"Oh my, what marvelous work!"
"Such attention to minute detail!"
"Exquisite! I've never seen anything like it!"
All of the capital's most influential collectors and merchants gathered to view the beautiful series of vases Magnus made, each far more decadent than the last. The spectators were practically drooling at the sight of them.
"(Aaaand pottery is boring…) Have someone sell those for me…" Magnus walked out.
...
"Another hole in one!"
"Whoaa that one was his first swing again!"
"He's going to win not having swung twice at any hole at this rate!"
"(Hmmm, golf was easier than I thought it'd be. I guess I can scratch this off the list. Sports aren't fun with no challengers…)" Magnus dropped his golf club and walked off on the last hole. He contemplated burning down the country club clone alpha had built but decided against it.
.....
"Such masterful brush strokes. How can someone of common birth be so cultured already?"
"I don't even know many of these characters he's using."
"Magnus these are brilliant! What is your secret?"
Magnus' new calligraphy collection ranged several languages and had an even broader range of fonts. "(I have to leave they're going to ruin calligraphy for me.)" All the spectators made it hard to focus "A clear mind and a loose wrist. If you will excuse me, I have a thing somewhere…"
....
"He won again!"
"It's like whatever he picks is the luck number!" How is it possible!"
"He doesn't get bad hands!"
"That guy's taken me for every coin I have!"
"(Gambling too!?! I didn't even have to cheat to win these games. I can see through every trick or bluff they try!) DAMN! I want to lose at least once at something!" Magnus flips the table and leaves all his winnings after cleaning out all of the gamblers at the black market's gambling house.
...
"Magnus! Where are you?! Strange, he usually just appears when I need him." Noelle was looking for Magnus at the estate. She had checked all of his usual places; his office( which was sealed off), the new arcade, the forge, his room, the kitchen, the training field, the garden, all of them and no sign of him. "He has to be around here somewhere…Hmmm?" Suddenly she heard movement in a vacant guest room. "Who's in here?" She asked walking in. "Magnus? W-what are you doing!?!" He had a tourniquet tied on his right arm and held out and a Zangetsu in his other hand.
"(This might make the year more interesting…)" Magnus thought while steadying his blade. "I'll master everything with only my left arm!"
"MAGNUS NO!" She tackled him and took the sword. "What are you doing?!"
"Everything is too easy!" Magnus cried. "I'm bored to my core!"
"So cutting your arm off is the answer?!"
"Yes, then I'll be forced to master everything with my less dominant hand! A fair challenge and I'll become ambidextrous!"
"That's the dumbest idea you've ever had! There's no way I'm letting you do that!"
"Just the hand?"
"NO!"
"My fingers? Ow!" Noelle punched him in the back of his head. "I was going to restore it when the year was up!"
"I don't care if you can restore your arm, that isn't an excuse to mutilate yourself! What's wrong with you?"
"I already said I'm bored" Magnus pouted. "Nothing challenges me, I can't train, I can't participate in politics, and I can't even look at my profits let alone do business! It's like the system wants me to be Gali!"
"From what I understand the mission is meant for you to get some rest. You practically built a powerhouse kingdom in four years and managed to stay stronger than a demon dragon. That's still an impossible feat even if you weren't only thirteen. Take some time to enjoy being young you workaholic."
"I guess you're right…" Magnus sighed. "Alright, I'll finish the year with both arms…Happy?"
"I am. Don't forget you offered to make a sword for the king, he was nagging about that."
"Already finished, I presented it to him personally…" A short flashback shows the king prancing around the throne room giddily throwing magic slashes everywhere, he felt so majestic and strong destroying his throne room. Magnus was fighting back his laughter watching the royal man-child at play.
"I don't even know if I want to finish the list anymore" Magnus sighed again even more dramatically.
"Well…how about trying something Samuel was better than Troy at? Unless he was only a gluttonous arsonist back then too…" Noelle suggested.
"Glutton yes, arsonist no…" Magnus laughed before his face lit up "Noelle you gorgeous god-sent genius! There was one thing he was actually good at though!"
"O-of course I'm a genius you idiot…(Kyaaa he called me a gorgeous god-sent genius!? )" She tried to look serious to hide her pleasure from the compliment. So What was he good at, cooking?"
"No, he learned to cook right before our birthday. Sammy was actually brilliant painter back then. He had a crazy obsession with art. Is he still any good though?"
"Yes, when he was younger he painted a few of the pieces still on display at the Vermillion estate. Until umm 'that' happened…" Noelle looked away uncomfortably
"What happened?" Magnus curiosity was piqued.
"Well umm maybe you should see for yourself… I'll take you to see a noble named Rill Boismortier, he kept Galileo's 'Special series'".
"Special series? How intriguing…" He realized Noelle was still sitting on him "So this the part where I get a sexy backrub? Ow!" Noelle hit him again before leaving the room.
"I want stuffed pot potatoes for dinner when we get back!" She yelled from outside.
...…
At the Boismortier's museum people enjoyed looking all kinds of artifacts, models, sculpture's, paintings and other decorative creations on display. The art was impressive indeed, Magnus felt as though he was visiting the renaissance era. Magnus and Noelle took their time visiting the many art pieces before someone came to speak to them.
"Is that Noelle Silva-"
"Pendragon." She corrected.
Noelle Pendragon! So this must be the kingdom's own golden boy Magnus Pendragon! Nice to meet you finally and thanks for visiting my families' gallery!" Greeting them was an enthusiastic young man with a mess of aqua blue hair and a genuinely childlike smile. "Take your time look around and enjoy the exhibits! If there's anything you want to buy just speak with my assistant. Sorry I can't chat much but I've got a piece I'm in the middle of right now, but when I heard you were here I had to speak. it was a pleasure to meet you!"
"Actually Rill" Noelle said. "We're here to see you specifically."
"Huh? What about?"
"'Those' paintings."
"WHAT? Why would you want to see those?" Ril was surprised she asked him, he looked around nervously. "That's not something we really talk about you know?"
"Magnus wants to try his hand at painting now that he found out Gali was good at it."
"It's very risky to view his art, but if you can handle it. I'll show you, follow me." He led them down a hidden stairway in the back. "Gali was one of the best this kingdom has ever seen…to bad the council banned him from art" Rill sighed.
"Why was he banned from painting?" Magnus was becoming more curious. "Did he make something that offensive?"
"No it's nothing like that" Rill said turning on a light, showing covered cases in the room. "I think it's because he was a magical creature, but a few of his paintings to became cursed if he painted when in a bad mood, and he painted to relive stress hahaha… Bad things happen when people viewed them for too long. I couldn't let them be destroyed on account of how amazingly inspirational they were so I let him keep them sealed away down here. My paint magic somehow gives me a resistance to them, so it all worked out because I really like them." He stopped in front of one "this one is a particularly powerful piece. It's titled 'Endless malice'.
"Sounds hateful…" Magnus said
"It is." Rill pulled the cover off revealing an abstract work of a void of black circled by a torrent blood red clouds.
"This is a cursed painting? I was picturing…something more…more" Magnus didn't realize it but he began to hear inaudible whispers trying to lull him into a trance. He couldn't tell what he was hearing, he was becoming more and more angry as each second passed."
"Magnus stop! It's the painting!" Noelle held him back. He didn't realize it but a sword was in his hand raised and emitting Amaterasu's flames. The entire room trembled under his growing rage.
Rill quickly covered it "that's why we keep them down here in these sealed casings. The cursed paintings are pretty dangerous. They emit a dark aura that corrupts your heart and soul the longer you look at them."
"(That wasn't an illusion…or my sharingan would have been easily able to break it. Could there really be some cursed power in these paintings)? Can I see another?
"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to show you those heheh, the capital might be in trouble if they get to you too much." Ril was worried about that sword attack he was so ready to unleash.
"Please just one?" Magnus begged.
"Alright, but no weapons Magnus."
"Ok then on to the next one!" Magnus uncovered another painting titled 'alone'. A dark image of strange floating eyes watching a child huddled in fear. The longer Magnus looked he could feel the darkness spreading around him as if he was there too, the child's fear and loneliness etched itself into his heart and the judging eyes seemed to peer into Magnus' very own soul pointing out all of his flaws. He could clearly feel the child's despair as if he was sitting in his place, waiting for a sad lonely end. A deep feeling of depression washed over Magnus.
"Magnus?" Noelle noticed the tears streaming down his face, again it wasn't an illusion but he could clearly feel the intent in these works.
"I-I'm fine." Wiping his face "These paintings are indeed powerful, to inspire such strong emotion."
"Yeah people tend to do some pretty crazy things if they see one of these for too long so, it was decided by the royal court Galileo couldn't paint anymore, nor were we allowed to talk about his ability to do so. That was quite a few years ago though…now that I think about it when he stopped stress painting is around the time he became an arsonist." Rill spun around happily loving his cursed art collection. "They would've destroyed them but Octavius helped us steal em all!"
"I GOT IT!" Magnus exclaimed.
"Huh!? Got what!? Noelle was startled by his sudden outburst.
"I will create a painting more powerful than anything in this room and take the title of number one artist from Gali! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Ahem!"
"number two….I'll be coming for your spot next…" As much as he hated to admit it who in this world was going to out paint Rill?
"You need any tips?"
"No thanks I can figure it out.
...…..
After gathering a large series of art supplies, Magnus locked himself into his room. That evening he had no plans of sleeping.
"Better than me at anything? Let's see how long that lasts Gali! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"SHUT UP MAGNUS! IT'S TOO LATE FOR VILLAIN LAUGHING!" Noelle roared from another room.
"Sorry! Way to kill the moment..."
"I will show the people of Clover a masterpiece!" After several days of silence accompanied except for the occasional shouts of frustration and an explosion or two, Magnus emerged from his room looking extremely tired, his hair a mess and he was covered in paint. "I've done it!" Everyone present gathered around to see Magnus masterpiece, but an extremely overwhelming aura of domination bore down on everyone but Noelle. 'Only those who are worthy could meet the royal couple at eye level' it seemed to say. An image of an older Magnus least (in his twenties or so, sitting on a glorious golden throne with swords of all kinds melded behind it. An older Noelle sat in in his embrace staring lovingly into his eyes both wore crowns and decadent regal attires. "Behold! 'The Emperor and Empress's splendor'! How magnificent is it!" No one could deny Magnus artwork among the kingdom's best. "Hah suck on that Gali! I took the lead in yet another field! HAHAHAHAHAAA!"
.....
"It's a shame they left before they got to see Gali's best one, he painted this one in a really good mood too." Just after Magnus and Noelle left, Rill walked to the back of the hidden Gallery and uncovered the largest painting titled 'Freedom'. The painting was of a lush jungle landscape with gorgeous flora and crystal-clear waterfalls that seemed to flow on the canvas under a breathtaking sunset. The fresh smell of flowers and the call of exotic birds emanated from the painting. Just looking at it gave one a feeling that life would forever be a wonderful adventure free from all worry. "This one always puts me in a good mood!"