Chapter 5- Prince!
As I take in the spectacle of having nearly a hundred knights in shiny armor kneel to me I understand two things. One, my father is the king which is probably the reason why he can't visit often. And two, I like this feeling of having others bow to you. I slowly take in the limelight and the man in green and red clothing steps up to Claire.
"You must be third prince Glen's maid, hello I am Jeffrey Vittles I come with a message from King Oliver. May I ask where Queen Penelope is?" The man named Jeffrey introduced himself while bowing and inquired mother's position. I guess mother is a queen. Then is this the royal palace? No, if it was it would definitely have more inhabitants. I don't know what exactly is going on, but the fact that I'm only the third prince and that my mother is the queen should be important.
"The madame is currently in town working with the citizens." Claire responds to his bow with a curtsey and Jeffrey gives a light smile in response. I looked to see if he held any bad feelings towards the word citizens since I could easily tell he was a noble, but his eyes didn't show any sort of disdain. I breath a sigh of relief thinking that I don't have to worry about an overly narcissistic noble.
"Hmm, and who might you be? Oh! I'm sorry mister mage I didn't see the insignia on your robes for a second! Please forgive my discourtesy!" Jeffrey turns to Harold and gives an overly done display of apology after a rudely worded question. I guess Harold is what they call a mage and apparently a mage is higher than a noble. I note that in my head as they continue the conversation.
"Don't worry about it, us from the Sage's Mages are all easygoing and not easily offended. I am Harold, a third ringed mage." Harold said full of pride while sticking out his chest revealing his left pectoral where a woven insignia lied. He was shooting glances at Clair every now and again seeing if she was looking at him in awe as well.
"Oh so it's the Sage's Mages Guild! I heard that your guild master reached the 6th ring just recently." Once Jeffrey had confirmed that he hadn't spoken too briskly he tried to strike up a conversation. For some reason his eyes contained a trace of awe.
"Haha word travels fast now doesn't it! Yes that's true, we can finally stand on equal footing with the top mage's guilds now!" Harold's pride was elevated to a new level and a content smile curved his lips upwards. Jeffrey's excitement reached a new level when he heard the confirmation and hurriedly brought out an object from his flared up right sleeve.
A wooden stick was held firmly in his hand. It had white bark covering it and a red line running down one of it's sides. Jeffrey held it in front of Harold as if he was a child showing their parents a new toy.
"Is this?" Harold was the first to speak and he held out his trembling hands wanting to examine the stick closely.
"Yes!" Jeffrey gives a one word response to Harold and the two seem to instantly form a bond of brotherhood. They start talking rapidly making it very difficult for me to understand them again, and at this point I'm already confused at the whole situation. It's just a stick right? I don't sense any Nature energy or any thing that would make it to be even the least bit different from a regular branch. I can only scratch my head and hope someone can explain what it is.
Anyways I am getting droves of beautiful information as I listen to this Jeffrey character. He sure knows how to talk at least. I remember him talking about Harold's insignia, so I take a closer look at his robes and a patch shaped in the form of a staff and shield is placed right on his left chest. I mark down it's appearance in my head for later reference.
We wait till nightfall for my mother to come home. Harold and Jeffrey are jovially laughing and joking around. Every now and then I would see Jeffrey form a sphere of water in front of him, but his face wouldn't be calm and collected like when mother or Harold does it. He would breath heavily afterwards and I can always notice a large amount of Nature energy being mobilized right before he forms the sphere.
Having nothing better to do while waiting I start to circulate my [Heavenly Bodies Transformation] while in the embrace of Claire. Thinking I can pretend that I'm sleeping I slowly breath the Nature energy into my body. I feel it flow through my body like a refreshing spring breeze and merge with the already existing Nature energy infant in my dantian. I repeat the process for a couple of minutes till I've reached a satisfactory level, but suddenly my surroundings grow silent.
I hear whispers from the guards and footsteps coming in my direction. I crack my eyelids open slightly to see a very excited Jeffrey briskly walking towards me. Confusion covered my face as I opened my eyes fully and gaze over his trembling body.
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"Harold you felt that too right?!" Jeffrey doesn't turn to look at Harold, who also has a look of shock on his face. My confusion just increased. Why can't they just say what I want to know?
"That was definitely a massive movement of mana, but how's this possible in just a two year old child?" Harold spoke his thoughts that helpfully cleared some of my confusion.
However what is mana? They said I moved a massive amount, but what does that mean? I only cultivated Nature energy. I have a hypothesis about the relation between the two, so I circulate my [Heavenly Bodies Transformation] and Nature energy starts to enter through my breathing. I don't contain it and let it all be exhaled, and carefully watch their reactions.
Right on the point. Their shock only increases with my clarity. Nature energy is this mana they are talking about. I guess I need to fit in and not draw attention to myself with the two different words, so I change Nature energy into this mana they referenced in my head.
"P,prince Glen... D,did you do that?" Jeffrey suddenly turns to me and tried to speak clearly, but he's having a hard time putting words into his speech. I fake not knowing anything and just blankly stare at him without muttering a word.
"I don't know what Prince Glen did, but he probably didn't do it purposefully! He is still only two after all." Claire was flustered at the moment oblivious to the current circumstances. She didn't seem to sense my use of mana, and she stuck up for me. Some soldiers seemed to be confused as well. Does this mean only certain people can feel the fluctuations of mana?
I want to test this theory, but a loud noise awakens me from my plans and a female shout sends the room into silence.
"What are you doing here?!!" Mother's voice obviously contained a deep fury. I was stunned at seeing this new side to mother when I felt a sudden breeze beside me and mother was standing firmly at my side. She angrily stared down at the soldiers.
However I wasn't paying any attention to their reactions. All my energy was placed on my furious mother and the immense amount of mana being released into her surroundings. Mother...when have you been so powerful? I didn't even detect a single bit of mana released from her until now!
"Queen Penelope! Please calm yourself! I bring word from King Oliver!" Jeffrey yelled quickly and upon the mention of father's name her anger quelled slightly.
Mother glares at them once again and gets down to look me in the eyes. Her menacing look had all but vanished; if it wasn't for the immense amount of mana being exuded from her I would believe the previous occurrence was just a dream.
"I'm sorry Glen, were you scared? Don't worry, go back to your room I'll deal with them." Mother emphasized 'deal with them' so much that I'm pretty sure she is bad at euphemisms. However I shook my head no vigorously, I'm not going to miss such an exciting confrontation.
"Please Glen, mother doesn't want you to miss your sleep. Claire, take Glen back to his room please." Mother didn't seem to give in to my demands and even commanded Claire to come and take me. I get that mother means the best for me, but this overprotective attitude is driving me crazy. I easily sidestep Claire's attempts to grab me by pretending to trip.
"No." I try to play the spoiled child trick while running away from Claire. However my toddler legs can only travel so far while she easily catches up to me. I once again sidestep her hands, but this time I don't have the time to fake it being a mistake on her part.
"King Oliver sends orders for Queen Penelope and third Prince to come back to Thant!" Jeffrey's sudden yell halted Claire's movements and mother seemed to enter deep thought. I analyze what Jeffrey just said while inching away from the immobilized Claire.
"What does Oliver want?" Mother gave a sigh of resignation and she slumped her shoulders in defeat. I take this time to position myself next to Harold in case she remembers that she doesn't want me to listen.
"The King is worried about Prince Glen's upbringing. The king says the Prince needs to be schooled in the proper ways of being a noble or else he will end up spoiled." Jeffrey emphasized that these were the kings word because he feared mother's fury. Mother wanted to retort, but simply opened her mouth while no words came out.
"Alright, however give him until he turns six! Please he's my child, and I will make sure to teach him properly don't worry." Mother pleaded with Jeffrey and the mana she had once wielded had disappeared. Jeffrey gave a slight sigh while nodding his head in approval.
"I will come again when he turns six, but I must also mention about his...talents." Jeffrey paused and looked towards a burnt door that was my previous room before I incinerated it. He gave a small signal to some knights and half of them split up from the group.
"I will leave them here to protect the third prince." After stating this Jeffrey briskly left while half of the knights followed closely behind him. Harold looked a little saddened from parting with his new friend.
I felt like now was a good time to slip out of this situation and so I turned to enter my room. Then a firm white hand landed on my shoulder and I saw mother looking at me seriously. I felt like her eyes were peering into me and revealing all my secrets to her.
"All of you can leave, I want to be alone with my son for a second." Mother commanded in a not too rushed and not too slow speed. The knights saluted and left as per her wishes while Claire and Harold swiftly left trailing behind the knights. Mother's eyes once again locked onto mine.
"I know you are more intelligent than most children, so you should be able to understand me. I don't know what you do to cause so much mana to crazily gather towards you, but please try to contain yourself in front of others. I will teach you the basics slowly in these coming four years. I know I have been lenient on you mainly because of your age, but now I need to be resolved." Mother spoke clearly to me. Apparently she had already known that I am not a quite like other children. However mother...who exactly are you?