About an hour or two after the young prince left, Seran rose from the chair he'd napped on with a yawn and a stretch. A quick glance around the room revealed it to be empty of any other presences, prompting him to walk over to Johann's desk and tap on the communication magic tool to contact a receptionist.
An unfamiliar male voice apprehensively, and inquisitively, spoke through the tool, "Might I ask who is in the guildmaster's office?"
"Ah, it's Seran Greenwood. I came up here earlier and ended up taking a nap. Since I just got up and the office is empty, I'm looking to find out where everyone ran off to."
"Oh, it is Sir Greenwood, I remember one of my coworkers mentioning you went up a while ago. Prince Andrew and his guard left to 'explore', as they put it, about... I'd say an hour and a half ago? The prince looked close to tears but he had a huge smile, so nobody asked any questions. It was quite a sight, though... As for Guildmaster Johann, he headed to the Imperial Palace to inform the prime minister of your arrival. Apparently, a messenger arrived an hour ago with a letter to inform the prime minister upon your arrival in the city. He should be close to the Palace by now."
"I see. Thank you very much. I'll immediately head out to catch up with the guildmaster." Hanging up the connection, Seran then asked William if he could find Johann or Prince Andrew on the map.
[The prince is quite a distance away from us, but he's rather easy to find. As for Johann, he's at the Palace gates. What's the call, Seran?] William was as active as ever, even while Seran was conked out. By memorizing unique life and magic signatures, it was possible for him to track anyone on the map, thus making the locating of Johann and Prince Andrew a piece of cake.
After a short moment of pondering, Seran decided, "Teleport me to the prince first then. We can catch up to Johann together from there. A portal might be easier, but it might cause more problems with the defenses of the city, so using teleportation should be the better of the two."
[As you command, your majesty.]
"Don't you start too, William."
[I don't think I ever mentioned stopping before.]
"Touche..."
____
A large, bustling continental capital was bound to be heavily populated and, therefore, noisy no matter the location it was situated. Still, places were always found and made into recreational or relaxation retreats. One of such places was build around an underground pocket of magical water that was revealed when the mountain was cut down by the Founding Emperor two millenniums ago. With clarity so perfect it made the air look less clear, the underground pocket, now an aboveground lake, was thus named the Pool of Heaven, as it looked exactly like the sky above it in a manner that made it look like the sky itself had become liquefied into a pool. Around this new lake was built a park encompassed by a sound-cancelling array to tune out all of the hustle and bustle, leaving only the serene feeling of the park itself. Due to the unique nature of the Pool of Heaven, flora of both mundane and magical origins grew and blossomed around the park's liquid centerpiece, making it not just a calm and peaceful park, but a national, and even continental wonder of nature that was only made possible by accident. The Pool of Heaven and its encompassing span of flora was protected and cared for meticulously daily by professionals, and, due to how wondrous it was, it became labelled as a continental holy land that people journeyed to witness at least once in their lives.
Seated at one of the numerous carved stone benches situated around the park was young Prince Andrew, along with his loyal guard Rexus, a wide smile plastered on his face as he breathed the park's magically charged air like he intended to inhale all of it at once. He'd visited this park numerous times, but, due to his body's previous condition, he couldn't sense anything more than a normal person would feel magical energy: it was there, but it couldn't be felt at all, no matter how hard one tried. Now, the changes to his body had opened his eyes, and his entire being, to the mystical wonders that made the park so famous. Such feeling made him truly exhilarated, as if his entire life so far was all worth it for him to get such an opportunity.
Because his senses had only just been opened, he was as sensitive to the magical energy of the world as a newborn would be, hypersensitive and more than a little bit confused. Of course, newborns quickly forget about such things as they grow older, as they don't understand it anyway, but Prince Andrew was certainly old enough to know and understand what these feelings were. Having stronger sensitivity than other users of magical abilities, such as Mages, Priests, and numerous specialized classes, can make or break one's chances in life. A Fire Mage with higher sensitivity than another Fire Mage would be capable of much more than their opponent, and some of the most sensitive Mages are even able to defeat those of higher class grade than their own. The prince could feel every source of magical energy in the range of his senses with extraordinary accuracy, could tell which was stronger than others, and even identify the differences between individual flora of magical origins. In his senses, the strongest source of magical energy was the Pool of Heaven, which gave off the feeling of mystical serenity with a docile but strong aura akin to that of a patient, well-trained sheepdog, though of stronger concentration by far.
As he rested his body and actively felt the magical auras around him, young Prince Andrew felt a shift in energy beside him, like the air itself was folding. Before he could ponder what it meant, the shifting stopped as a new source of magical energy appeared where the oddity had been. This new source of energy was strange to him, yet familiar. It held more power than Johann Juneau, the only S-rank magic user, by an astronomical amount, but it was highly condensed and controlled, making it nearly impossible to sense without strong sensitivity to magical energy. Prince Andrew instinctively moved to distance himself from the suddenly appearing power source, but he stopped quickly when he heard a familiar voice from it.
"Enjoying your new physical condition, Prince Andrew?"