The next day.
Calian was unable to sleep through the night. His mind was a bundle of mess due to what had occurred at the banquet hall.
Allan visited him first thing in the morning. Soon as he saw Calian, he spoke gruffly, voice smooth, "Have you sorted out your mind?"
Calian looked at Allan with a look of surprise, mouth parted. The wise mage knew his troubled mind though he had yet to speak of it.
Allan chuckled. "If you haven't sorted everything yet, then simply let it pass like the fleeting wind."
Hearing Allan's words, Calian couldn't help but let out a laugh. Allan oftentimes spoke of words out of the blue, things that were unnecessary. Nevertheless, it helped out Calian.
He soon stopped his soft laughter and relayed to Allan what happened with Franz and him at the banquet. After learning Franz hadalmostconfirmed Calian had changed, Allan nodded.
"If it's Franz, it's understandable that he'd know by now. Though he's quite the roughneck, it's not like he's completely dull in the mind," Allan praised.
Calian frowned and rolled his lips together. He neither had positive nor negative thoughts about Franz.
"At first, I pretended that I knew nothing, but he wouldn't believe that."
Allan laughed loudly. He looked at Calian and asked, "What basis would he believe in anyway?"
As Calian opened his lips to answer, he suddenly closed it.
Seeing his hesitation, Allan said, "You still retain the memories of the life Calian led in the past, do you not? Just like you said, even if he realizes what happened, you need not reveal everything to him. Don't worry about it too much."
Allan made a pondering noise of'hmm'for a moment.
Putting aside that should Calian's identity be revealed, Allan knew that Calian was no longer willing to the life of Bern. He was thinking of recommending that he live like Calian of the past to fool Franz and dissuade Franz from suspecting him any further. However, it was not something Allan had the right to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
Instead, he pulled out an item from his pocket after staring for a little while.
"Take it," Allan said.
It was a small box made out of a tin. Inside was a silver-colored ring. Feeling the thick ring that had no symbol nor a carved design, Calian asked, "What is this?"
"Try it on," Allan smiled, "I'm sure you'll like it."
Calian wondered what finger he should put it on. It was big, after all. He made do with his index finger. Then, amazingly, the ring automatically reduced its size to perfectly fit Calian's index finger.
He knew the ring had a magical ability, but still, he was unable to hold back a surprised sound. Calian looked at Allan curiously.
"Whenever you're curious about what this old man thinks, then all you need to do is call out to him."
"I see…"
The ring had communication magic cast onto it, surprising Calian very much. It was actually what he was most worried about. Allan was the only one who knew most about his precarious situation. If he wasn't there, there'd be no one for Calian to speak open-mindedly with.
"The inside of the palace is covered in Sispanian's power, so it has no use. It'd be difficult for me to communicate with you when inside the palace. But if you call out to me whenever you're outside, I'll be able to answer you immediately."
Calian's face relaxed. Though he knew Allan spent most of his time inside the palace grounds, he felt relieved knowing he'd be able to rely on Allan from time to time.
"Thank you. That makes me relieved." Calian smiled.
Allan watched Calian smile. He smiled in return, a little too deviously. Calian didn't know that Euria was tearing up, saying that the academy's treasure vault had been emptied out once again.
Only
Allan nodded, playing the part of a wise mage like usual.
He suddenly remembered the other reason he came here for. He cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and said, "Ah, a contact came from the palace that my carriage went to last time."
He was talking about Melfir Pollun.
Calian nodded. "Have you met him?"
"Yes. He visited me personally yesterday. I had to greet him. Look like you've found another talented person. He had quite the head for numbers."
Art…
Then, Allan pulled out yet another thing from his pocket. It was the documents for the selection of a location site for the magic school, its costs for construction, initial operating cost, appointment fee for the professors, and so on. It simply meant that he needed payment for all of these.
Calian read through all the documents carefully and nodded.
"He said that he is going to rely on you for the first payments, prince. Is that not a bit too much?" as the payment was an exorbitant amount, Allan asked with worry in his voice.
"The cost is nothing to worry about. Baron Pollun is planning to run the magic school personally without relying on the finances of the royal family. Only then I will be able to involve myself in it, after all. Even though it may not be as much as what you have, teacher, but I should at least have something for myself as well, don't you think?"
Allan nodded after understanding what Calian meant by that, agreeing to what he was saying. Soon afterward, Calian stood up and brought out a bundle of checks from the safe and handed it to Allan.
"Please give it to him in my stead."
"It's a large amount of money. Are you sure you can just give it to the baron like this?"
He was asking whether he needed to keep an eye on Baron Pollun to make sure that he uses the money for its proper use.
Calian leisurely nodded his head. "Yes. You can leave it to him."
Even though it was a large sum of money, to Melfir, he was used to dealing with this much. On top of that, Calian knew that he's not someone that would throw away trust just for that amount of money.
"But because Baron Pollun is just a merchant, he doesn't know anything about magic. I'm sure he is probably going to be repeatedly seeking advice from the union or from you directly, so please help him out while I'm gone."
"You need not worry about that."
Afterwards, Calian asked Allan a number of questions about magic schools rather than continuing his magic lessons. He requested for Allan to also inform Melfir about things that would help him out.
After conversing like that for a while, they heard a knock from the outside.
It was Yan.
"Your highness, I apologize but you have the next appointment coming up."
It meant that Yan was asking them to finish the conversation for now.
After hearing that, Allan stood up from his seat and started to head out.
"I will come back in the afternoon," said Allan.
It meant that he was going to come back to give him magic lessons. Calian replied to Allan after hearing that.
"The appointment's about having to greet the knights of Siegfrieds for a moment. It won't take too long, so unless you have other appointments to attend to, why not stay here and talk with me for today?"
Calian was asking Allan to just do away with the lessons and chat all day. As Calian was leaving to go meet the Sispanians tomorrow, Allan won't be able to see Calian again for a while. Therefore, Allan laughed and agreed to his suggestion.
In front of the main gates of Chermil Palace were twenty knights wearing black armor lining up and waiting for Calian. Of course, these were handpicked knights chosen by Slayman and came to the Chermil Palace to greet Calian before heading off.
Kyrie, who was already at the location ahead of Calian, was staring at the knights with eagerness to prove he was better than them. As Kyrie was someone that also specialized in swords, he was feeling eager to see and judge the difference between them and himself. Of course, the knights of Siegfried also felt that way towards Kyrie as well.
As the Duke's knights and the prince's bodyguard silently battled each other in their mind, Calian, Allan, and Yan came outside of the palace.
Calian and Allan walked side by side and the servant Yan followed a few steps behind quietly
. Seeing Yan back there, the knights all gripped their fist even harder. Yan didn't know anything about that, of course, and simply smiled while giving them a greeting through his eyes.
As it was only the knight Yuran Lauchell who led the group that met Calian back at yesterday's luncheon, Calian was meeting the rest of the knights for the first time.
Because of that, Calian studied the faces of all the knights carefully individually.
'Hmmm.'
Soon, a peculiar smile came onto his lips.
He heard about the Siegfried Knights and now he was able to see how strong they were to hold their dignity. It was enough for Calian to realize how much effort Slayman put into picking the best of the best. Whether it was their size or spirit, it made Kyrie, who stood in front of them, look like a child.
But of course, that wasn't the only reason Calian was making that face.
'Huh, lookie here.'
The knights that came to guard the prince were eyeing him with completely different intentions than someone who came to protect.
Putting those eyes into words, it sounded like,'Are you the bastard who's treating our young nobleman like a common servant?'
That would be the perfect explanation.
Standing next to Calian, Allan saw their feelings as well and smiled, as if finding this was all very interesting to him. Allan actually wished these knights would get a chance to see the demonstration of the prince's sword techniques.
Of course, since he couldn't see into the future, they might possibly be able to see it during the proceedings of Roselita as well. He was curious about how their expression would change once they saw it.
Since Kyrie would be able to see the prince's demonstration of sword techniques, he couldn't completely hide away his giddiness.
Meanwhile, Yan who wasn't able to understand the situation at all tilted his head and asked. "Is there something bothering you, Your Highness?"
Calian made a broad smile.
Only
Instead of saying that he felt uncomfortable since the knights would pound him into the ground as soon as they left Kailis, Calian spoke to the knights while staring at them back directly into their eyes.
"Yan, go bring something to drink."
Hearing Calian say that, a huge amount of jealousy emanating from the knights was felt by Calian.
As the people he would be traveling with would be treating him this way the whole time, he felt that he won't have any time to worry about Franz.
Allan, who was watching this staring contest and finding much joy from it, said, "What a shame that I am not able to accompany you for this journey."
Calian, who was staring at each and every one of the knights and declaring war upon them all, finally opened his mouth and spoke to them.
"Well then, I hope you can all help me safely arrive there."
Yet again, a deep smile came to his face, practically becoming a habit.