"Magic?" the word was not foreign to Derrick, but he never thought he would hear it in this fashion.
"Do you know what makes Aur different from other kingdoms of this continent?" Count Dale asked before answering it himself. "It was because of the legend of Aur.... Or I should say the legend of Everole."
"I did read that the Everole continent which are present now was ruled by two empires before, the Vespre Empire on the west and the Zora Empire on the East." Derrick said before continuing, "and Aur was the capital of the Vespre Empire."
"True, that's what our ancestors had been saying. However the majority of the people in this continent doesn't know about this. Or maybe they simply regarded those historical texts as some myths," Count Dale commented. "But, as you know, our continent are divided into the Eastern and Western part by the rocky mountain area."
"What about that?" Derrick asked. Deep inside his heart he was wondering why his father suddenly talked about these things to him.
"You said that our continent used to be ruled by two empires which occupied the east and the west respectively. In fact, that was only after the rocky mountain existed."
"Father are saying that... The rocky mountain was not there before?"
Count Dale did not answer the question immediately. Instead, he leaned against the carriage and threw his gaze outside the small window. Derrick had always been a sensible person so when he saw that his father was not responding to his question, he did not rushed to pursue the answer but kept silent, waiting for his father to break the silence.
"Have you heard the famous saying among the people that Aur is the only place in the whole continent where magic exist?" the Count suddenly asked his son, his fingers were fiddling with the ring on his finger.
"I did," Derrick answered. "But I don't know why such saying existed."
"Because it's true," the tone of the Count turned solemn. "Nowadays, when people talk about the place where magic still exist, they are referring to the Golden District in the Capital."
"The place where those unique breed of flowers that look like gold when the sunset rays shine on them grow?" Derrick asked. As a citizen of Aur, the said Golden District was not foreign for him despite not living in the capital.
"Unique breed of flower?" Count Dale chuckled. "So that's what people call the Blueleaf nowadays."
"Blueleaf..."
"Derrick, what is the emblem of Aur?" Count Dale suddenly asked.
"Emblem of Aur? It depends on which family rule the kingdom," Derrick answered.
"You're slightly wrong on that," Count Dale said. "If you studied the family crest of the Linh and the Voclain, you will see that their crest were slightly different from before and during the time they ruled as the royal family of Aur."
Derrick was stunned. In fact, he had realised this fact long time ago when he was reading the history, but he did not bother to clarify it out.
"There was a change made to their family crest when they ruled the kingdom," Derrick said. "If I'm not mistaken, it was a diamond. A diamond was added to the original crest!"
"It was not a diamond," Count Dale interfered with his son's train of thought. "It was Blueleaf."
"Blueleaf? What is it exactly?" Derrick could not help but asking because he had never read about these before.
"The flower which grows at the Golden District, its name is Blueleaf," Count Dale said. "And it is used as a royal symbol."
"Blueleaf only grow in Aur... Aur was the place where magic still exist... The throne chose its ruler..." Derrick mumbled a string of words to himself. "Magic..."
Derrick went into a quiet stance, his mind was thinking on various things. Count Dale looked at his eldest son, a faint smile could be seen from his slightly curved lips. He actually felt blessed to have him as his son, because this son of his was a mature, rational, and broad-minded youth if compared to his peers. He was someone who was dependable, and this fact eased him a lot. Thinking about his daughter who was in the other carriage, wasn't she also someone he put his pride on?
"It's really my blessings to have these sensible kids," Count Dale mumbled.
"Derrick," he brought his son back from his deep thought by calling his name. "We will arrive at the capital soon, you don't have to contemplate about these things now. I'll explain more to you after we come back to Valkoinen."
Derrick hesitated before he nodded. His father has always been his role model, and whatever decision his father make, he will surely follow.
Count Dale smiled at the obedient youth. Neither of them knew that they won't be able to come back home sooner as they planned, and the continuation of their conversation would not be resumed due to the events that would be transpired not far in the future.