2. Look Around

It was not easy to try to make conversation with the former Prince.

Heck, it was hard to get him out of the castle. Sylvan practically spent three days just wandering about the castle, and no one could really get him to converse any more than small talk. Monica found this a bit worrying, knowing that the shock of losing his kingdom and family must be hard for him to bear. She had been one of the people in the castle that kept trying to talk to him, even after failing the first try, but he just didn't really seem to respond...

And now this. Monica had been on her way to Sylvan's room when Mizuno gave her some unfortunate information.

"Uh..." Mizuno paused, before speaking. "Sylvan snuck out of the castle."

Monica's eyes widened at this. "What!? Why? How?" She exclaimed. "We have to find him!"

Mizuno blinked at this. "Now?"

"Of course now! Come on, we'll go and get Samurai boy-"

"You mean the knight Suwabara, right?"

"Yes, of course I mean by him! He's the only knight that uses a katana in battle!" Monica grabbed the shorter girl by the wrist, dragging her down the hallway. "Come on!"

Mizuno let out a groan.

Why do I get thrown into these crazy things again...?

The former prince made his way through the town surrounding the castle, looking around quietly.

He didn't really mean to sneak out because he didn't want to be here. No, no, he was...alright with being here, he supposed, it was just that he had to get used to his surroundings. Surely a quick trip around the place wouldn't be that bad, would it...?

Unfortunately for him, as soon as he bumped into someone, that was when things went downhill.

"Hey!" Sylvan felt himself being shoved backwards, and he could have fallen over if he hadn't caught his balance in time. Looking up from staring at the ground, he realized that it was one of the knights that served here at this kingdom. "Watch where you're going." The knight snapped, before stomping away from him. The former noble didn't even get the chance to apologize before the other left.

Are all knights here so rude...? I hope not...

He almost bumped into another knight, but he quickly got out of the way, apologizing. The knight, who was walking with two other knights, turned to stare at him closely before he spoke up.

"Hey, isn't he..."

The second of the three knights nodded. "Yeah...it's him. The son of that bastard king that tried to take over this place...he was snoozing the whole time while we were going and destroying the whole kingdom!" The three knights laughed at this, as if it was all some kind of stupid joke.

Sylvan took a deep breath, mustering up any scrap of pride he had left, before speaking. "Excuse me, but I don't appreciate any of this...this slander being spoken of about me, and-"

"Oy, you're not even a noble anymore. Shut up, peasant!" The third knight snapped, shoving him harshly to the ground, sneering at him. "Since when did you have any right to command us around? I'm sure we would have some right to beat you for this..."

The former prince's eyes widened out of fear as he tried to back away. This was not what he intended to happen...

The three knights laughed, one of them picking him up by the collar. Sylvan tried to struggle, but sleeping for the past months had weakened his original strength, leaving him helpless to their malice.

"How about we teach him a lesson? Right here, right now?"

Before any of them could answer, one of the other two knights was knocked aside by another knight, wielding not the longswords that the regular knights had, but a katana. His armor was shaped differently, too-it seemed to resemble more like a samurai, except there was no helmet and that the armor was more form fitting than bulky. Two dark eyes became glaring slits from underneath the bandanna he wore, and the knight grabbing Sylvan let go of him instantly, whimpering in fear.

"General Suwabara..." Sylvan heard one of the knights squeak. Suwabara said nothing for a moment, still glaring at them and pointing his sword at them, before he finally spoke, his voice rough and harsh in nature.

"How pathetic," The samurai-knight snapped, "That you would sink so low to this. Have you all forgotten to treat the people with respect, as part of your duties as knights?"

"B-but, General," one of the knights started, "The disgraceful mongrel, he-"

"Shut up."

That shut up the knight for good. Sylvan just stared, wide eyed, as Suwabara kept talking.

"This man is now living here as one of our people, for the time being, and you will treat with respect as you do with the rest of the people in this kingdom. Is that understood?"

The three knights nodded, all too scared to resist him any further. "Y-yes, sir!" They all quickly fled before their pride as so-called 'knights' could be damaged any further. Suwabara let out a scowl, before helping Sylvan stand.

"Are you alright?"

The former noble nodded quietly. "Erm, yes. Thank you-"

He was greeted with a glare.

"The Princess has been looking for you all day." He muttered quietly. "Don't go scurrying away from the castle without anyone knowing next time."

Sylvan himself was far too scared to say no to this young man. "I-I will...remember...next time. Thank you..."

The two then heard a shout behind them, and the two turned to see an old man yelling at the three knights that had just run away from Sylvan.

"I OUGHT TO SIMPLY DISMISS YOU FROM YOUR DUTIES AS KNIGHTS IF YOU KEEP ACTING UP IN SUCH A WAY!" He was yelling, whacking them all with the flat blade of his own katana as the three knights fled, screaming their heads off. "NEXT TIME YOU MESS UP LIKE THIS, I'M SURE GENERAL SUWABARA MIGHT EVEN CONSIDER EXECUTING YOU LOT!"

Sylvan blinked a bit at such a sight, and Suwabara paused before speaking.

"If you're wondering who he is, he is my master, and former General of this kingdom's army..."

The former noble nodded quietly, observing Suwabara's Master. The old man really did seem to be similar to Suwabara with all the angry glares and the like towards the knights. "I see...like father, like son..."

"He's not my father."

"I'm sorry..."

The young General merely said nothing in response as the General's Master came up to them with a smile on his face, as if everything had just happened never happened at all.

"I apologize for you having to see that." The General's Master spoke. "The young knights these days...except for Kai, that is, they're all so greedy and selfish, thinking only of themselves instead of others. I do have faith that he will be able to straighten them out, though."

The former noble nodding, bowing to him in respect. "Thank you..."

Before either of the three could say anything else, Princess Monica and Mizuno both rushed over to them.

"That's where you were..." Monica trailed off, lightly hitting Sylvan on the arm with a bag she had been carrying. "Geez, don't go sneaking out of the castle like that! I was worried about you!"

Sylvan winced a bit. "Apologies...I thought I would get used to my surroundings..."

"I could have shown you around! You could have just asked." The princess then smiled at him quietly. "I mean, we're friends, right? We gotta help each other out with stuff like this."

The former noble nodded quietly, smiling back. "True..."

Author note: ...And yes, I'm aware I haven't updated this in a while. Oops. XD I hope this chapter made up for it though, and thanks for reading and reviewing so far! XD