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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Chapter 1 Taylor's Disciple (2)
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There was no particular reason to avoid meeting Prince Idis, but Sei-an preferred to steer clear of bothersome situations.
‘Well, I’ll just stay here until he leaves.’
Since he hadn't intended to attend the party in the first place, Sei-an decided to hide here until Prince Idis departed, and then leisurely resumed his comfortable rest.
Whirr!
“...?”
“Hmm?”
Just then, a faint hum began to emanate from the sound-amplifying magical device that the academy dean and staff had installed to inform students of special situations.
Someone had activated the magic circle to use the device.
“What is it?”
Kanto waited with curious eyes for the words that would flow from it.
He speculated that it might be an announcement about the evening party.
[You have one minute.]
“...! Eh?”
But a moment later, the voice that emerged was not that of an elderly person, but a low, resonant young man's voice.
“That voice is...”
Kanto tilted his head, thinking he had heard that voice somewhere before.
“...! C-could it be?!”
And then, recalling it was the voice he had heard in the auditorium just a short while ago, his eyes widened.
“Prince Idis?”
It was indeed Prince Idis’s voice.
“...”
Sei-an, on the other hand, subtly furrowed his brow when he heard Prince Idis’s voice.
‘One minute?’
Surely he isn’t talking to me?
[You’d better run for your life.]
‘...It’s not 'surely not,' it actually is meant for me.’
At the words that followed, Sei-an realized he was the intended recipient and let out another brief sigh.
“Looks like he’s looking for you.”
“It seems so.”
Lark, also guessing that Prince Idis was looking for Sei-an, spoke quietly, and Sei-an nodded lightly in agreement.
“What? Are those words really for you right now?”
At their conversation, Kanto hastily questioned Sei-an, his eyes wide with surprise, as if seeking confirmation.
“You know Prince Idis? No, were you close?”
[Time starts now.]
However, with Prince Idis’s voice sounding again, Kanto couldn’t get a proper answer from Sei-an.
The moment Prince Idis’s words ended, Sei-an stood up and ran from the spot.
Ignoring or defying Prince Idis any further here would surely lead to even greater trouble.
“Sei-an!”
Kanto hastily called his name, but as Sei-an vanished in an instant, Kanto could only watch with a blank expression.
“What in the world is going on?”
Kanto already knew that Sei-an was a scion of a noble family from the Chezaron Empire, so it wasn't strange for him to be acquainted with Prince Idis.
“What’s their relationship?”
However, Kanto had never expected them to be close enough for Prince Idis to visit this place and seek Sei-an out like that.
“...”
Kanto slowly turned his head and quietly stared at Lark, who was standing to one side.
“What are you looking at?”
Lark, seemingly displeased by Kanto’s gaze, looked at him with a frown and spoke coldly.
“So, have you heard anything?”
In the past, Kanto would have cowered and lowered his head just from receiving such a look from Lark, but now, somewhat accustomed to him, he immediately asked his question.
“I was asking if you’d heard anything about Prince Idis and Sei-an’s relationship.”
This was because he recalled Lark’s expression earlier, when he seemed to guess that Prince Idis was looking for Sei-an.
“The library.”
“Huh?”
“He said they were acquaintances who read books together in the library.”
“...”
But upon hearing Lark’s answer to his question, Kanto gave him a bewildered look.
“What’s with that look?!”
“...It’s nothing.”
“That’s the look of someone asking if I’m messing with them.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Damn it! I’m telling you, that’s what I heard!”
“Who said anything? I get it.”
“Ah, damn!”
Lark, having repeated what he heard from Sei-an, couldn’t help but curse under his breath at Kanto’s incredulous gaze.
“Hmm?”
Just then, they saw someone rushing towards them from a distance.
“Sei-an?”
It was Sei-an, who had just left the spot a moment ago.
“What’s going on?”
Kanto and Lark exchanged puzzled looks, unable to understand why he had returned.
“Which way should I go?”
“What?”
“Could you please tell me which way to go to get to where His Highness Idis is?”
“Haa.”
“Haa.”
And a moment later, at the words that came from Sei-an’s mouth as he approached, Kanto and Lark simultaneously let out long sighs.
They had momentarily forgotten one fact they had recently learned while spending time with him.
“What in the world made you think you could just run off alone?”
“If you’re directionally challenged, act like it!”
That Sei-an possessed an utterly hopeless sense of direction, to the point where they had practically given up.
“I thought I could roughly find my way...”
“Hey, hey!”
“Find your way, my ass!”
Then, Lark and Kanto simultaneously cut off Sei-an’s half-hearted excuse, having to scold him once more.
***
“It’s truly been a long time, Your Highness Idis.”
“It feels like ten years.”
“Has it really been that long already?”
While Sei-an was wandering, trying to find Prince Idis as instructed, Prince Idis himself was enjoying some leisurely time.
“Don’t you look in the mirror? You’ve got many more wrinkles than before.”
“Haha! Is that so?”
Prince Idis was having tea and conversing with Taylor, who had just been inaugurated as the Juist Academy’s dean. Their conversation flowed very naturally, suggesting they had been friends for a long time.
“To think it’s already been so long since Your Highness received my teachings, time truly seems to know no rest.”
“Hmm, you seem to have become more sentimental with age.”
“Haha! I take that as you saying I’ve become more foolish.”
When he was young, Prince Idis had served him as a master and received lessons at the Tower of Sages for four years.
Emperor Chezaron had ordered him to learn much from the man hailed as the greatest sage in the continent’s history.
Even without that, Prince Idis, who detested falling behind others more than death itself, defied Emperor Chezaron’s order to only study for a year and instead lived with Taylor at the Tower of Sages for four years.
“...Is that fellow doing well?”
Prince Idis, recalling those past days as he looked at Taylor, suddenly thought of someone and posed a question.
“He’s doing reasonably well.”
Though no name was mentioned, Taylor immediately understood who Prince Idis was referring to and gave a simple reply with a faint smile.
“Where is he now?”
“Are you curious?”
“Well, a little...”
“After all that fighting, it seems you’ve developed a strange kind of affection.”
“Affection! Please refrain from such dreadful words.”
“Haha! Understood.”
Taylor chuckled softly, watching Prince Idis subtly frown at his words.
“It seems the Kalt Empire’s imperial family no longer permits any mention of that fellow.”
“...They fear him, don’t they?”
“Hmm.”
Prince Idis seemed to fall into deep thought for a moment at Taylor’s reply.
‘Foolish fellow!’
And then, he muttered a displeased remark towards someone, clicking his tongue softly to himself.
“What’s that rascal doing here?”
“...?”
Just then, faint murmurs began to be heard from outside.
“It’s noisy outside.”
“Indeed.”
“I should get up now.”
“Please do.”
At the commotion outside, Prince Idis slowly rose from his seat and gave Taylor a light bow.
“If you happen to meet that fellow, please convey this.”
Then, as if he had one last thing to say to Taylor, Prince Idis paused his steps and spoke softly to him.
“Tell him to stop acting unlike himself...”
“...”
“And that hiding doesn’t suit him at all.”
Taylor simply offered a faint smile at Prince Idis’s words and said nothing.
“Tell him to act just like his old, dirty self.”
However, Prince Idis didn't seem to expect an answer; he simply conveyed his final message and swiftly departed the spot.
“...I will certainly convey it.”
After watching Prince Idis head outside, Taylor quietly uttered a belated reply to himself, a deeper smile gracing his lips.
***
‘Why isn’t he coming out?’
While Prince Idis spent time with Taylor, many people outside were waiting for him to emerge.
Among them was Illnis.
If others were gathered to catch another glimpse of Prince Idis and make themselves known, Illnis was waiting to accompany him as his aide until he left the academy.
Though, of course, Prince Idis had never once asked him to do so.
“Who do you think Prince Idis called earlier?”
“I wonder.”
And most of the people gathered nearby were also secretly waiting for the person Prince Idis had summoned via the campus broadcast to appear, curious about their identity.
‘Tch!’
Illnis made a displeased expression as he listened to the surrounding students’ conversations.
He wanted to know who this person was that Prince Idis was so interested in, to the point of seeking them out like that, yet at the same time, he felt uneasy.
It felt as if his own family was being disregarded, with Prince Idis seeking someone else when he, the son of Duke Jaimel, one of the empire's three great ducal families, was right there.
‘Just how influential is their family, to warrant such attention!’
Illnis, who had always considered his own family to be paramount, also waited with a displeased look for the person Prince Idis was seeking to appear.
