Chapter 35 – Back on Track

(Temporary Perspective Change)

"Ah, chancellor Marcello and captain Jekyll, please take a seat and join me and Leone"

(Marcello) "Ah Alistair, it's a pleasure to see you again"

"Greetings your highness"

We're back in that meeting room when I had to share the news that the border city had been destroyed.

It's been a while since I've seen everyone, the chancellor even looks like he's aged another decade or two. Sure, he was an old man before but still, the city incident has taken a lot out of him. I know it's slightly ironic me calling someone old, my hair is completely grey now but the chancellor is still a few decades older than me.

This prince really does give me a headache, you can never tell what he's thinking behind that damn smile. Dealing with the chancellor is one thing, the prince is a completely different matter, it still beats having to guide soldiers on the frontlines though.

As for Leone, she really isn't fooling no one. Despite the time we spent training Ikarus being alright, it was in spite of her being there. The expressionless white witch, the immortal bitch, the heartless maiden, so many names I've heard soldiers refer to her as, her personality is a black as the void itself. If she wasn't so damn effective, she would've been burnt at the stake hundreds of years ago with the previous generations of royals.

I'm honestly shocked I managed to put up with her for so long out in the woods, she's someone you really cannot afford to piss off though.

Still, I can remain professional around these people despite my dislike of them all, they fortunately still hold the best interests at heart for this empire, even if you exclude all the corruption. It's more of a matter of the lesser of two evils though, I've seen first-hand what those rebels are like down in the southeast, cruel evil bastards.

Me and the chancellor both take a seat at the long conference table near the other two people already seated and the prince begins to speak.

"Do you know why I sent for you both today?"

"No idea Alistair, is there an issue?"

'I'm just going to remain quiet till I'm spoken directly to'

"Yes, there is an issue but I'll get onto that in a second. Jekyll, has everyone who was stationed outside been sent away?"

"Of course your highness, everyone guarding the room was sent away before we entered"

"Good… let's get onto what I wanted to ask. How is the situation going in the east? How is the war fairing?"

"Alistair, if I'm allowed to spe-"

"He didn't ask for you to speak, did he Marcello?"

The mage quickly shuts down the chancellor down, I guess she was right to do so seeing that he asked me the question.

"I've always appreciated your honesty Jekyll… so, the situation?"

The chancellor always has a tendency of trying not to anger or upset someone, I think that's why the prince wants my opinion here, he won't get me beating around the bush.

"If you want pure honesty your highness, then that's what you will get. To put it simply… fucking horseshit"

…

I thought that might get that response; my bluntness has always been favoured since the city incident though, the chancellor looks like he's shitting bricks from my response though.

"Do you care to explain further?"

The prince has started tapping his hands against the table, I don't think even he expected this outcome.

"To put it simply, we don't have the manpower, the equipment and the willpower to siege the rebel capital. We cannot encircle them under current conditions and it will remain as a standstill until further action"

"Huh… and that's why I appreciate your honesty Jekyll. Marcello, why was it I've only just found out this now?"

"I'm sorry prince Alistair, it was just that you've been focused on other things, I didn't wish to place the burden on you"

Then, the prince's smile irks ever so slightly, I know the chancellor's intention was probably good but that is meaningless to the prince. Is that why the mage is here as well? For punishment?

"Chancellor, you've spent more than enough time in power to understand that I like to have an eye over everything is this empire. Your error in judgement this time cannot be swept under the carpet… Leone"

As soon as the prince says her name, she flicks her finger and a net summons entrapping the chancellor. The prince then gets out of his seat and goes up towards the trapped man brandishing a blade, I just remain seated trying not to get involved here.

"Prince! Please don-"

"Shh… Chancellor, what are the four things we value more than anything in this empire?"

"Strength, honour, integrity and technology?"

"Yes, you at least remember the meaning behind it. I could go through it all but it's all completely pointless anyway, it's only ever been a motto for the less intelligent to follow upon. Your failure has nothing to do with any of that before you think that's the case, it's for a very different reason…"

'He's going to go off on a slight rant now towards the chancellor, poor old guy'

"…You see Marcello, the sin you've committed is simple. You withheld information from me, whether your intent was good or bad doesn't matter, you still have made an unforgivable error. If you hadn't served the empire so well for the last fifty years, then this would've ended with you dying by old age in your sleep, you understand what I'm getting at? You're lucky I'm feeling generous today, pick one and I'll let you off"

The chancellor looks extremely stressed, confused and is visibly sweating now. It wouldn't surprise me if the old guy has a heart attack as well.

"S-Sorry prince? Pick what?"

"Which finger do you wish to lose? Is this not a generous punishment for such a terrible mistake?"

During all of this, the prince remains smiling and the mage just sits there not even paying attention picking her nails, this is why I can't stand these two.

I'd really rather not watch this go down, I'll try and give the chancellor some help for now.

"Erm… your highness, while I can understand your anger, this still doesn't answer what's happening on the frontline"

The way the prince reacts, it's almost as if he's forgotten I'm here. I've already seen this side to him multiple times before, this really isn't all that surprising, he is a control freak after all.

"Huh? Oh that, just give me a minute and I'll get bac- Is that Ikarus outside?"

Outside the huge large window in the conference room on the second floor of the palace, the three-party members searching for a cure can be seen down below, all about to enter the palace.

(Leone) "Ikarus?"

"*Sigh*… looks like you get to keep your finger for another day Marcello, make sure you never make a mistake like that again"

The prince almost looks disappointed in this development, does he enjoy causing fear or something?

"O-Of course your royal highness"

"You two can both leave for now, dealing with the dragons' daughter has a much higher priority than the rebellion. I'll send someone to retrieve you another time"

As the prince finishes, the mage snaps her finger ant the net entrapping the chancellor disappears.

(Jekyll) "Okay your highness"

'Once again, no one seems to realize how strong the rebellion forces actually are'

As me and the chancellor leave the room, the chancellor can't help but start making conversation with me.

"Phew… that was to close. How are you anyway captain? We haven't spoken in a while"

"I'd rather discuss this another time chancellor; I was in the middle of something before receiving a summon"

"Ah, fair enough"

He could order me to stay and chat but he isn't that type of person, I was trying to procure some more military supplies and men while I'm over here but looks like I'll have to look elsewhere or wait, I doubt I'll get what we need from the prince anyway, he really doesn't seem that concerned with the war even after the information I've given him.

Walking through the palace towards an exit, I stumble across the party members being led by a royal guard. Ikarus can't help but greet me, I'm really not in the mood right now though.

"Oi captain Jekyll, I haven't seen you in months, how you been?"

The sooner she gets away from these lot, the better. This empire seems to corrupt nearly everything it touches, she'll unfortunately be involved as well. I just hope she figures this out for herself.

"Get out while you can"

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….

That was a bit rude, the captain just mumbled something under his breath and left ignoring us. The hell is his problem?

"The hell is wrong with him?"

"He does look stressed out Ikarus-sama"

"Might have just been chewed out by someone higher ranking than him, happens to every knight now and then"

I guess he does look a bit stressed, I'll let it go. He's was alright although a little strict and demanding during training, it was a hell of a lot better than the mage at the very least.

"The prince should be in the main conference room, it's just around the corner"

This royal guard seems more talkative than the others while leading us to where the prince.

While we're being led, I'll give a slight update on some of the stuff that happened when last speaking to my parents and getting to the capital.

To start with, I 'borrowed' a lot more of my parents' money, it's not like their using it for anything, no point in having money if it's not being used. Also want to buy some more potions after I'm finished here, need to top up on cake as well.

Also found out my birthday again, should be in about a month and a half, only reason why I want to remember it is for an excuse to get drunk. I've cut down massively but I can still have cheat days every now and then.

Another thing, remember that fountain that Aesa mentioned was a reward for completing a dungeon? Turns out, she wasn't lying, the place has turned into a mana pool, father confirmed aunt was guarding it. All the power and magic scattered around that dungeon realm place gets collected all into that drinkable water that refills your magicka.

That dungeon entrance has now basically become an unlimited source of resupplying magicka, it would be so freaking useful if it was in an actual live able area on the continent and not so far away, I could even fill loads of glass bottles and make potions from it, dungeons really do be sucking like usual.

I think father referred to it as the fountain of youth, that is a bit different from what the Earth's mythical spring supposedly acts, I guess it's a little similar since beings that hold immense magicka seem to live a lot longer than others, just look at dragons for example. It can't make you immortal though unfortunately.

"There you go, I'm under orders to leave immediately so you can let yourselves"

Now that we've arrived, the royal guard leaves and our party enters into the large conference room and we find two familiar faces in the room.

"You three are finally back, I have some very good news to share today"

"Greetings your highness"

"Hello Alistair, it's been a little while"

While my party are greeting the prince, I can't help but get pissed.

"Ah hell nah! We ain't doing this if she's here!"

I can't help but have this reaction. The more and more I reflect on how the mage treated me, the less and less I like her. I actually wonder if I could hold my own right now against her and burn her to a crisp, I very much doubt I'd be able to yet though, the thought is tempting though.

(Leone) "It's nice to see you again as well Ikarus"

This time, I'm not even acknowledging her, she's being ignored while I'm looking at the prince.

"I'm serious prince, I'm not putting up with her shit today"

He gives a little sigh towards me and then looks towards the mage and speaks to her, he's not smiling right now which is slightly surprising.

"*Sigh*, can you leave us for a while Leone?"

"Hmph, fine then"

The mage heads out the room giving me a slight glare while she's leaving, my hatred is justified though.

(Alistair) "You should try and deal with her a bit more Ikarus, her hearts in the right place. Well, it's not but she is helping us find you a cure"

He's trying to convince me she's alright now? Not having it.

"Just because she's helping doesn't mean I should just put up with her bullying, just keep her away from me and everything is fine"

Who cares if she taught me how to use my magicka? A much nicer teacher could've helped do that, it didn't seem all that difficult to do now thinking back on it, just uncomfortable.

"I'll keep that in mind for future conversations, let's just continue for now. You can all take a seat if you'd like…"

We all take a seat around the table while the prince is continuing to speak.

"… I have some very good news regarding the dungeon search. I won't bore you by how we found them but we've come across or heard rumours of four additional dungeons"

Four? Well, that will save a hell of a lot of time coming back and forth, looking forward to this now. At least one of them better be a fighting dungeon.

"That's brilliant then, where abouts are they?"

No point going through another extremely long conversation like the usual with the prince, I've got a map of the empire and a general idea on how to get around now. Let's get going.

"It's honestly shocking how my predecessors hadn't found these years ago, I guess even my ancestors held no interest in dungeons hundreds of years ago seeing how close some of them are…"

'He really must like the sound of his own voice, hurry up alreadyyy!'

"… As for the locations and types of dungeons, we have found two fairly close to the capital, one is on an island north of the mountain range your family live in Ikarus, the other is fairly close to the monastery"

"That's a happy coincidence"

"We are NOT stopping in at a religious institution priestess, he said fairly close, that means we can easily avoid it"

She pouts slightly from my response, I'm very much justified in avoiding anything church like though, it's similar to a vampire avoiding silver or sunlight, I'm not straight and going to a place like would make me melt into a puddle or burst into flames, I'd be resistant to it but still, the joke stands.

The prince also gives a little chuckle at my reluctance for going to such a boring place, we're still not stopping there.

"The other two are more rumours but have a credible source, one of them should be found in a city within the desert continent, the other might be found far in the west side of the elven continent"

Ah right, the continent in the top left corner of the known land is mainly home to the elves, west of Sierra. From what I've read, it's a harsh, brutal land to survive in, especially in the far west due to a volcano that erupted a long time ago still having lingering effects.

Thinking about it, my family's mountain range actually blocks nearly any land route to that continent baring one, you'd have to travel far to the southwest of the Sierran continent to make your way around the mountains, that's pretty close to where the city my parents destroyed as well. You could just use a boat and make your way around the land using the ocean I guess but that would be a long journey compared to flying.

There's not much else I can add about the desert continent then what I've said before, it's south of Sierra and is full of desert. It sounds so freaking stupid but it literally is a gigantic desert.

__________

---(Author's note) I'm very slowly making a world map alongside this, might give a sneak peek at some point---

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"What about the types of dungeons they are? What are we looking at facing?"

"I'll give you an explanation but you might get a bit impatient though Ikarus, I am describing four dungeons after all"

"Urgh… just tell me and I'll force myself to focus"

The prince then goes into long and boring explanation on more and more information on the dungeons themselves, like the type of dungeon, what has been found and what to potentially expect. It's very boring but I force myself to listen to it all.

Long story short, there is a least one fighting dungeon, that is the one by the monastery so we're definitely heading there first. I'm obviously looking forward to this now.

"Here, take this…"

Once the prince is finished, he takes several maps of a royal guard he called for while he was giving his long explanation and passes them to me, I grab them then take a quick look.

"… These maps have the locations marked outside the empire where you'll need to head. I've already explained what to expect but you're still working with limited information. I shouldn't have to say but all three of you, try to be careful"

"Of course your highness"

(Charlotte) "We'll keep Ikarus safe Alistair"

(Ikarus) "Yeah yeah"

The maps are really basic though, imagine an old pirate map that was used for hiding treasure on a sandy beach for example. I guess it's not that basic but compared to any map showing the empire, it's slightly lackluster. They should still be useable though, just they look like they have been drawn from a bird's-eye view so it should be good enough.

I put them away into my storage anyway.

"Is that everything or do you have any questions Ikarus?"

There was something I couldn't let go from last time, I've got to ask it now.

"Yes actually, I do. Why the hell are potions so bloody expensive? They might be the most overpriced thing in this entire empire"

The prince gives a little chuckle and starts smiling once again, this irritates me.

"You can blame the rebellion for that, potion making has been focused around providing the military with healents so we've had to control the prices to make up for the lack of other potions…"

Why do I feel like that's bullshit? It's probably because the empire just wants to make a quick buck, damn taxes!

"… I can provide you with a handful of healents if needed though"

"Fine… that's good enough then, I guess"

I'll take them but I'll still need to head to that alchemist again, should buy some more stamina and magicka pots again.

"Then I'll get a guard to give you several on the way out"