The Crown Prince In Hiding

The End of the Conference

The Carriage

”Did you write that yourself, Mr. Fury?”

”Most of it.”

”‘The works created by God have never been beyond humanity’s ability to understand, for He bestowed upon us the precious gift of our brains from the very beginning so that we might comprehend His creations.’ That doesn’t sound like something someone who rejects the Creator, like you, would write.”

”Casca helped me with that part. She said adding it would make the message more powerful... And I never said I rejected the theory of a Creator.”

The young man looked out the carriage window.

”Hmm... Are there more of them now? Or am I imagining things?”

”More of what?”

”There.”

Nora looked in the direction he pointed and spotted people traveling in four-wheeled automobiles. Lately, they had begun appearing more frequently outside Mathema.

”I thought I was the only one who’d noticed.”

”When I went home, my father had one too. I think Mr. Everton is behind them.”

”If even someone like Rafinya has noticed, then this must have grown into a pretty big business already.”

Dan rolled up his sleeve to check his watch.

”We still have a little time... Mind stopping somewhere before we return, or do you have anything to do?”

Nora and Rafinya replied together.

”No.”

The carriage stopped at the post office in Mathema City. Above them, hundreds of gondolas and airships passed overhead, crisscrossing the sky above the station.

Rafinya and Nora sat quietly with their legs crossed inside the carriage, waiting. Looking outside, they could see Dan writing down a telegraph message, recording whatever information was being sent to him.

They turned their attention back to each other.

”We’ll graduate in another year. Time really flies.”

”Chiesa and Jenny have already graduated. I just attended their graduation party.”

”Did you go willingly?”

”I had no choice.”

”Where do you think Mr. Fury will go after graduation?”

”Probably keep hanging around here, I suppose.”

Rafinya replied.

”He’s already made it to the other side. He can do whatever he wants now.”

And that was precisely what Nora had been thinking about.

Because once she graduated, she would have to return to Snowhaven to study its governing system in earnest. She would no longer have the opportunity to travel south again.

And when she said she would have no opportunity, she meant it literally.

That meant the next time Nora returned to Artheris...

she would probably already be the sixteenth Empress.

As for Rafinya, after graduation, she would join the military in the capital and undergo another five years of training at the Luminus Capital Military Academy.

Thinking about that time made them feel a little sad.

Dan returned, looking as though he were contemplating something as he read the magical message he had received.

”Zeedee sent me a report. He says this is the most perfect opportunity to launch an attack.”

As the letters slowly evaporated into thin air, he continued,

”Zentinel will have to wait another turn...”

”You’re going to Velmount?”

”...Yes.”

”When?”

”Right now.”

”Are you taking us with you?”

”You want me to take you along for a little excursion to risk your lives?”

”That would be the hundredth time already.”

”I have nothing left to teach you two.”

”There’s still plenty.”

”And how would you know better than I do?”

Anfield

The three of them walked into the forest.

Dan, leading the group, spoke first.

”My younger sister will be supporting us.”

”With intelligence?”

”Her people will identify the targets. I’ll be the one who goes in and destroys them.”

”Is Princess Fiorentina’s intelligence network stationed in Velmount with Mr. Zeedee?”

”Yes.”

Dan spoke of his younger sister.

”Everton is wandering around Zentinel, while Fiorentina is probably in Velmount.”

”Why Velmount?”

”Because it’s a country associated with magic.”

”Something the Diablo don’t have, right...?”

”Magic is our weakness. The more something threatens us, the closer we need to stay to it.”

”I see...”

”Fiorentina built Diablo’s intelligence network during the war. She knows everything that’s happening on all sides.”

”Does she know you’re here?”

”What a strange question, Rafinya.”

He turned around just as he reached for the latch on the house’s door.

”If even Everton can find his way here, what could possibly be left to hide?”

When he opened the door, his two students found Casca Saint-Maximin sitting at the table in the center of the house, chatting with a guest.

A middle-aged woman with thick black hair falling to her shoulders.

She wore a distinctive, broad-brimmed, disk-shaped hat.

Her outfit consisted of layered purple silk garments, styled in the fashion of Zentinel’s Asian culture.

Her eyes were purple.

The conversation between her and Casca came to a halt. She turned toward the newcomers. Dan’s expression told them that he had already been aware of her arrival, though his two students had no idea who she was.

”I’ve been waiting for you.”

The woman stood up and walked over to Dan. She bent down and greeted him with an affectionate kiss on the cheek, making a little kissing sound.

Nora and Rafinya: (Could it be... this woman is...)

”Young lady... Your Highness.”

She tipped the brim of her hat toward one of them, then nodded to the other.

”My name is Vicky, but my birth name is Fiorentina.”

The Third Heir, Princess Fiorentina.

Human Identity: Vicky Batistuta.

”Young people these days are so tall... If I’d known, I should have chosen a taller body.”

Dan replied,

”That’s something I should be saying.”

”Not bad at all, Elder Brother. You always keep young women close to you, ready to turn them into heir-producing machines whenever necessary. You really are quite the schemer.”

”I’m not like you. My intentions are pure.”

Casca laughed from a distance before speaking up.

”If she hadn’t written to tell me, I wouldn’t have known she was coming. I barely had time to put away the traps.”

”I came to congratulate you, Elder Brother... on the discovery your people made.”

”It wasn’t my discovery... It was my people’s.”

Nora and Rafinya rolled their eyes, glancing back and forth between the two siblings.

Fiorentina walked over to address them.

”I don’t like the fact that your instructor is allowing humans to excavate our land. But since it’s turned out to be good for our reputation, I’ll tolerate it for a while.”

Her sharp eyes, framed by dark eyelashes, slid sideways toward her elder brother, who stood with his arms crossed and shook his head.

”Am I frightening them?”

”You’re making them judge you the same way they judge Everton.”

”I’m the beautiful princess of Diablo. That man is a greedy merchant. We’re not the same.”

”But with that appearance, you’re just a middle-aged woman.”

Dan shoved his younger sister aside, laughing along with Casca.

”Fiorentina came here to take me to Velmount.”

Dan announced,

”We’re leaving immediately.”

”You’re taking them with you, Elder Brother?”

”They can take care of themselves. They’ve already killed Shadows with their own hands.”

”But this time, you might end up killing fellow humans.”

”It’s no different.”

Dan turned toward Nora and Rafinya.

”You’ve got experience now, haven’t you?”

At that moment, Casca looked at the two young women for a moment before speaking.

”Be careful out there...”