highness."
"Is there anything you need help with? Maybe you would like me to recommend another book to you! It has been a while since you have read any!" she spoke up.
"Not today, Miss Suzan. But thank you. I am good. I just came here to educate myself on something," Howard confessed.
"Very well. If you DO need anything, then please don't hesitate to ask me. I would be happy to help you."
"Thank you, Miss Suzan. I appreciate it," Howard tells the librarian before walking away. He ventures deep into the maze of bookshelves, attempting to find the magic section. Thanks to the mental map in his head, Howard arrived at his destination quickly!
Now at the correct section, Howard searched the area for any beginner-friendly books on Magic, to help build a surface-level foundation. He picked up a book off the shelf, turned to the beginning pages, read it, and examined it, before placing it back inside and moving on to another one.
…
Two hours had passed by since Howard had started his search. By now, he had looked through hundreds of different books stuffed in the sterile wooden shelves for any information. And yet, he was nowhere close to learning anything about Magic.
Every damn book he found had its parchment pages crammed with small handwritten text, barely readable to the human eye, all containing complex words mixed in with alien terms Howard could not understand.
He tried searching other parts of the library to see if there was something he was missing, maybe a section dedicated to beginners that he passed by, but that was soon proven to be false.
It appears that the only magic books here in the one and only royal library, are for the lucky few already acquainted with the basics. Despite the frustration lurking in his mind, Howard was not ready to give up on the library just yet.
"Maybe I can ask Suzan for help? She does seem knowledgeable and willing enough to get me what I need" he thought to himself.
"Ah, but she knows Kant too much. She might be suspicious as to why the cursed prince who lacks the gifts wants to learn about magic. I would need to come up with a decent excuse if I want to ask her." Howard sat on a wooden chair and started rubbing his forehead using his fingers, trying to think of something.
What if he used the fight as his justification? If Kant's brain worked correctly, Howard could recall Suzan asking him for his account of the story. This either means she doesn't know what happened back there or just wants Kant's own perspective on it.
Howard entertained the idea till he found some possible holes in it. First, this excuse will only work if the creature he fought in question used magic, or magical attacks to begin with. Considering she knows the demon Kant faced, a Pierrevol, he would need to confirm whether this creature used magic or not.
After getting up from his seat, he got out of the magic section of the library and walked all the way to the Demon section on the other side. There he looked for a book from Kant's past, an entire encyclopedia about demons. A book Howard knew existed as Kant had read it himself.
He searched the bookshelf till he spotted it, a book with a black leather cover, with the words "The Entire Encyclopedia of Demons - Book P" etched in golden letters. He takes it out and starts scanning the pages, trying to find the demon he is looking for.
"Pierrevol… pierrevol… pierrevol… Ah! Here is it!"
A pierrevol is a large stone demon that belongs to the "Animated Stone Golem", or what the natives call "Pierre" demon family. A pierre was depicted to have a body made out of stone, two holes that oozed out that acted as eyes, and a mana crystal as a core to power it.
Although there were many types of Pierre demons, they were separated mainly by the color of their mana core. As the name 'Vol' in the name suggested, Kant had fought off a Stone Golem with a Violet Mana crystal, the most powerful out of them all. It allowed the golem to have a powerful regenerative ability, allowing it to regrow back its stone arms at a rapid rate.
"Hmm… I guess this could work, but it might not be enough. I might need another excuse if this doesn't work…" Howard suddenly stops speaking, the book slowly slips out his hand, while his body loses a sense of balance.
He falls on his back and hits the hard marble floor with a thud, his head burning with pain. Howard's mind is overrun with bits of memories. The world fades to black, and Howard is left on the floor unconscious.
…
"Your highness? Your highness? Wake up. We are here." he hears a masculine voice speak out to him. Kant's heavy eyelids slowly lost weight, allowing him to open and reveal his jet-black eyes to the word. He finds himself in a carriage accompanied by two giant men dressed in a tailored uniform, partially covered in a suit of armor.
Through the glass window of the carriage, he can see that he finds himself in a small rural town surrounded by a 30-foot wall. The buildings were made out of painted stone walls, held up by a timber frame, and roofs made out of ceramic roof tiles.
Kant opens the carriage door and gets out the primitive vehicle. On the front and back of the carriage, he finds more men riding horses, all wearing attire similar to the men accompanying him in the carriage. All of them, even the few women amongst them, looked tough and mean, taking their job to protect the prince seriously.
These men were royal knights, assigned by the king to protect him on his lone trip to this remote, yet beautiful town. They were members of "The Legion of Knights", an organization dedicated to recruiting commoners with the gift of magic into the armed forces, to either act as a standard 'mage' knight, or a healer 'mage'.
"Your highness! You made it! Welcome back to Alderney!" He hears a man cheer. Kant turns around to see a very enthusiastic young man about his age, with black hair and red eyes, walk closer to him. The man extends his hand, offering Kant a fistbump.
"Good to see you Sonny. I see not much has changed around here," he replies, while giving him the fistbump he wanted. Sonny chuckles a little, before replying.
"Oh, but there have been changes! A LOT of changes! Come with me. There is a reason why I sent you a letter to meet me here…"
…
Howard wakes back up to find himself on the ground. He gets up and brushes off any dust or dirt that is retained on his royal attire. Of course, a flashback had to occur the moment he read about that pesky demon.
"Ow! My head! Fuck!" he mutters to himself. He thinks about what he had seen in that flashback.
"I guess that is where the fight occurred. Suzan did say it happened in Alderney," Howard picks the book back up to take a look at the creature once again.
"Was this the reason I got that flashback? Maybe it brought back memories of that event. This creature is related to the incident that got the prince injured after all. Heck, it might as well be the creature that killed him," he thought to himself.
"Oh well. At least one good thing came out of it."