18 The Summer Prince
A young man hid behind a wall, peeking at two lovely women. He was not alone. An older man stood next to him, and it seemed he was the most excited of the two.
“Look, kid. It is a scene of beauty.”
“Shouldn’t you have a wife or something?”
“I did, but she died a looooong time ago. It is not a sin to move forward in life.”
“But why does it feel wrong to spy on others?”
“It is not our fault. We couldn’t choose where the tunnel would lead. But we should be thankful that it led us here. I mean, thankful that we escaped, hmm.”
“Sure,”
No matter how Arthur looked, Nefion seemed a little crazy. It was understandable as he stayed in a cell for many years.
They both spied for a while. There wasn’t much to see, only some pair of boobs. Nefion hadn’t seen those in a long time, so he was excited.
“Brat, look. I’ll show you two techniques we will use to get out of here. Watch and learn.”
“Excuse me. Do these techniques use mana?”
Arthur wanted to know because he wasn’t carrying his sword anymore. They took it from him and stored it inside his room.
“Mana? Yes, they do. It is only a tiny amount but yes. But why are you asking this? Don’t tell me you also dislike mages as I do?”
“Brat, you should be my grandson. These mages think they own the world, roaming around wielding their shiny wands and reading boring books. Look, the correct way is to train your body, wielding a real weapon, and use some magic, because why not?”
“Use some magic? Didn’t you say you hate mages?”
“Yes, but I mostly use spells that enhance my body or my sword. I’m not a mage. I see myself as a magic swordsman.”
Nefion had almost the same thought as Arthur. But the difference was that Arthur did not use magic because he did not know any spells or did not have the mana to cast them.
“Now, watch as I demonstrate the techniques.”
Arthur needed mana, so he tried his best to touch Nefion’s back and absorb some mana from him. It was only a tiny amount of mana, and he was almost sure Nefion wouldn’t discover it.
The moment Arthur’s hand touched Nefion’s back, he frowned.
“Huh? Does this kid have the power to absorb mana from others? Well, this is new. The only one I knew that could do this was Placidusax. Placidusax? No, he can’t be alive. Humans killed all of us a long time ago.”
Nefion felt the moment Arthur did that, but he did not mutter a word. He was lost in thoughts and only woke up after Arthur said something.
“Hello? Did you finally go crazy? It took you long enough.”
“Huh, what? Shut up, brat. I’m the sanest old man you’ll ever encounter.”
Arthur closely watched as Nefion showed two techniques. The first consisted in focusing the mana into one’s feet, increasing the speed by a tremendous amount. Not only that, but it also made all footsteps silent, as if he was a trained assassin. It was as if Nefion vanished and appeared some distance away. He hid behind a small crate where people put the dirty clothing. It was small and impossible that no one would notice that madman. But then, Nefion showed the second technique. He touched his fingers to the shadow the crate was creating, and suddenly he vanished. Nefion merged with the shadow.
“Damn, this is cool. That madman implanted these techniques inside my mind. It is as if I had trained to use these techniques for a long time. It shouldn’t be a problem for me to use them, right?” thought Arthur.
These techniques did not have a name. That was strange, considering that all spells or techniques had a name. Was the creator of these lazy to not think of one, or did Nefion hide their name? Arthur had no answer, so he followed what Nefion did and tried to perform the same skills.
The first one was easy. Arthur focused the mana on his feet and dashed towards the same crate. It was not as fast as Nefion due to him having a weaker body, and being a newbie in using the technique, but he managed to do it.
Now, to merge with the shadow was a bit harder. The shadow was another property of mana, just like mages had an affinity with fire. Arthur had zero experience with that. He touched the shadow just like Nefion did and concentrated using the chant he had inside his mind. It did not work at first. And it did not work the second time.
The girls who were taking a bathe slowly got up from the pool, and if Arthur did not manage to do the spell, they would see him. Nefion was inside the shadow watching everything, and in the end, he had to help him.
Nefion extended his arm and dragged Arthur to the shadow.
“What? Did I do it? Look, I’m so awesome. It was the first time, and yet I did it, hahaha.”
“Sure, kid.”
“But what is this place?”
Everything around them was dark, but they could still vaguely see the world. It was as if they were behind a dark curtain.
“This is what I call the shadow world. People can’t see us here if we stay in the shadows.”
“Damn. How did you discover this thing?”
“I’m old and awesome. Anyway, we can only travel from shadow to shadow. But using the other technique I showed you, this isn’t a problem. We can just vanish and go to the next shadow, without leaving this world at all.”
Arthur was astonished. This technique was beyond overpowered. The other spells he saw were cool and strong, but this? With this, he could go anywhere without people realizing it.
“But it is not all sunshine and rainbows. We can only use it during the daytime, and if we stay here for too long, it will damage us, and kill us.”
“But why can’t we use it during the night? Everything should be a shadow, right?”
“Yes, that is correct. But other creatures roam around this world during nighttime. Like, real strong creatures. You can compare them to the Gods or Dragons of this world.”
“Wait, what? The same power as Gods and Dragons? And do these truly exist?
“I don’t know, kid. Dragons are few nowadays, and the Gods stopped bestowing miracles to humanity a long time ago.”
“Anyway, where should we go?”
All of that talking made Arthur realize how small he was in that world. But the strangest part was Nefion, who seemed to have a lot of knowledge about these things. Well, he was old after all, and Arthur was only a kid.
“Remember I said I was working as a chef here? They gave me a room, we can go there. But I don’t know if the guards are investigating my room, so it could be risky.”
“Huh.” Nefion had his hand on his chin and was in deep thought.
“I have a secret room beneath the palace. No one knows about it, not even the king. We can go there to rest and plan what we should do next.”
“Okay, lead the way.”
~~~~
Why does Nefion have a secret room? No one knows, but Arthur was glad he did. That fact saved their lives. They continued jumping from one shadow to the other and eventually entered the palace. Inside it, they could walk freely as most of the place was covered with shadows.
“Don’t worry, no creatures will show up. I already test it a long time ago. If we use this technique indoors during the day, nothing happens. Only during the night. I assume these creatures have something do to with the moon or whatever.”
Even if they couldn’t use it during the night, it was still an awesome skill. It was a fact that during the day the palace had many guards roaming around, and it was harder to walk stealthily during the day than it was during the night.
They walked for some time and reached the area where the royal family stayed. Nefion went inside the library, and it was empty. Everyone was occupied trying to investigate the murder scene and find out who killed Jonan.
“Why are we here?”
“I always loved to read, so I made the secret passage to my room inside this library. That way, I had easy access to all of the books.”
“Wasn’t you making fun of the mages with their books?”
“I was only making fun of the books that taught useless spells, okay? The other ones are okay.”
Nefion led both of them to a dark corner of the library. He pulled a random book, and then a pathway opened.
“But grandpa, what if someone accidentally pulled this book, and discovers your hidden room?”
“Brat, you have so much to learn. Look, first of all, almost no one in this place will come here to read. This library is only used by the royal family, and most of them don’t read at all. And if you paid any attention, you can read the title of this book, which says, ” The Summer Prince.”
“Yeah, no one would read that book. You’re so wise, old man.”
“I know, I know. Now, follow me.”