Nil

Duke Dawnsfield was in the carriage with us after spending the entirety of breakfast grilling me as he insisted on chaperoning this outing. He pulled Luna aside for a conversation after breakfast, and the two returned looking happy before we rode in the carriage. While I waited for them, Mom gave me a ring full of the supplies I requested to try and make fries. My family did agree with Duke Dawnsfield partly on the fact that I did not always act like the Crown Prince should. Luna surprisingly was sitting next to me looking all happy as she leaned against me. Ikol was glued to the window, looking at everything with wonder and awe; Lux was sitting by Duke Dawnsfield keeping an eye on Ikol. Luna was cheerfully leaning into me while her dad kept a close eye on us. Why was he suddenly fine with this? He spent all of breakfast questioning me, and did I think I was worthy of dating his daughter to looking fine with her leaning into me like this.

Someone looks confused. Duke Dawnsfield observed with a smug smile.

I do not understand your change in stance. I informed him while I was struggling to keep my face neutral.

My stance has remained the same, I simply have had time to process the news a bit. Duke Dawnsfield explained. That statement was dubious at best.

Someone is doubtful? Duke Dawnsfield taunted me.

You called me a troublemaker a dozen different ways and implied heavily I am not a good Crown Prince to start. I shot back at him.

I apologize as I went a little far; that was not fair to you. Duke Dawnsfield apologized to me. I let out a sigh as I leaned on Luna a little.

I accept your apology. I told Duke Dawnsfield. Luna hugged me more, seeming over the moons.

Thank you. So, what is the plan for today? Duke Dawnsfield inquired. Should I tell him? Holding a grudge and being petty was tempting, but probably not in my best interests.

Give Ikol a tour of the garden, find some fresh tubot, break for lunch to enact the great tubot idea, and then finish the tour after lunch. I explained. Something simple and relaxing; hopefully the fries came out without being charred sticks.

Okay. Duke Dawnsfield replied with a smile.

We sat in an awkward silence after that. Luna realized I had been talking to her dad and began talking to him; I felt a pleasant warmth as I think she was defending me. Still not sure how his stance never changed; digging in to him in order to figure it out nor dying on that hill would be worth it unfortunately. Ikol looked amazed by the streetlamps while Lux was beginning to look more relaxed. I wanted to rematch Ikol. Luna wouldn’t like me to challenge him just so I could win by more. It still annoyed me his head was so empty that it actually countered , which was not helped by the fact that Krahinn found it endlessly hilarious and wouldn’t shut up about it. The thought could be countered like that never entered my mind until I was hit by it. I guess that was Krahinn’s point about how I unintentionally thought of a weakness of the Void King. There was a lesson there for sure. Part of me wanted to try and innovate a bit using Ikol’s style of fighting, but I wasn’t sure I could shut my brain off enough for it to work.

I still needed to improve my , , , and . My overall needed to be improved more as well. Despite all the improvements I had made. it still felt like there was so much more to do. Even as much as I improved in three years thanks to my family and Krahinn, it felt like I had an incredibly far way to go. Everyone kept assuring me that I was growing plenty fast, but I knew what awaited me at the end of this path. I shook my head as I needed a different train of thought. Luna was with me, still hugging me happily as she had a conversation with her dad. Ikol was likely going to amuse me more today. Lux would be easy to bait into a fight, but I needed to avoid that temptation. Wait. Maybe Ikol’s method of fighting wasn’t completely a lost cause. I developed my fighting based on my abilities to manipulate distance, time, and how I could perceive events coming before they happened. Perhaps I needed to make a more robust method of fighting, something more adaptable and less reliant on one subset. It’s a subset only I can realistically use to such a degree, but maybe that was to Krahinn’s point about how much I rely on my . It might be worth developing fighting that didn’t rely so heavily on my time manipulation and , something that resembled more how my dad and uncle fought.

Would that be the right approach? It was something to discuss with Krahinn before devoting too much time to it. Lux unintentionally brought home someone quite intriguing from Phestia. Ikol was more like Hoggdin, relying on and physical ability rather than . I did tend to neglect my more for , other than my swordsmanship. That was a decent middle ground now that I thought about it, instead of increasing the I used as I fought polish up my instead, even if they relied on my and time manipulating. But, how? What could I do? Yea, this is not a strong suit of mine. What have I not tried? My probably was where to put the work in because it was not developed as much. Krahinn focused solely on , and Uncle Nez taught me theory, , , and being a better Magus. Uncle Nox focused on my swordsmanship, archery, throwing knives, and in the last three years. Now that I was thinking about it, I neglected it a bit more than I should’ve. There’s just so much to learn. Not relevant, time to think of on thing to improve . I don’t care that he came up with the idea, I can innovate on it.

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That lead me right back to how. What was something new I could try? Before I went deeper into thought, I scanned the carriage, realizing we were arriving. Darn, I would have to shelve thinking over it for later. There might be a small window during lunch I could get a little in. The door was opened by one of the servants, and Lux and Ikol shot out of the carriage excitedly. I quickly stood up, got out of the carriage, extended my hand, and helped Luna out of the carriage. Duke Dawnsfield smirked at me but said nothing. Now I had to give Ikol a tour. I want to innovate . I can’t though, now is the time for being a good host and boyfriend. I sighed, as I knew now was not the time. Luna poked my cheek with a mischievous grin.

Is someone wanting to think about ? Luna taunted me. Her guessing skills were improving rapidly. This witchcraft was unsettling.

Maybe. I deflected. I saw Ikol looking in awe at a tree, seeing it sway in the wind.

It can wait until after dinner. Come on, time to give Ikol a tour. Luna prodded. I nearly shot back you’re not my mother, but every fiber in my body screamed that was a horrendous idea.

“Come on, let’s get this double date moving along.” Duke Dawnsfield prodded. Ikol was busy admiring the tree, but Lux looked furious.

“Not a double date.” Lux hissed, keeping her voice down with moderate success. Duke Dawnsfield just shrugged like it was an honest mistake. I doubt it after breakfast.

“Welcome to the Imperial Botanical Garden!” I declared excitedly, grabbing Ikol’s attention.

“Fancy!” Ikol stated with a happy smile.

“Time for a grand tour!” I informed him. Ikol did a joyful little hop as he began following me.

“Yay!” Ikol cheered. He is a bit simple minded.

I lead Ikol, Luna, Lux, and Duke Dawnsfield on a trek through the gardens, going over a lot of what Mom had shown me on our previous visits. I felt oddly content as I remembered our trips here and being able to share what she showed me with them. After the first few plants, I adapted my approach for Ikol as he was more interested in how plants smelled, felt, and tasted rather than facts about them. To keep him from sampling each one, I described the flavors and dishes that could be made with each of the plants to keep him engaged. Lux kept glaring daggers at Duke Dawnsfield as she was clearly incensed by his double date comment. Would he be petty enough to say that to irritate Lux for our harmless security tests? There’s a nonzero chance. If I asked Luna, would she know? That was also a post dinner conversation unfortunately. For some odd reason, Ikol would lick the stands or containers some of the plants were in. Was it some sort of sampling or tasting thing? Lux also picked up on his odd habit of licking things that were completely inedible or at least would do your digestion no favors if you ate it. I had no idea how to inquire about the habit without starting a fight as my brain was screaming to tease Lux about it. I can behave. I can be a model prince for a few hours. Ikol was testing my willpower with each new thing he licked, or random thing he stared at like it was some earth-shattering revelation.

Stop looking at Ikol like that; he’s having fun. Luna lectured me after Ikol licked yet another pot.

Ikol is licking pots, metal beams, plant leaves, and about anything else he can reach after sniffing them. He acts more like the beast half of than any other I have seen so far. I retorted. The first one or two I could see, but he had to be on his twentieth pot by now.

He isn’t harming anything, so who cares? Luna challenged. I must have been giving him a lot of looks for her to press it like this.

Sorry, I will try to control my face better. I apologized as Ikol was licking yet another pot.

I don’t want to sound bossy, but you’re looking at him like he suddenly grew another head or committed a horrific taboo. Luna informed me. Yea, I could see that as Ikol taste testing the pots with such a serious expression was getting to me.

The tour continued as we reached the arboretum section of the gardens. Thankfully, there were no pots for Ikol to lick as the trees were planted in the ground. This section was shaded with a kaleidoscope of colors as the various leaves were shifting colors from the changing seasons. Several of the trees had a pleasant, sweet aroma that gently drafted through the air. Soft crunches emanated from us walking through the grove of trees as the branches swaying softly in the wind sounded like wings fluttering. I think this is my favorite section. There was this subtle majesty in the trees here that was both calming and captivating; I could feel my lips stretching ear to ear as I began explaining the various trees. Ikol began taste testing tree bark now with immense fervor. Of course he would.

Keep smiling. I just had to keep smiling. I took my time in the arboretum, showcasing all the trees, before escorting Ikol to the section he would like the most: the ones with edible sap. Ikol began making this clicking sound in excitement before darting around licking all the sap he could. Lux sat, eyes forward, refusing to make eye contact with any of us while Ikol engorged himself on tree sap. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to use this against her. Behave. I could do this. One of the staff came up as Ikol began climbing a tree to reach more sap to inform us that it was time for lunch. Lux had to swat and drag Ikol away from the trees as the staff already procured the tubot for us because we were behind schedule. I pulled out the tools Mom gave me, including the pot so I could begin getting the oil ready to fry. I began cutting the washed tubot into long, thin sticks the best I could. Tubots were a deep crimson rather than a yellowish white like potatoes. Unfortunately, I was never much of a chef so the straightness of the fries were a little suspect. Please work. Please taste decent.

“You’re making fries!” Luna exclaimed as she finally deduced what the tubot gambit was.

“Correct.” I confirmed for her as she did an excited little dance.

“What are fries?” Duke Dawnsfield inquired. He was looking at my set up, not grasping the idea.

“You are about to find out!” I retorted as I kept cutting the tubot.