- Meanwhile at the Palace -
"What did he say?" the Prince questioned the two men in front of him.
"He says he didn't know of such things being in the crates," Tarif reported.
"Check his shipment track records and try to find any correlation with the timing of the contraband coming in," the Prince flips through a few documents, "and find out who sends the products. Go over to the shipment handlers and do an investigation on them. There's a chance that other store lines have been affected as well. If that's it, then leave."
"Yes, Your Highness," Tarif bowed.
The second knight stepped forward.
"Have you prepared a report on who will be going to investigate?"
"I have prepared the knights, Your Highness," the knight hands the Prince a report.
The Prince looks over the document and with a snap of his fingers, he makes another copy.
"Keep a copy with you. Go to Khorasa and Fariq in the Investigation room on the first floor. They have potions and spells to repel black magic influence and take the curse off items. They'll explain in more detail. Now, go."
"Yes, Your Highness," the second knight bowed and took his leave too.
The Prince clenched his fist and closed his eyes for a moment. The silence in the room was relaxing. After meeting and having to deal with all those people, the Prince couldn't find a moment to relax since last night. He sat like that for a couple of minutes before getting up to grab his coat from his closet.
'Time to work some more,' he sighed as he waved the doors open.
He headed towards the library, with Shareef and a few other mages from the First Division. He instructed them to find records of Sufian's criminal history and of those who were affiliated with him. Much info was not recorded down since Sufian had erased it before the destruction of the previous empire so looking through the archives would take some time.
"While all of you are at it," the Prince looked at the mages in front of him, "I want records of Sabrina Anya Abraha's whereabouts in the past two years. I am pretty sure the records should be listed somewhere in here."
The Prince turned around and left the mages alone to look through the aisles of books. The grand library was so large, it was almost the size of the royal ballroom. Books lined the shelves, all the way to the top. Librarians were seen flying up and down using magical platforms, organizing shelves, and taking out books. Big windows opened to a beautiful view of the Palace's famous gardens and large oasis.
Animals were seen roaming leisurely in the garden as the animal-keepers watched after them. The Prince looked up at the blue sky and then at the blinking lights far out in the city. He turned away from the window and entered a room in the back. It was dark where this room was positioned, and not many people came in.
The Prince took out a stick and drew out a pattern on the door. The door glowed a bright purple and opened to a dark room. The Prince lit the candles in the room.
"Lavanthos," he said as he waved his hand at the candles.
The room was dimly lit and the Prince walked over to a shelf of books that were sealed tight in a glass case. The glass was really strong, protected with many layers of magic. It was almost impossible to open the magic glass without alarming the mages of the tower. It was death to even touch the glass with your bare finger.
But, it was encoded, so that the Prince can open it only with the touch of his hand. He touched the glass, and it shimmered away to let the Prince take out the book.
It was the Magical Genetic Theory System. It contained the mana and powers of all registered mana-users. It was an important system that regulated mana-users under the protection of the law. The Prince flipped through the book to see who was abusing their magic. The book was no simple book. It floated in the air as holograms of people and their data whooshed by. The Prince's quick eyes just skimmed through the pages. With a flick of his hand, he organized all the information and sorted it into different groups. He picked out profiles of people he thought were showing abnormal information and black-listed them.
The Prince made a copy of the people he thought were showing weird mana-use and pushed it to the side. He would hand a copy to the knights to investigate those people and he closed the book as he finished looking through it. He put it back in its glass case and the shield came back to enclose the book once again.
The Prince made this theory system to reign proper mana-users and destroy those who abused magic. Those who were not registered and still used the dark arts would pop up in the book. But, a person who isn't registered doesn't appear in the book, only when their mana isn't used for ill-intentions. The city has been laid with spells to detect black magic. Too many layering spells to detect all sorts of magic would burden mages who have to periodically strengthen the security. So, the Prince only used detection spells to detect black magic. Citizens are already aware of what the consequences are if they don't register in the system. It was a very efficient method to keep society in check, but it took a long time to finally get things into order. The Prince looked through the report. He put it down and stood confused and relieved at the same time.
'That little thug wasn't in the report for those who got black-listed...then why is she also not registered as a mana-user?'
The Prince's curiosity got the best of him. He shook his head, 'She's probably going to register when she's a bit older.'
He walked out of the room and the door locked itself. The Prince went back to the library and sought out some mages to look at the report. Time passed by as many different people came by to talk to him about the status of the investigation. The Prince felt his eyes glancing towards the city every now and then.
"Your Highness?" a mage called.
The Prince looked in the direction of the voice, and the mage flinched.
"Speak."
"T-the knights just sent a report saying that they r-recognized a few of the people in the p-photos," the small woman stammered.
The Prince felt a bit irritated. 'Why do I feel like going outside all of a sudden?' The irritation must have shown on his face as the woman in front of him trembled a little.
"Good. Tell the knights to keep them under their radars," he looked outside again, "leave."
"Yes, Y-your Highness," the woman left quickly.
'I'll go fly outside a bit to clear my mind.'
The Prince spent the remainder of the day receiving documents and meeting other council members and nobles to discuss other matters.
Without realizing, he felt a bit happy to be able to turn into a crow and for once he didn't resent himself for it.