Chapter 4: The Riddle of Two Princes
Spring 2, year 1611
The actual prince was caught speechless, but by that point Lest was seeing what was going on. And just like they'd said, this was a perfect storm of coincidences. "Huh, never thought I'd meet someone who had a name near identical to mind save for two letters," he said.
"Oh really?" Arthur asked, looking at him in strong curiosity. "Especially for an uncommon name, this would be highly improbable."
"What's highly improbable is that you both seem to have come for the same reason and should have come on the same day," Forte said in a thoughtful manner. Most likely she was trying to decide if one of them was lying.
"Perhaps," Ventuswill said. "How about you both explain your missions in depth, as if speaking to someone who doesn't know about it? Because there's a good chance someone doesn't. Norad, you first."
Arthur smiled at that, pleased enough in the riddle to go along with it. "As you wish. After the last prince of Selphia abandoned the position for unknown reasons, there were several discussions in the royal court of who to appoint here. It's been a troubling matter that the region's economy has been slowing towards a dangerous point over the past decade. There have also been many complaints from travelers on issues in Selphia, such as road outages and lack of accessible locales for sightseeing. The court believes that if an effort to make Selphia more interesting for tourists was carried out, the economic issues may be corrected in a few years. Plus you share a border with the Sechs Empire, which is a nation we've been keeping a wary eye on recently. That undermines the whole effort anyone puts into this plan. These issues are of personal interest to me, so I volunteered to come and do what I can to keep the community thriving."
"And what about your delayed arrival?" Ventuswill asked.
"Ah yes, that," he said, a brief moment of annoyance showing before what seemed to be his normal professionalism held strong. "When the Sechs warship was spotted, the captain immediately turned our ship around and wouldn't bring me here until they were certain the threat was gone due to my status as one of the high king's sons. I had to do some convincing to get them to bring me today instead of next week."
"That's what we were expecting, which is a help we could use greatly," the divine dragon said. "Now then, your turn Nolan."
He couldn't be sure what would start building trust with Ventuswill, but the truth should be the best starting point. "I'm an earthmate student from the tribal village of Grelin, where we have been researching the gradually weakening flow in the Norad ether sea. It's sluggish in many parts of the country, affecting crop production and the aggressiveness of monsters. As we are greatly affected by the natural flow of runes, it's an important issue for us.
"The heart of the Norad ether sea is here in Selphia, with you as its core Lady Ventuswill. Others are still researching what this reoccurring problem is, but we have come up with support artifacts called rune spheres. According to our theory, when placed at the four springs in Selphia, the spheres will greatly stimulate the flow of runes, stabilizing the whole nation's flow until the deeper issues can be properly identified and corrected. I've been sent to set the spheres here and remain in the area for at least five years to make sure they function, take care of any related issues, help out Lady Ventuswill however I can, and act as a local contact for the tribe. On the trip here, we heard about the warship as well as the royal vessel being pulled back, but our ship was so close that we decided to land anyhow."
"Were you on the vessel that got attacked then?" Arthur asked. "I'm very sorry about that."
He nodded. "I was, but it wasn't what you were thinking. When the warship came at us, they contacted us over the radio and demanded that we handed over the rune spheres. It was a total mystery to us since their creation has been a close secret within Grelin for a few decades now; no one outside of the tribe should have known, but they weren't the first to try getting the spheres from me. While we couldn't fight back, we decided that it was more important that I get into Selphia and place the rune spheres as soon as possible. So I ended up jumping out of the airship, only for the support spell to give out too soon. Hence why I'm like this right now." He patted the crutch under his right arm.
Arthur seemed thoughtful and it was at that moment that Lest knew he'd seen Arthur before. He was the nobleman he'd come across when he'd met the Executioner. "I see. Then it seems this may not be the first time we've been confused. I've been stopped by brigands twice in the past week trying to get rune spheres from me, but I had no idea what they were talking about."
"Then where are your rune spheres now?" Ventuswill asked.
"I got hit by the shockwave of one of their big cannons and lost hold of them," Lest admitted. "They should have fallen around the area. Even if they're not in place, they hold a great deal of runes and so will be obvious and attractive to monsters. I'm hoping for that, since it'll be easier for me to get them from the monsters than if the Sechs soldiers managed to find them."
She closed her eyes. "There has been four unexpectedly strong points in the land. They move around in ways to suggest that your hopes are granted and they're in the possession of monsters rather than humans."
"That's good," Lest said. "But all I really need for my work is a place to stay and some farmland near town, once I'm free to get around again."
Arthur had his hand on his chin, then nodded. "I see. In that case, I believe it would be best if you took the position as Selphia's prince, Nolan."
"What makes you say that if you were the one who volunteered for it?" Lest asked. It was a generous offer, but something had to be behind it.
He was amused as he asked, "How much research on Selphia did you do before arriving?"
"Apparently not enough," he said, making Forte nearby chuckle.
"It's fine," Arthur said. "The prince of Selphia is not a position of full political power beyond its borders, being more of a community leader. I can instruct you on the specifics later on, but one of the primary responsibilities of the ruling prince is taking care of the castle's farmland." He turned a little embarrassed as he said, "I have to admit that I've been uncertain how well I could handle that part of the job, as I've never farmed before. But I know how important it is to earthmates and honestly, I think I can fulfill my assignment better as a trade manager and adviser. And your assignment would be better fulfilled when you live close to Lady Ventuswill here in the castle, right?"
Hearing that, Lest wondered if Selphia had originally been an earthmate community. Making the town leader in charge of the most central farmland was expected in such places. "Right, so it wouldn't take me long to arrive if I was needed. What do you think, Ventuswill?"
"It would make me feel more comfortable to have the fields in good hands," she said, looking over both of them. "You two will need to assist each other to work at your best, Arthur with his political and financial expertise and Lest with his farming and runic expertise. Will you do so whichever way things are decided?"
"Yes," they both replied.
She nodded. "Good. Then because the farmland is an important aspect of the job, Lest will be the Prince of Selphia and Arthur his adviser. Forte, go ahead and spread word of this through the town so people are aware of it."
"Yes, my lady," she said, saluting and heading out on her task.
"I'm a touch weary so we'll have to discuss more about this later on," Ventuswill said, trying to keep a dignified pose even though she sounded tired. "Arthur, you'll be need to find a place to stay, but I'm sure that won't be hard."
"Certainly, although I'd have to find which buildings are available," he said.
"Pardon me for interrupting," the older man there said, "but you could check with the inn to see about a place to stay temporarily, or with the restaurant as I believe the owner has unused rooms and an office there. Both are on the northern street; I could send one of my students with you to show you the way."
He smiled. "No, I'd like to look around town myself first. Thanks for the tip; I'll see what's available there." Then he bowed to Ventuswill. "And thank you for understanding. I hope we can make Selphia a better place."
"I'm glad you feel that way," she said. Once Arthur was on his way out, she yawned briefly. "Sorry. It seems you still need some time to heal, Lest, so today it may be best simply to make yourself acquainted with the town and those who live here as well. Volkanon and the others will show you around the castle… whichever parts you can get around at this point."
"Okay, we'll speak more later," Lest said. Hopefully just him and Ventuswill; it might help to speak to her alone.
The older man waved to the three of them to go through the doorway on the right. Ventuswill was already nodding off. "Good thing we got this sorted out peacefully," he said once they were in the doorway. "As she said, I'm Volkanon, butler to our Lady Ventuswill and with you being the prince, to you as well. These two are my students and assistants, Vishnal and Clorica. Feel free to ask us for help on anything; we're here to serve you."
This was going to take adjusting he hadn't planned for, he thought. "Thanks, though I'm not all that used to being served."
"It's all in the job," Volkanon said. Then he turned his attention form Lest for a moment to smile warmly and hug Cloirca. "And it's great to see you back home; I can't imagine what you must have been through."
"Yes, it's great to have you back," Vishnal added happily.
"Aw, thanks," Clorica said, glad and not at all embarrassed at the attention even if Lest was pretty much a stranger. "I knew I had to get back; I found out some important things, but I can tell you later."
"Excuse me?" A voice came from the doorway, stopping them from continuing. It was Jones with an envelope. Smiling at them, he added, "Good, I got you just in time. I heard a bit of what happened; you'll have to tell us sometime when you're free."
"Sure, that'll be fun to tell," Volkanon said boisterously.
"Is this about my treatment?" Lest asked.
He nodded. "Yes, I figured I'd better come over now. Volkanon, Lest needs to have some flower seeds to take care of while he can't do regular farm work. That's what'll help him best through this injury."
Volkanon took the note as Lest had his hands full with the crutches. "Unusual, but if it's the doctor's orders, we'll see about getting some."
Jones headed out with his message delivered, leaving Vishnal to ask, "You really need the flowers to get better?"
Lest nodded. "Yes, it's the blessing price. The earth gives her blessings freely, but then we need to give blessings back to the earth to maintain our gifts. And I go stir crazy if I don't have some farm work to do for a few days, probably why I ended up sleeping the whole while."
"Hah, I know the troubling feeling of having too much idle time," Volkanon said. "There's a flower shop in town, so it's no problem. Now, this wing is meant for the royal family, so it is large for a single fellow. But you've got your room down there with a door directly into the royal farms, along with the one here down the hall if you want. Your room is a private area, but this hall and the parlor over here are public places, in that people often pass through here either as a shortcut across town, taking shelter from the elements, or socializing in the parlor. Once you can get around better, there's more private rooms upstairs and downstairs you can use for whatever you wish, as well as an office across from your bedroom. Our offices and apartments are in the other wing and you're free to drop in whenever you like."
Lest followed them around to check out the first floor rooms. The office would be nice for writing letters or whatever business Arthur would be instructing him on later. While the parlor was open to the public, Lest felt happy about that. That would make it easy and natural to invite someone there to speak with them, maybe even moving into the office if it needed to be private. Since he was being pulled in as a community leader, that would be important. His bedroom seemed sparse with just a few necessary pieces of furniture, although that wouldn't be an issue for long.
He insisted on going out to look at the farms, so they headed out through the bedroom door to get there. Just like the plaza, the farm was right next to the castle. There was a shed for tools nearby, holding a few that seemed old but usable. Clusters of large trees divided what Volkanon said were five fields, four of which had been unused by the last prince. From a few dead vines and a withering bush, it seemed only a small portion of this field had been used to farm, something that struck Lest as wasteful the instant he noticed it. Across the field, there was a shipping bin, a fertilizer box, a shallow-walled well, a mostly empty lumber and stone bin, and a small barn in need of serious attention.
"Excuse me for saying so, but if this is a big part, the last prince wasn't very good at his job," Lest said, looking over the ground to read the runes there.
"I must admit that he was unsuited for the job," Volkanon agreed. "Kept complaining it was a job meant to make him easier to ignore and eventually took off without a word. He lasted a few years, longer than I expected."
"He was good to help train a proper attitude," Vishnal said, making his master laugh.
"I suppose that's the best one could say," Clorica said, then covered her mouth and yawned.
Meanwhile, Lest closed his eyes and started to sing softly in a different language. He couldn't kneel at the moment to feel the earth itself. Gold lines briefly appeared on his skin in response to his call; the runes of the ground responded as well, although he would be the only one there to hear them. This way took more energy, but it gave him a lot of information he wanted for when he started to farm. "Not quite awake yet," he said normally, opening his eyes back up. "This field needs to rest for another season as anything grown this spring will be weaker than normal. Probably two seasons of fallow rest so as not to wear it out too fast. But it has a lot of promise."
"Wow, you can tell that much from just a short melody?" Vishnal asked, completely impressed. Clorica had her eyes wide. In contrast, Volkanon was quietly in approval. That was enough proof for him that Lest was a true earthmate.
Lest laughed a little in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's a really basic skill for us, not much different from talking with others. But I think this land will make whatever else I need to do worth it."
Volkanon clapped him lightly on the shoulder; probably would have been harder if he hadn't been in bandages. "Good, I like your attitude already. I have some daily tasks I still need to complete for Lady Ventuswill, so we'll stop the tour here. Vishnal, you go with the prince around town to make sure he can get around and meet folks."
"Certainly," Vishnal said.
"Am I taking his duties for today then?" Clorica asked, starting to slip back into drowsiness again.
"Not quite, I want you on light duty until we're sure you're completely healed," Volkanon said in a stern concern. "Oh yes, and when you stop by the flower shop, tell Illuminata that I'll handle the bill for your flowers this time."
"I've got some money," Lest said.
"Save it for when you can get serious with your farming," Volkanon said. "See you later."
"Thanks for all your help," Lest said, waving to him before Volkanon and Clorica headed off to their part of the castle.
"We'd better head back through the hall so we don't disturb Lady Ventuswill," Vishnal said, securing the door to Lest's bedroom before going to open the other. "The town's not big, so we should be able to get around it by the evening hours. Anywhere besides the flower shop you definitely want to stop in at?"
Lest nodded in thanks to having the door help while he went into the hall. There were a few small tables to navigate around, nothing difficult. "I'd like to meet Kiel if I could, since he lent me some clothes. Also the grocery store, or wherever would sell vegetable seeds and plant nutrients."
"That'd be the general store, with the nutrients in the flower shop," Vishnal said. "Since we will be picking up things from the latter, we can loop around so it's the last stop. If he's at home or his workshop, Kiel won't be far from here, so we'll head there first. And I hope you don't mind, but I think you should check out the inn, restaurant, and marketplace as well. They're places people who live here visit frequently."
"Sounds like a good plan," Lest said.
They headed towards the west side of town, where the clinic was. Vishnal pointed out the street there. "You just came from there, but if you continue on down that road, you'll find Dragon Lake, which is good for fishing and swimming."
"Hopefully not both at once," he joked.
Vishnal smiled at that. "Right, that'd hurt." He glanced into the window of the store where Lest had seen the dwarf earlier, then gestured to the building. "This is the blacksmith's store and home, but it looks like Bado isn't in right now. He makes weapons and armor to sell, as well as sharpening blades when needed. And up ahead here, we have an alchemist shop; that's Kiel's business, along with looking after the town library."
"Keeping those two together sounds dangerous too," Lest commented. Fumes from a potion gone wrong (or even some gone right) might damage the books.
"He went with his passions, so he does take care to keep both sides safe," Vishnal said, pulling a rope on a bell once they got there. "There's a bigger library, but no one lives there now; Kiel rotates the books he keeps in here from the collections in there and the castle."
"Come on in!" a voice called from inside. Once they got in, a young man (Lest figured he had to be eighteen or close to it) came into entrance area of a small shop. Kiel was taller than Lest, but had a more delicate frame of someone who didn't do a lot of physical work like farming. Chemical gloves covered his hands and a pair of safety goggles currently rested on his head. "Morning, Vishnal. Who's this?"
"This is our new prince, Lest," he said. "We're visiting people around town today. Lest, this would be Kiel, our alchemist and librarian."
"Well I haven't been either for very long, but I'm working to make it better all the time," Kiel said cheerfully. "Good to meet you, Lest. I heard about what happened from my sister. That's just about the craziest coincidence I ever heard of!"
Lest smiled and shifted a crutch so he could shake Kiel's hand. "No kidding. And thank you for lending me some of your clothes, although I'm going to have to give them back. It would've helped if I'd lost my bag too."
"That's fine," he said. "Since the airship went up in flames, any of the cargo must have been lost and I wanted to help out however I could. Hah, but now you've gone and become a prince! I can't tell if that makes you the luckiest guy around or the unluckiest."
"Luck can be good or bad, so it has to be both," Vishnal said as a joke.
"I just lost a few of my things, so I can get all that back in time," Lest said. "I still have my family back in my old town and my friends got out alive from the crash too, which is what mattered to me." The rune spheres were lost too, but he could get those back.
"That's true," Kiel said. "Oh, you know what? I've been working on a new potion recipe, one that helps injuries heal better but tastes more soothing than a straight medicinal herb potion. Want to give one a try?"
"He's very good at it, so there shouldn't be any trouble from just trying," Vishnal said.
"Maybe, I'd need to see it first," Lest said.
"Allergies? I can get the ingredient list too. Wait a minute." Kiel headed into the lab area. As Lest had begun to think this was a mostly mundane town in terms of magic wielders, he was a bit surprised to notice that there was an enchanted screen on the doorway between the two rooms. Small devices on the frame made a barrier that would help protect the rest of the shop and keep the lab area clean, but allowed Kiel to walk through unimpeded due to an armlet he wore. He came back with a small bottle of red-violet liquid and a recipe card. "Okay, so this potion has spring water, green grass, medicinal herb, numbing spores, beets, and carrots."
"Why numbing spores?" Vishnal asked.
While he'd been handed the bottle, he realized it was a mistake when Kiel mentioned that particular ingredient. "The effect of the spores can be muted so that it dulls pain rather than causes partial paralysis," Lest said. And that muting could be done either through certain ingredients he had not mentioned or through enchantments.
"Right, I use some rune shift enchantments as part of the brewing process to change the passive effect," Kiel explained, but then the potion in the bottle started hissing and shimmering. "Whoa, sorry! It didn't seem unstable."
The alchemist started to take it back, but Lest tightened his grasp on it. There was a shine on his hand from the chi lines. "Hang on, this shouldn't do anything dangerous," he said. "Sorry about messing it up, I should've warned you that a major part of my power as an earthmate is unraveling enchantments." The hissing slowed, so Lest examined it again. "And that wasn't the only enchantment in this particular brew; seems like other shifts were made to balance the vegetables, herbs, and spores so that it comes out smooth with the taste in favor of the veggies. I can only take potions without enchantments in the process. This is now just some odd-flavored juice that might numb your whole body rather than just pain."
"That sounds like a lot of trouble," Vishnal said, to which Lest nodded.
On the other hand, Kiel was impressed. "Wow, so you're really an earthmate? That's incredible; I never thought I'd get to meet one of you since most live in a distant part of Norad. Do you understand earthmate script?"
"Somewhat," Lest said. "I recognize some words and structures from hymns I've learned, but not much outside that."
"Ah, well I had some books written in that in my collection," Kiel said, glancing at a doorway that led downstairs. "That and a few ruins around Selphia have that kind of writing around, but nobody in town knows how to read it. It's like there was a community of earthmates here at some point."
Lest nodded. "I'd agree, since this position as prince seems very much like what we'd do." Even just going around talking to neighbors and helping them out was evidence of this. They spoke for a few minutes longer, but Kiel wanted to get back to his potion studies (including seeing what happened to the one Lest undid). On leaving, Vishnal brought Lest to a street heading north to visit the inn.
"This is called the residential area, although businesses and residences are spread out evenly in truth," the butler said, indicating the handful of buildings along the road to their left. The architectural styles seemed to be pulled from many ages, but every home had a small garden space. On their right, there was the little canal and the trees that bordered the royal farms.
"A lot of them seem unused," Lest said about the houses.
Vishnal briefly looked sad about that. "They are, unfortunately. Our last prince was not popular with anyone, leading our population to dwindle in the past few years as people left. Those of us who remain have strong ties to this place, so I'm sure they'll be happy to help build up the community again however we can."
"Who handles the matter of buying and selling these places, in case we do get new residents?"
He had to think about that a moment. "I believe it's supposed to be part of your work, although Volkanon handles estate titles, licenses, and similar issues right now. Or maybe it'll fall to Arthur since he is your political and financial adviser."
"We'll just see how things work out," Lest said.
By the time they got to the northmost street, Lest was getting tired. That didn't seem right even if he knew it was because he'd been asleep for three days straight. Vishnal said they could rest inside the Bell Inn, which was right by some stairs that led to the bottom of the cliff. As a building of Oriental influence, it was yet another style added to Selphia's eclectic mix. Twin lion statues guarded the main entrance while wind chimes had charms for good luck and health. A sign on the wall advertised public baths for 300 gold, rooms ranging from 250 to 2900 gold per night, and a service to order meals from the restaurant. Although he hadn't been in many towns, it seemed like reasonable pricing.
A lovely woman with long silver-blond hair greeted them as Vishnal was holding the door open for Lest. "Hello, thanks for coming by!" Then she took another look at him and put a hand to her cheek. "Oh, you were... wait, were you the real prince or the fake one?"
"Doesn't matter now, since Ventuswill named me Selphia's prince officially," he said. "Hello, I'm Lest. Do you mind if we sit in here for a few minutes?"
"Not at all, need some help?" She came from behind the counter and made sure he could sit down comfortably on a couch nearby. "I'm Lin Fa, the owner of the inn. Would you both care to have some lunch while you're here? On the house this time to welcome you to your new home."
"Thanks, that'd be great," he said.
"Porco sent some vegetable stew today," Lin Fa said happily, heading to a door behind the counter. "I'll bring along some tea to go with it."
"This should be good," Vishnal said. "Porcoline owns the restaurant and he's an amazing chef."
For being an inn, there didn't seem to be much business today. It was quiet and a nearby shoe cubby for guests and bathers only held one pair of house shoes. Someone did come downstairs from the staircase by the baths, in a hesitant cautious rhythm. When she appeared, the young woman was carrying two buckets, one stuffed with rags and the other sloshing with soapy water. She had hair of the same color as Lin Fa, but cut in boyish style. "Done with the floors up here, Momma," she called, setting the buckets down near the shoe cubby. She grabbed the shoes and quickly put them on, noticing the two of them as she did. "Oh, he-o Vishnah. Where's my mom, please?"
"She went to get us some stew for lunch," he said.
"Good good, I thought it might be time for foo-" and then she yelped because she fumbled the last of the steps coming to greet them. Lest winced as her face hit the floor.
Vishnal was up in an instant to go help her. "Are you okay, Xiao?"
"Hah, I've found worse tumbles," she said, sitting up on her own and putting a hand to her face. "Ow, but I might need a clean hankie for this."
"If it's not too bad, I could clear it up with a spell," Lest offered.
"Can you, please?" she asked, so Lest waved them to come over because he did better at casting on others if he could touch them.
There was some blood dripping from her nose, but no signs of being broken. Lest put his fingertips on her cheek near the injury to activate the healing spell. Since it wasn't bad, all the spell needed to do was speed up her natural healing process so that the break wasn't open long and neutralize any possible infections. "There you go. Try not to bump it again and it should be just as normal tomorrow."
She smiled. "Good, thank you. It will be nice if we have new guests come in. Oh, and I'm Xiao Pai; I work here with my mom."
"Nice to meet you both," Lest said, nodding. "I'm Lest."
"Oh, then you're the new prince?" she asked. "We had the other one, Arthur I mean, come in a while ago asking about rooms, yes? But we didn't have much of an office to help him with. Did you both really have the nearly same name?"
"Right, we're both Arthur Lest, with our family names differing slightly."
"At least you both use different ones, yes?" Xiao said, intrigued by this. And more, as evidenced when she added, "It was real amazing what Forte told us! Because we thought that you were the prince, only the airship control bluffed about them turning back so the warship would ignore you. It sounds like great book, but then it got even more complicated when you weren't the prince but he was and then you were the one actually named prince, and, um," she faltered in puzzlement. "Real complicated."
"I could tell you more about it when your mother gets back," Lest offered.
That delighted her. "Oh, yes, yes! We'd love that. Oh but first, um, why were you dressed like a girl when you showed up? It's been bothersome question."
How many people had seen him? They'd probably all want to ask him that at some time. Human curiosity, although Kiel's curiosity had been more about the potion and earthmates. "I was trying to fool some bandits and got so busy with talking to my best friends that I forgot about it," he said without hesitation. It wasn't something he was ashamed of, even if he knew people who thought he should be.
"Is everything all right out here?" Lin Fa asked as she brought a serving cart through the door. "I thought I heard a yelp."
"Just me falling down the stairs again, Momma," Xiao said, slightly embarrassed but it seemed like something that happened on a regular basis. "At least I got the mop buckets down before I went down."
"She's fine now," Vishnal said.
"Good, then we can be cheerful company all around," Lin Fa said. And it was true through their whole lunchtime conversation.
A/N: At the beginning of the game, Arthur doesn't really explain why he gives away the position so readily. I like to think that part of the reason why is that the situation is already confusing to the newly amnesiac hero/heroine, so s/he doesn't entirely grasp why if Arthur explained so. But for this anti-amnesia story, I have the lack of farming experience reason instead. Which the game counters by favoring Arthur in the Winter Harvest Festival. All well.
Kiel is a character that I aged up for various reasons. When playing games, I tolerate young characters like him being available to marry knowing that it's more acceptable in other cultures. But when writing, I'd rather have him and others older unless I decide on allowing teen marriage in the setting. A more practical reason is that I wanted a librarian or alchemist around town for future scenes and Kiel works really well for both without altering his personality. On the other hand, Xiao works great for this story without much alteration. She's fun to work with in spite of the language issue I mentioned earlier. Although I like everybody in the game, so it's lots of fun to write this story.