Both men still didn't say anything nor did they move, just looked at Nick in a slight surprise. If Zia had only some features of a different race, then these two men were definitely from another continent. Nick didn't know, but it wasn't too hard to figure out that Zia's mother was from somewhere far away and these two men came along to guard her. Maybe there were even more like them, but hidden in the surroundings.
"Do you think she can start cleaning her Qi pathways? I mean, maybe even if it's just taking supplemental baths – that would help her later immensely." Nick continued to look at the men in black.
"What baths, are you thinking of something perverted again?!" Zia was confused and a bit angry.
"Hahaha! What's going on in that head of yours?" Nick laughed and poked her forehead, "Where do you even get these ideas?"
Princess blushed, "Older sisters always say that all the guys in the capital are perverted."
Looks like she was only repeating something she heard and tried to sound clever.
"Doesn't matter." Nick still laughed, then patted her shoulder, "It is like this. If you want to become strong, you have to practice Qi, you know that, right? But first you need to clear your Qi pathways. If I am not wrong, usually children at the age of ten start doing that. There are many techniques which they can perform themselves and sometimes their elders also help. But there is another method that helps a lot – one can take special medicinal baths and it becomes easier to clear those pathways. Maybe it's possible to strengthen Qi pathways in the process as well."
"How do you know all of it?" Zia poked him, "Did you also take those baths? Or is the one you are taking now like that?"
"The people who poisoned me put me through a lot of torture, maybe there were such baths." Nick didn't really want to tell all his secrets, especially in front of these strong people he didn't know, "But this bath is for removing the poison. I will still have to take these for many days to get better. Even now I have a fever and shiver all over."
"So you think I can get stronger if I take those special baths?" It was like a drug to Zia, since she was addicted to idea of 'getting stronger'.
Nick looked at the bodyguards and thought for a bit, "I think you should ask your mother."
Finally the faces of both men changed.
"Why? She is not that strong and she doesn't have a sword." Zia shook her head.
"I don't know if she is strong or not, but I don't think that stupid person can become a queen. Moreover she is your mother, just talk to her, she would love that." Nick suddenly got sad.
It has been a long time since he spoke to his own mother, and he didn't even had a single talk with the second one before she was killed.
"All right!" Zia suddenly stood up, "Let's go and ask her!"
Nick instantly lost all his sadness. This little princess never ran out of optimism and energy.
"You do that. And don't forget – train your tenacity first and read many books. It will help you later a lot."
To the confusion of others, both kids bumped their fists, and then Nick continued his bath while Zia returned to the palace.
After the return she immediately visited her mother and after some discussion that involved a mild tantrum, tears and afterwards – hugging, queen Hua promised, she will 'think about it'.
Ling was standing in front of Hua, reporting.
"Did he really say that? That boy is definitely not simple. Did you find any details on his background?" She asked.
"This is what worries me, master." Ling answered, "Initially we thought he is related to royal hunter Ben Donnel, but the reports say the latter has lost all his relatives. When I spoke to him about Nick, Ben just said that he is his nephew. Ben naturally knows what is going on, but he is very loyal to his majesty and probably is waiting for his return to report directly. They have some special relationship, because without a reason his majesty wouldn't have invented the position of a royal hunter. Anyway, if the boy was a threat to the palace, Ben would definitely act. My conclusion is that Nick is not in any way dangerous. I think we have suspicions, because he's way too smart for a seven year old, but there are special circumstances and we will find out about them at a later date."
"Do you think we should provide her with the Qi baths?" Queen changed the subject.
"Master, our alchemy techniques are a little different from those from the Mainland continent. That was also one of the reasons you could start practicing earlier back in the day. Although we have not checked the condition of her pathways, the daughter of Alexander Maxwell and princess Hua can't possibly be a waste. On the contrary, I think she could be a true genius like both her parents." Ling answered.
Queen laughed, "Well, since my daughter is so eager to practice on her own, I can't stand in her way. Can I? Let her start taking baths from tomorrow on … wait! Let her take bath only if she has finished a book that day! Hahaha! I have to thank that child Nick. Making her read is a great idea! Hahaha!"
Thus, starting the next day Zia got her opportunity to become stronger, but she did not forget to grumble about the reading. Still, there were already two people who managed to trick her in to reading in order to make her stronger.
Nick continued to soak in his bathtub. After fifteen more days the fewer was gone and the shivering lessened. He started to run around the courtyard during breaks, and, because he didn't manage to tire himself out, he began to train a handstand to learn walking upside down. He figured – since it's much harder than a regular walking, by practicing that way he would become more tenacious.
The dark smelly substance was still seeping out Nick's pores. He had an impression that during this time he had already leaked toxins several times his own volume.
Also Nick had a small progress in his Qi techniques. By increasing the amount of practice he noticed that the Qi started to flow through his bones and muscles as well, not only through the regular routes. If there was anyone he could ask advice from, he would be told that it's normal and that is also how beasts get stronger. But since he had to figure everything out by himself, he decided that he should take more baths, so the toxins from his bones were also driven out by the Qi and medicine. It looked like his skin color got brighter as well, but he was not fully certain of that.
While soaking in his tub, Nick missed taking part in basically everything that happened in the capital.
He only practiced while Ben was busy organizing the Royal hunting festival. And he was still soaking and practicing when the king and the royal cavalry returned to the capital with a grand festivity marking this return.
During this time Nick did have some encounters with royalties – Zia visited him few times. She would've loved to run around more, but seeing her friend still soaking in the bath, she remembered his words when he told that getting strong requires a lot of patience and doing unpleasant things. Thus she mostly spent her time in the palace reading and also soaking.
Another 'royal' encounter Nick had when he went out to restock the medicine and got almost ran down by the crown prince's carriage. In anger he flipped the finger towards the aggressor, but it turned out that this world also recognized the universal symbol. As the result he had to run from prince's guards for several blocks until he managed to loose them in the crowd.
If princess Zia, till she met Nick, was known as the 'nightmare' of the royal palace, then crown prince Helio was the 'nightmare' of the capital Aurora. He was the only son of the second queen Helena and king Alexander Maxwell and, in fact, the only son the king had. Queen Hua had only one daughter – Zia and the first queen as well as the third one both had two daughters.
Thus the fifteen year old Helio took Aurora as his own playground and did anything he wanted, especially when his father was not around. He didn't drink and waste his life in brothels, in fact, he thought of such establishments were way below him. In addition, he didn't have any friends he could spend the time with while drinking and playing with women.
Prince mostly showed off and threw his weight around without caring for opinions of others and, actually, lives of others. From time to time he 'patrolled' the streets of Aurora in his carriage punishing those who did not show him the 'proper' respect. Mostly his victims got away with few broken limbs, but there were those who lost their lives as well. Luckily for Nick, in his encounter with the crown prince, he got away with a light scare.
Be as it may, people of Aurora partially celebrated the return of the king so heartily because they knew he will put a stop to his son's stupidity.
It took three months for Nick to stop discharging toxins. And even then he continued the same routine for several more days just to make sure he didn't have any left. Thus he had spent almost ninety days by soaking in the tub and practicing Qi.
Meanwhile he did educate himself a bit as well, although this education came mostly from auntie Maria's gossip. Even though this was not some academical knowledge, he learned many small things and traditions of this world.
For example, with the nature waking up, the New Year in the whole world begun in the spring. Therefore around forty days ago he missed the New Year's celebration. In fact, he missed three big festivals – the Royal hunting festival, the New Year and the king's victorious return.
With the New Year's celebration in the Sun kingdom began the 708th year of the Sun calendar. Most people of the Mainland continent used this calendar, albeit not all countries used the name 'Sun calendar', particularly those in the south.
Also, according to the local traditions, everyone got a year older after the New Year's festival. As such Nick seemed to have reached the eight years of age, at least formally. When Nick 'acquired' this body, he was already over twenty, therefore it didn't matter if anyone thought he was seven or eight years old. He tried to figure out what his actual age was at the moment, but after wrecking his brains for a while he decided to stop at eight – it was much simpler to be a child.
Maria also informed him about the political structure in the capital. There were three main aristocratic families, each with the inheritance of several hundred years, and multiple smaller aristocrats, including ministers and other government officials.
The three main families were located at the respective sides of the capital, that, in fact, corresponded with their main businesses. Evans family was near the port and controlled everything that was in any way related to the sea or seafaring, including fishing, shipbuilding and inter-continental trade. Meyers were in the south, controlling most of the trade in the capital and the surrounding regions. And Rollen family was based in the west of the capital. They controlled most of the military production in the whole kingdom.
All three of them held the power balance in the capital in their hands and the smaller aristocrats were mostly in name, with no big monetary influence. The heads of each family held more importance than the prime minister, but at the same time they completely obeyed the king and their loyalty was indisputable. This power structure in the Sun kingdom had't changed in centuries and there was no reason to think it might change anytime soon.
Nick spent some time to theorize if such monarchy was better than a modern democracy and in the end couldn't really come to a strict conclusion. It all came down to the characteristics of the ruler – even an elected leader could lead a prosperous country into disaster, like Hitler did, but a good monarch can bring prosperity to the country, just like the current one in the Sun kingdom.