Knowing that a member of the royal family would actually teach her to use swords, Risa was sure to be in a nerve-wrecking ride of her life since she arrived in Revia. But the Master Mage told her that the Second Prince was the only one capable of teaching her what she needed.
Then again, how did the Master Mage able to ask Prince Alathil to be her teacher? She still couldn't wrap her head around the thought. She might have only heard about him from Jehan, but the fact that it was a prince who was said to be the only dragon listener in the kingdom was the issue that seemed to make her feel uneasy.
"Risa, are you still training?"
She turned around after disintegrating the magical energy she summoned to the source of that voice. She was surprised to see the Master Mage approaching. With that, she gave the old man a bow.
It was enough to ease the tension she felt. "I guess I got used to it since I also do that in my homeworld," she replied with a smile of her own as she straightened herself.
"You should still be resting. It's not healthy to train at such strenuous times." He looked over towards another part of the field and added. "The Second Prince would be arriving soon, so you should save your energy."
"I don't think it's magic depletion that caused me to faint yesterday, Master Mage," Risa blurted out before she could stop herself. "Some magic made me faint that day. Possibly a magic that... could be lurking in me and I didn't even know."
He took a few steps towards her but stopped. Risa wondered if she should have just kept that information to herself; she should have known better to bring up some sensitive topics to a person like the Master Mage. After a few moments of silence between them, she cleared her throat and spoke up again.
"Is the Second Prince really coming here today?"
The Master Mage sighed and nodded. "He is. And he will be staying for a while."
"A while?" she asked again with a frown.
"Yes, a while. You'll meet him later on."
"But why does he need to stay here?"
"From what he told me, it's because he needs to personally see your progress. The king had agreed to it, anyway."
Risa couldn't help frowning at that. "That's unusual. I thought that the royal children would usually remain inside the castle most of the time."
"Well, you've seen Prince Elross. That kid doesn't remain in the Angarth Castle all the time as he made it his duty to investigate outside of the castle and the capital in the Crown Prince's stead. Prince Alathil, however, made himself known as the Crown Prince's personal strategist. So from time to time, he would also go out of the castle to do some investigation."
"Investigation?"
"Yes, investigation. To get more insight on the situation outside of the Angarth Castle but still within the Kingdom of Revia. To look through some of the records in case there were any hidden dangers in the castle and formulate strategies that they could use in battle," the Master Mage explained.
Risa once thought so, but the royal children weren't just pampered people doing what the stereotype noblemen and noblewomen would do. They knew they had a duty and they fulfilled them quite well, in her opinion.
"I'm sure that's what the prince wants to do, too," she said with a small sigh. "I just hope he won't be disappointed in me."
The Master Mage shook his head. "No. You're definitely going to do fine."
She only smiled, but still feeling unsure that she could fulfill her task well.
xxxxxx
Risa didn't understand what exactly was happening as soon as she finished her self-training. But the moment she entered the house, she saw Jehan closed a small chest box placed on the table. His eyes widened when he saw her.
"Risa! How long have you been there?"
Okay, now this was weird. "I just entered. Why do you look so shocked? Is there something there that I shouldn't know?"
"Uh... It's a box that had been... acting weird for a long while now. The Master Mage said that... I shouldn't mention anything about it to you yet until we finally figured out what happened for it to act strange," Jehan explained without looking at her, but his expression was etched with a frown. Even Risa found it strange.
And then her mind finally registered his words. "Acting weird? What do you mean? Is this a magic box or something?"
"It's a box that gives out pulses of light whenever something happens to the person related to the item in that box. But here's the problem. The item in the box hasn't even had an owner for about 300 years now."
Now that was weird, indeed. And for that long?
"Now that is weird. But how does this box came to your possession, then?"
Jehan shook his head. "It's not mine. But the Master Mage's family had taken care of this strange box for generations now. From what I know, if the Master Mage still hasn't figured out who the real owner of the box is before he dies, then his son would inherit the task, as well."
"Woah... I never thought such a task existed in the Master Mage's family. I thought it was just about the estate," Risa commented and sighed. "So you don't know where this artifact could come from..."
Jehan nodded. "Yeah. There is no any other record that says it actually comes from the estate or anywhere else in the Kingdom of Revia. All we know was that it existed from 300 years ago and was left in the Faihdrin family's care since then. At least, that's how the story goes."
"Do you think the object might have belonged to one of the ancestors of the Faihdrins back then?" Risa speculated with furrowed eyebrows.
"There's a chance, I guess. But it seems unlikely considering the circumstances."
Risa let out a sigh. "Still... it would be good that we at least know the true story of this box. And also the real reason why this box has this pulsating light."
"It's possible that the pulsing light was actually a signal to summon someone or perhaps a way to track them down when they were somewhere nearby," Jehan suggested.
"You think they are still around the kingdom?" Risa asked in surprise.
Jehan shrugged his shoulders with an uncertain expression. "Maybe, maybe not. What would be better is knowing who the actual owner was."
They stared into each other's eyes, neither daring to speak a word.
After several minutes passed, Risa broke the eye contact and turned around instead. "Let's focus on other things for now, starting with how am I supposed to face the Second Prince when I barely knew a thing about treating royalties," she proposed with a frustrated groan.
"You'll do great, don't worry."
"Seriously, that's easy for you to say. Even the Master Mage would say the same thing to me." Even so, Risa was thankful that she had Jehan to talk to about her worries.
That was when they heard horses' neighs a little farther outside of the house. Both she and Jehan straightened up from their seats and looked at each other.
"I have a feeling that's your swordsmanship teacher," Jehan commented with a knowing smile and took the chest box away. "I think you'd better greet him."
"Just me?" Risa didn't know what to make of that, to be honest. She still felt nervous about the whole idea of facing a member of the royal family.
"He's not going to skin you alive, okay? Go ahead. It's better that you greet him personally."
She couldn't refuse the request after seeing his confident smirk. Still reluctant but trying to mask her apprehension, she walked out of the house.
When she opened the door, she found none other than a familiar black horse she saw once before. However, it wasn't alone. There was another black horse beside it.
A long-haired man wearing blue clothes with green trimming sat atop of his white horse with his sword in hand was riding the familiar black horse. She smiled upon seeing him.
"Mr. Shuren?" she asked reluctantly.
The said man smiled and nodded. "I'm glad you still remember me, Lady Risa."
She soon faced the other man accompanying Shuren. This one, however, was wearing a dark blue hooded coat that covered most of his face. Then again, she could understand why he would do so. His identity must have been pretty much revealed already by the fact that he was a member of the royal family.
"Prince Alathil..." she mumbled, bowing slightly to him. She then raised her head afterwards to see the man's reaction.
He returned the gesture and simply said, "It's nice to see you again, Risa."
'Wait a minute... That voice sounds familiar...' she thought as she frowned.
Not long after, the man removed his hood that covered his face, finally revealing the face that gave Risa one of the greatest shocks of her life.
'No way...'
But the now familiar man smiled at her and bowed slightly. "Forgive me for not giving you my full name when we met before. But it's truly great to see you once again after our last meeting."
It took a while for Risa to regain her composure after the initial shock she felt. It was only when the prince dismounted his horse and faced her that she was able to find her voice.
"Azi?"
She thought she saw him widened his eyes, possibly in surprise. But it was just for a short while. Prince Alathil soon smiled and nodded once. "That is me. And I'm glad you still remember me, my lady."
How did this even happen?
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