Chapter Text
“I can heal the Princess.”
Five words from the young magician with rare crimson eyes and he’s escorted to the Emperor’s bed chambers, face to face with the Emperor of Obelia, Claude de Alger Obelia, the unconscious Princess, Athanasia de Alger Obelia, and their Royal Guard, Felix Robane.
“Who are you?”
“I am Lucas, Your Majesty. I am a traveling magician in training. I happen to hear about the news about Her Highness, Princess Athanasia’s illness so I am hoping to be of assistance.”
A small boy, or is he? He has long, flowing dark tresses and long lashes. His voice sounds feminine too for a boy, Felix mused from behind the Emperor. But for him? Not even the Imperial Magicians from Black Tower can identify what’s wrong with their Princess, how can this child cure Princess Athanasia? He stated himself he’s still in training.
But he looks very confident in himself. Be it vanity or sheer confidence, nobody knows besides the magician himself.
“How arrogant. So far, no one can ascertain what happened to my daughter, much less curing her. I’ll have you know… Everyone who fails, I threw them down to rot in the jail.”
“If I fail, I shall come willingly to be imprisoned.”
Claude’s cerulean eyes observed (glared, in Felix’s opinion) the boy. For a child, he’s certainly fearless. Everyone trembles and cowers beneath his gaze, adults and children alike. Even Athanasia sometimes shows fear to him, even though she would happily grin like nothing else happened afterward. But this boy shows nothing of sorts, no fear, no flinch, nothing. After he, the Emperor, threatened him too.
“Raise your head.”
The child, Lucas, looked straight to his cerulean eyes without wavering. Behind him, Felix is silently impressed by the gesture. Not many can look at the Emperor without an ounce of fear in their eyes. The wide, seemingly innocent and harmless, but with a trace of emptiness and maturity. Claude is impressed, Felix is intrigued.
“Time is of the essence. Magician, what do you think happened to my daughter?”
“The Princess has a massive amount of mana, Your Majesty. Such amounts of mana, even though it’s a blessing for a magician, if not kept in check, will be dangerous for someone’s life.”
Massive amount of mana?
The young magician glanced slightly on the sleeping Princess with an unreadable look.
“The Princess’ mana is running out of control, Your Majesty. Her reserves are too much for her body to handle.”
Massive amounts of mana.
If not kept in check, can be dangerous for someone’s body.
For someone as frail as the Princess…
“… So that’s why.” A small whisper from The Emperor. As if he realized something about the past he refused to speak of. The Magician gave him no mind as he examined the Princess and sighed.
Felix watched him, watched the small magician explain the Princess’ condition in surprising detail. Who would have thought the source of Princess Athanasia’s pain was her own pet—no, Holy Beast?
Holy Beasts are said to be a manifestation of a magician’s mana. It is born when the magician it derives from has unholy amount of mana in their bodies, but after several generations, its existence seemingly vanishes as the number of magicians also depleted considerably after Emperor Aeternithas’ reign. Not even the late Emperor Anastasius and Emperor Claude has a Holy Beast. So for Princess Athanasia to own one so young…
“You can see it too, right Your Majesty? The overwhelming mana around Princess Athanasia?”
“… What?”
Now it’s the young magician’s turn to be confused. He raised his eyebrows before asking. “… Excuse me for asking, but can you see the Princess’ aura, Your Majesty?”
“No, I can not.”
What the actual fuck?! He, the Emperor, can’t even see his own daughter’s aura!? I thought the magicians around my era were trash, and the magicians coming before me to cure this Princess were as useless as the ‘ay’ in ‘okay’, but HIM?! The so-called Sage Emperor?!
Thankfully nobody in this room can hear his thoughts. Extending his hands, both Claude and Felix touched the small palms tentatively before Felix gasped. Now he can see it, the rainbow sparkles around the Princess. So can Claude. The amount is, indeed, overwhelming. They also can see their own auras. Claude’s clear blue aura engulfed his body, so they have an estimation of how bad of a situation The Princess is in. Her mana is flowing everywhere, not focused in one place or engulfing her body. It’s like a wild fire.
Because the same amount of mana also exudes from Blackie, Athanasia’s Holy Beast.
If not for Felix and Lucas’ interference, Claude would’ve ended Blackie’s life then and there. The magician said if he killed Blackie, all the mana inside it will flow back to the Princess and worsens her situation. So Claude backs off, still gritting his teeth and threw back the Holy Beast to Athanasia’s bedside.
It was after that, they vigilantly watch Lucas heal the young Princess with a touch on her forehead for several minutes. With his magic.
With his magic.
Usage of magic around the Palace is restricted to those with authority, namely Claude and Felix. Magicians are only allowed to use magic in two places, the battlegrounds and the Black Tower. But this child uses magic freely, and Claude haven’t lifted the restriction inside this room.
After some time, the young magician lifted his palm from the Princess’ forehead. Claude and Felix can see the visible reduce of mana around the Athanasia and how she breathes a little easier now. “Her Majesty should be all right now. I stabilized her mana for the time being… But just to be safe, if allowed, I shall monitor her condition for some time until she regains consciousness.”
The Royal Guard nearly cried in relief. The Princess will be okay now--! She will be awake soon enough! The Emperor’s shoulders eased for a bit after knowing his only daughter recovery. The young magician coughs and sighs in exhaustion, so Felix came forward to kneel in front of the child.
“I am just exhausted from over-using my magic, Sir. Thank you for the concern.”
“Felix, tell the maids to prepare a room for the Magician. You, you will stay in the Palace until Princess Athanasia regains consciousness.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Unbeknownst to them, Lucas grinned inwardly after faking being exhausted because of healing the Princess. For them to be relieved by such a small thing… Removing excess mana and sensing them are child’s play, in his opinion. But for today’s magicians to be so useless… What happened to Obelia during his slumber? It’s strange.
After Felix called some maids to escort the young magician to his room, Claude spoke quietly.
“… Felix.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
Today, Felix Robane has a new mission.
Investigate everything about the young magician.