"Fwoo..." Prince Reivan, who had just turned three years old lately, sighed in satisfaction as he closed the tenth picture book he read that day. He was the only one who knew he could read the words in it though, everybody else thought he was only looking at the pictures. "This was great."
'I thought I was in a medieval fantasy world, but I guess not. These books look like they're mass-produced. Plus, they wouldn't look out of place in modern earth's book stores. Well, if you ignore the story contents.' Reivan mused. He ran his hand through the smooth paper, and his eyes reflected the bright depictions of Knights fighting evil monsters and cultists in the book. 'My nation seems to put special importance on Knights since every single one of these has one of them in some form or another.'
Whenever he flew around with his mother or uncle, he noticed that there were quite a lot of them all around the country. Reivan felt a little bad about it, but he used [Supreme Insight] on them from time to time. He'd been somewhat traumatized by the ability for a while, since every time he used it on someone else, he seemed to always see something he shouldn't. Luckily, none of the Knights had anything to hide. All of them were Mortals with [Qi: Unleashed] and Might in the 1500s. Using insight on the maids, ordinary servants and even the ordinary citizens he could see from time to time revealed just how high a Might stat of 1500 was. Most of the people he used it on had a Might stat of only 10-30 after all.
'Crazy fuckers. How do they get it so high?' Reivan thought inwardly. He checked his own Might stat.
Might: 2
'Yeah, well, What did I expect? I'm three years old, so...' Reivan inwardly shook his head in exasperation. He had a long way to go. 'That said... I like how I can change the box's colors now.'
[Supreme Insight] didn't tell him anything about itself, so Reivan had just tried a bunch of things during the moments when he was alone or when nobody visited him — there weren't a lot of these moments though, so he had few opportunities. He discovered that he could actually increase or decrease the transparency of the boxes, as well as the box and font color. It was a nice quality of life kind of thing, which he liked even though it didn't have much practical application.
As Reivan searched through the pile of children's books in his room for a story that didn't have any knights in it, he felt a presence he had recently grown familiar with coming inside his room through the window.
'Zoro-chan, come.' Reivan held his hand out and beckoned what looked like a serpent made of thick, pitch-black smoke that swam through the air. It obediently floated over and wrapped itself gently on Reivan's arm. 'Did you grow up?'
Reivan used insight on it.
Name: Zouros Species: Archon Fragment (World Devouring Serpent) Realm: Mortal (Archon-Degraded) Age: 2 Sex: N/A Favor: (Loyalty / Protectiveness / Familial Love) 100 / 100 Threat Level: N/A (This unit has no desire to harm you. Ever.) Might: 5 --> 6 Special Abilities: [World Devouring] Elemental Affinities: [Chaos] [Darkness] Extra Skills: [Chaos Origin] [Contract: Reivan Aizenwald]
'Oh. Your Might went up!' Reivan stroked the little serpent's head with his other hand. It was a weird feeling, since Zouros, or Zoro-chan, was mainly incorporeal, but his finger felt like it was touching compressed air. 'If I'd known to summon you from the start, you might've been a little more powerful...'
The little black snake was the same one that Zell had given him. It was apparently some sort of familiar that only he could see at the moment. When he was a one-year-old, he'd wondered what happened to the snake, that was when Zouros made his first appearance. It had been waiting for him to call out to him for a year, but Reivan had forgotten about it for a while.
'God, I can be so fucking stupid sometimes...' Reivan cursed at himself. As he continued to stroke the Zoro-chan, he mentally asked, 'Zoro-chan, did you find some of the things I told you about?'
'Hsssss!' Reivan heard a hissing noise in his head as a reply. Zoro-chan couldn't make other sounds other than hissing, even when they were just communicating mentally. Despite that, Zoro-chan had no trouble understanding him or anyone around him, and Reivan didn't have any trouble understanding the tiny snake either. Hearing Zoro-chan's reply, Reivan smiled happily and held out his palm.
Zoro-chan held his mouth open over Reivan's hand, seconds later, a long yellow fruit landed on his open palm. It was a banana.
'Great. You got it right. You left some money in exchange right?' Reivan asked as he peeled the banana and took a bite out of it. Zoro-chan hissed a "yes!" back, making him smile warmly at it. He gave it the rest of the banana when he'd eaten about half of it, to which the tiny serpent swallowed the thing whole. 'You know... I can't tell whether you're storing something inside your stomach or you're actually eating something.'
Part of Zoro-chan's [World Devouring] effects was the ability to store items in its stomach. The space in there would grow as Zoro-chan grew stronger in Might and Realm. At least, that was what the tiny serpent had told him. His [Supreme Insight] didn't tell him anything about the special ability, saying that he didn't have authority — like it usually did. Reivan thought that it was most likely because the ability came from an Archon.
The [World Devouring] ability had a lot more effects, but Zoro-chan could only use it as a storage space in its current state.
'The only inconvenience is that Zoro-chan can only store what it can fit through its mouth.' Reivan lamented inwardly. Still, it was a great ability. He wouldn't punch a gift horse in the mouth, so he just sent a word of thanks to Zell for giving him Zoro-chan.
When he felt like he had rewarded his familiar with enough head strokes, Reivan stood up and declared. "Alright. I'm going outside."
He walked across the soft rug that covered his entire room and opened the door to leave. Without saying a word, two maids and two Knights in armor followed along behind him. Reivan didn't mind them, since he was used to being followed around, even in his past life.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He took a moment to smile and wave at them before making his way down the hall.
As a prince, whenever he would pass by a servant or knight, they would salute in their own ways. Maids would bow deeply while Knights would throw their chests out and stand straight. Reivan thought that it was an incredibly simple military salute. It was pretty much just standing straight after all.
However, as the forefathers have said, when in Rome, do as the Romans. He just accepted it since everybody else did.
"Hello!" Reivan would cheerfully say hello and wave to everyone he passed by. The maids just smiled freely back, but the Knights, who were under stricter discipline, would have a bit of trouble maintaining a stoic face. Although he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do, the inner prankster inside of him made him enjoy watching the Knights squirm when they had to stop themselves from breaking salute.
After walking for a few dozen minutes, he finally reached his destination. It was the library. He'd grown tired of the picture books. Even though he was able to glean a lot of information from them, he wanted some real information. Facts.
'Where better to get them than the library?' Reivan thought as he was suddenly being held back by a troubled librarian. 'The problem is that I'm not allowed here...'
There wasn't some rule that three-year-olds couldn't enter the library or anything. It was simply because Rodin had forbidden him for fear that he would damage the books or that he would find something inappropriate.
'What is he so scared of anyway? Are there porn books here?' Reivan scoffed inwardly.
"Please? I just want to look at the books inside!" He held his hands together and pleaded with the librarian.
"W-Well... M-My apologies, Your Highness. As I've said, I have orders from His Majesty, King Rodin." The librarian shook his head, making his long white beard sway. He scratched his cheek awkwardly as he looked to the maids and knights behind Reivan for help. Even though he was young, Reivan was still a prince. The librarian didn't want to anger him.
A maid said placatingly. "Your Highness, why don't you just tell us what kind of book you want, and we'll fetch it for you? I'm sure we can pick out an excellent children's book that will suit your taste. If we can't, I believe you only have to say the word and Her Majesty, Queen Vianna, will commission a famous artist to make it for you."
"But I don't even know what I want to read!" Reivan complained childishly. It could be said that at this moment, he was really acting his age in mind and body. He didn't know much about this world so he didn't know what he wanted to read. That's why he wanted to explore the library.
"But still... the King's orders are absolute. My apologies, but I cannot let you in..." The elderly librarian sheepishly apologized.
"..." Reivan pouted silently. He saw how the librarian was at his wit's end, so Reivan couldn't bear to push his desires any further. It didn't help that the old man reminded him of Hanzo, so Reivan didn't want to get him in trouble. He gave up and offered a short apology to the old man. "Fine. I'm sorry for being selfish."
"Oh..." The librarian looked moved. "The prince is truly... There is nothing to apologize for, Your Highness. It is this humble servant that laments not being able to serve you better."
Reivan was about to turn around and leave when the librarian called out to him. "Your Highness, Prince Roland borrowed a few books to help with his studies. Perhaps you can have him read you a few of them?"
"Oh! That's a good idea. Thank you!" Reivan waved and smiled at the old man as he left.
Minutes passed as Reivan and his retinue walked along the castle's halls. That was when Reivan suddenly stopped as he remembered something.
He didn't know where Roland's room was!
"It's this way, Your Highness." A maid led the way when she noticed Reivan's dilemma. She had actually wondered whether Reivan knew where he was going, but chose to follow him silently instead. She was a bit amused at the silly prince.
Reivan followed her silently, his ears were slightly red.
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When they arrived outside Roland's room, Reivan and the maid were surprised.
He wasn't there.
"He's not here!" Reivan exclaimed. He felt like this situation happened before, but that didn't matter at the moment. He turned to ask the maid that had been cleaning Roland's room while he was gone. "Where is he?"
"His Highness Prince Roland is currently practicing swordsmanship in one of the back gardens." The maid answered respectfully.
"To the back garden!" Reivan commanded, earning a giggle from the maids.
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"I see him!" Reivan exclaimed as he neared the garden.
As he walked across the stone path that ran across a small field of vibrant green grass, Reivan observed Roland sparring with a knight. What was surprising was that they were using real swords.
'Are they blunted? But they're both swinging pretty fiercely, even if they're blunt swords it would still shatter bones.' Reivan remarked inwardly. He glanced at his retinue's reaction and their neutral expressions confirmed that this was normal. 'Do they have magic to prevent the sword from hitting or something? Or maybe they're both just so skilled that they can stop it just before it makes contact? Like in web novels and stuff.'
'Wait a minute... come to think of it, I haven't used insight on my brother yet.' Reivan mused. 'It'll be fine right? He's thirteen years old, he won't have some big secret or anything. It'll be fine! Let's go!'
Name: Roland Aizenwald Species: Human Realm: Mortal Age: 13 Sex: Male Favor: (Protectiveness / Familial Love) 100 / 100 Threat Level: N/A (This unit has no desire to harm you. Ever.) Might: 146 Special Abilities: [Alter Ego] Elemental Affinities: [Light] Extra Skills: NONE
'I fucking hate this ability...' Reivan cursed inwardly. Just one look at the name of his brother's special ability gave him a bad feeling. 'Oh god... Maybe it's not a bad ability...?
Special Ability:
[Alter Ego]
Passive:
A second personality is cultivated within this unit's psyche.
The [Alter Ego]'s personality depends on this unit's desires, insecurities, and regrets.
Once the [Alter Ego] is mature enough, this unit and the [Alter Ego] obtain the Extra Skill - [Telepathy].
Sub-Skill #1 - [Take Over]
Active: Upon activation, the [Alter Ego] takes control over this unit's body, gaining a boost in the realm and gaining a different [Special Ability] and additional [Extra Skill]s.
Passive: After [Take Over] is used, the duration of the next [Take Over] becomes longer. (Stacks up to 10 times.)
When full stacks are achieved, the [Alter Ego] gains the ability to [Take Over] this unit's body at will. The [Alter Ego]'s [Take Over] can be resisted through strong willpower.
Number of Stacks - 0 Stacks
'Okay. That looks bad...' Reivan inwardly thought. 'Looks like I'll have to watch out for big bro. I have to make sure he doesn't have to use [Take Over].
As Reivan watched his brother silently, he resolved to try his best to help his brother out in the future.