Four days after the explosion - Pub

The prince decide that the safest place to wait was in the green dragon. It was a place were a lot of adventures,ex adventures and town people gather, so it was full of loud and dangerous people and 5 high class lady's wouldn't show up there(or so he hoped).

It was to early for guisu to show up but the prince didn't mind much, it was a good opportunity to hear the rumors around town and have a fun time drinking. Well that was the idea, but he went inside at a bad time. It was 3 pm clock, a time where everyone has already eaten and to soon to start drinking.

Well, it was an adventurers pub, but no adventure worth their weigh would drink at this hour unless he was done for the day since it was incredibly dangerous other wise.

There was the normal side effects of not being able to react properly, sleepiness, nausea, etc. but the worst part for an advance adventure was that they couldn't use their inner mana. Usually the worth of a warrior was measure on three things, how much mana you have, how fast it regenerates and how well and efficient you use it. All three aspects can be trained and improved but how much you were born with how much you train and how talented you were did make a difference.

Problem was, all of that didn't make a difference if you were drunk since it didn't matter how much mana you had, you couldn't use it. Of course with higher mana, it was harder to get drunk, but if you drank enough, you would get drunk anyway. And the reason a warrior(or anyone in this case) couldn't use mana was simple, being drunk make you unable(or at least really hard) to feel the flow of mana around your body, making really hard to bring power to body parts. You could bring mana all around your body, but you needed an enormous amount of mana and mana regeneration to keep it properly and it wasn't as strong as powering up body parts(since it was dilute)beside been drunk cut your mana regeneration.

Since 3 pm was to early for anyone to stop working, the pub was deserted, only the bartender and some permanent drunks were around, so no opportunity to hear rumors and gossips yet. Well he could ask the bar keep since he was bored like him, so the prince chose to take a stall in the counter and ask what was going around in town

"A beer please"(prince) sat on a stall

"Sure"(barkeep)handed a glass to the prince

"I just came to the capital from a trip, whats new in town?"(prince)asked after taking a sip, it wasn't bad beer.

"Weeell, you hear about the royal family, right?"(barkeep)

" It's not like I was under a rock, any news on who did it?"(prince)paid a little more attention, maybe he hear something

" So far there was no statement on who officially did it, but there is a lot of speculations, conspiracy theories and accusations going around"(barkeep)

"I bet, anyone believable or at least the most accepted one?"(prince ) playing it cool but glad that they were getting to the good part

"A couple, at the beginning most people thought it was a terrorist attack or an invasion, but since no organisation made an statement or a war broke at the borders, they were dismiss"(barkeep)

"Uhu"(prince) though it made sense

"And after that, there was one theory after another, like it was the elves or heaven retribution, suicide, the duke, etc"(barkeep)

"And now?"(prince) wasn't surprised that some suspected those 3, since the elves were always assholes, it was a temple so divine retribution wasn't impossible to think about and the Duke was always kind of shady

The barkeeper got a little closer to the prince ears and in a low voice"Some people are starting to think it was actually prince Julian who did it"(barkeep)

The prince almost choked with the bear when he hear that and he gave the most shocking face humanly possible to the barkeeper

"-cough- WHAAAT!!!"(Prince)almost screaming

"keep it down boy"(barkeep)Shush the prince

"but but it's the black sheep of the family, the most incompetent and useless prince in the whole family, there is no way someone would think he did it"(prince) trying to deny the statement

"exactly, and that's why people think he did it"(barkeep) with a nod like saying of course of course

"?"(prince) confused

"At the beginning, some people were saying that it must have being the prince, since he was the only survivor. But since he went all over town with that blue face and acted like a clown like always, no one believe it possible"(barkeep) smiling a little

Acting like a clown is a little....(prince)

"but even if it sounder impossible, some people still keep saying that it must be the prince, since it was the only way he would get the throne. But it's the prince you know? who would believe that HE was capable of making such a successfully attack to those monsters"(Barkeep)

"Exactly, there is no way he could kill them"(prince) agreed, even if it hurt his pride a little

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"But then rumors started to flow that maybe it was all an act and the prince was just playing dumb"(Barkeep)

"Uh? where did that come from"(prince)

"No idea, but it is know that suddenly, he made friends with the 3 most powerful people in the country, after the royal family of course"(Barkeep)

"Isn't it because they want to use him"(Prince)new that THAT was the only reason they approach him

"Again, we all though that at the beginning and weren't worried butt...."(barkeep)

"but...?"(prince)

"but they weren't just trying to use him, they acted like he was the hottest thing around and they MUST become his best friend"(barkeep)

"What do you mean?"(prince)

"It started with the Arch Mage, he gave him hours of his time every day since the explosion like spending time was a priority instead of taking care of the university or his job as the kingdom arch mage"

"So? maybe he is researching the explosion or something like that"(prince) tried to explain himself

"For hours every day? no way, besides it doesn't end there, not only did he beat the best knight of the kingdom alone in a duel twice, he manage to get the only daughter of the general as a slave. Do you think someone incompetent would be able to do something like that?"(Barkeep)

"Maybe it was stage or something to make the prince look good"(prince) lied to try to get away from this situation

"No no no no no, I thought that also, since it was the prince, but not only many people saw the fight on the palace, ALL of them swear in their family name that the girl was so serious, she even went for the kill and failed, beside she has being seeing all over town with the slave collar, so it must be true"(Barkeep)

That f-cing aria, always causing trouble(prince)

"That already making him look really capable, but if you also include that even the duke gave him one of her daughters, and we all know that he only use his sons and daughters for political advancement, so he should be really capable"(barkeep)

"but it's the prince you know, the prince! there is just no way"(prince)almost panicking

"I use to think the same, but if you lay all the facts he looks really suspicious. Think about it, he is the only survivor, he had a perfect excuse to not go, he is more capable than what he made everyone believe no one else have taken advantage of the opportunity and the one that has gained more from this incident is the prince, since there was no way that he would have gotten the throne otherwise "(barkeep)

"That make no sense, everyone knows he doesn't want the throne, he does whatever he wants without ambition or worrying about the future, there is no way he killed his family to get the throne"(prince) tried to grasp the only argument he had left, that was also the truth

"Genius right?He fooled the whole kingdom and even that monster of a family. Maybe he IS as capable as the rest of his family "(Barkeep)

He couldn't believe it, how did it turn out that he was a master deceiver and manipulator capable of fulling everyone?the prince was shock at the power of rumors and imagination of the people. But if people really believe it then...

"Don't tell me are revolt is coming ...."(prince)

"I am not sure, but if more people start to believe it , who knows?. A lot of people really loved the royal family and hated the prince, so it may happen"(Barkeep)

the prince turn completely pale, and started to order glass after glass while wondering what the f-ck must he do now.

The barkeeper though that the prince must be really worried for the state of the kingdom and the possibility of a revolt, so he left him alone.

He even forgot about the real reason he came for the bar and even made all that trouble to get out of the castle until a guy sit beside him. It wasn't guisu, but after looking around the pub the prince found that it was almost full and he even saw guisu sitting in a table, if the description of the old man was right.

The prince was drunk (again) and after the news he just got, he really didn't feel like questioning the guy in hope of maybe getting some information. On the other side, the prince realised that if he didn't find a culprit fast, a revolt may reach his doorstep, so he really didn't have a choice

So, the prince got up from the stall, pay the barkeeper for the drinks and realised that he was more drunk than he should. At least he had experience and teachings of acting proper even drunk(Everyone in the family had to take those so not to embarrass the family in events, even if he or she was force to drink) so he went to the thief table and really hoped that he finally found a clue in all this mess.

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