44. Of Love Letters And Point Systems

Arganan was well enough, by about eight days into recovery, that he was allowed out of the Clinic and back to work. However, for now, he was strictly told to stay in town and not participate in any fighting to ensure a full recovery. He supposed it made sense, given all the damage he went through with the previous fight with Ethelberd, but he still wished he could get in on the action, somehow.

Illuminata told him to look on the bright side; at least with no more Ethelberd and Sechs Empire trying to destroy Selphia, Arganan could focus solely on paying back the remainder of his illegal-airship-driving debt. Arganan supposed it made sense that he could focus on that. He had a feeling, however, that Calista would be coming back soon. Dealing with what decisions she made about him running around and helping Frey, despite his conditions and risks, would be another hurdle to leap over.

"Hey, Arganan?" Arganan looked up to see Illuminata offer him a bouquet. "Can you bring these flowers to Arthur for me?"

"Flowers? For Arthur?" Arganan blinked, looking down at the bouquet, and then up at Illuminata, who nodded.

"Yeah. He needs a fresh bouquet. The ones I saw in his vase need to be changed. Besides, he did order some."

"Sure." Arganan took the bouquet from her, and he saw her smile.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it. I'd deliver it myself, but I need to check the remaining inventory we have in case…"

"It's no problem." Arganan reassured her. "I'll make sure this gets to him."

"A bouquet?" Amber looked up from sweeping the floor. "For Arthur?"

"er, yeah." Arganan thought he saw Illuminata blush, briefly, but it might've been a trick of the light. "Come back soon, okay?"

Arganan left the flower shop, carrying the bouquet in his hands. Granny Blossom and Porcoline took note of it as he passed them by, and Arganan didn't get away from them without some teasing about him having a love interest. As much as the former Count liked the notion of romancing anyone, there wasn't really anyone he wanted to romance in this town, at least. Besides, there were already a lot of couples in town as is, given that Frey and Vishnal still steadily courted each other, on top of Margaret and Forte dating. And then there were the increasing rumors that Doug and Dylas might actually be in love with each other, too…

"Oh! Arganan!" Arganan looked ahead to see Vishnal, a soft smile on his face. The butler had just stepped out of Porcoline's restaurant, probably either just finishing an errand. "Good morning!"

"Morning, Vishnal." Arganan offered the younger man a soft smile. "I hope your morning has been good, so far."

"It has." Vishnal reassured him, and then a sheepish grin left him. "Other than messing up the cooking again, I guess…I hope to make a dish that the Princess will be proud of!"

Arganan did his best to smile encouragingly, despite knowing too well that Vishnal was a horrible cook. If he was practicing in Porcoline's kitchen just now, he couldn't help but wonder how that went. "I hope so, too."

Vishnal blinked, looking towards the bouquet. "A bouquet? Who is it for?"

"This?" Arganan looked down at the bouquet. "It's for Arthur. Illuminata told me to send to him, on her behalf."

"Really?" The butler raised a brow. "That reminds me…I delivered a letter from illuminata to Arthur, the other day."

"A letter?" Arganan thought of how Leon peeked into his own letter to Calista once. "Did you have any idea of its contents?"

The other shook his head. "Of course not, but Illuminata said it was a response to Arthur's request for a bouquet." Vishnal looked towards Arganan's bouquet of flowers again. "I guess you sending it on her behalf Is her way of fulfilling the request."

"Speaking of requests…" Arganan paused, thinking back to the points system. "Remember how we found out that I was in the points system the whole time, like Frey was? Do you think it's still applying to me even now?"

"Maybe." Vishnal noted. "I'm not sure. Volkanon and I still have no idea why Calista put you in the system after your initial move to Selphia was confirmed. And, of course, Frey has no idea either." A soft hum left him at that, and he tilted his head slightly in thought. "Maybe Arthur might know. He was the Prince before he handed it over to Frey, after all, so it would make sense if he had such information."

"I'll see if I can find out more from him. Thanks, Vishnal." Arganan bid Vishanl a quick farewell, before heading towards Arthur's office.

As Arganan entered, he noticed that Arthur was reading through a letter and a large map on the desk. As the door creaked open, the former Prince put down the letter, startled. "Oh! Arganan. Good morning. I wasn't expecting you."

"Illuminata sent me to bring you this." Arganan offered him the bouquet, after closing the door behind him. "I also had a question about…the points system, if I am allowed to know and if you don't mind me asking. Why am I part of it?"

"Well…" Arthur stood, moving around his desk so he could take the bouquet from Arganan. "First, thank you for the bouquet. I appreciate you bring it all the way here. As for the points system…" A soft hum left him at that, as he shook his head. "I'm sure you already know, by now, that you were registered in the points system. Lady Calista, your niece, requested that the system should be applied to you, after I explained it to her while discussing you coming here in the first place."

"Really?" Arganan raised a brow. "Why didn't I know this sooner?"

"I don't know why exactly she wanted to keep it a secret from you, but I assume it was because you were already so occupied with being moved here, as well as physically recovering from the effects of the Outsider draining you of your life." The younger man adjusted his glasses, frowning. "However, I do know this: You may not be royalty anymore, but she wanted the points system applied to you for two reasons; first, if you changed, while you were here."

"As in," The former Count sighed, "Become a better person?"

"That is correct." The other confirmed. "After all, the points system relies on how much you do for others, rather than what you do for yourself. Of course, one could exploit this to get as many points as possible for larger upgrades by fulfilling requests left and right, including using points to gain personal accommodations. That's likely a reason why she kept that a secret from you; you would be tested without exploiting the system, if you didn't know you were part of it in the first place. But secondly…" He took a deep breath, before finishing, "She had plans for you to play a role for Lazulis and Selphia."

"Lazulis and Selphia?" He stared back at him. "As…an ambassador, I assume, or something like that?"

"Exactly. You were Lazulis' former Count, after all, and since the end of the war against the Gurak Continent and the newly forged peace treaty, Calista has been working tirelessly to make sure Lazulis regains and maintains the influence and power it had from your previous rule." Arthur's eyes drifted towards the map spread out on the table, and Arganan noticed that it showed various routes, between the entire kingdom of Norad and Lazulis. "She realized that she needed all the help she could get. When she realized that Lazulis and Norad didn't have any trading routes in place yet, she decided to start with Selphia. I was about to start my journey to Selphia, to rule as its Prince officially, when I received her request to have you live in Selphia and also have the points system applied to you."

"So she did send me here for a reason." He mused. "It wasn't just to exile me from Lazulis…she had a plan." Arganan couldn't help but wonder if this pragmatism Calista had was something she did gain from him. At least some parts of him, other than his forcefulness, had passed on to her, for better or for worse. "She wanted me to be a go-between for Selphia and Lazulis."

"Selphia is a starting point for trade and other ventures between Lazulis and Norad, and I can see why." Arthur noted. "Selphia is a fairly small town. Not too much goes on, other than the festivals and some trading. It's a good place to start and see how things work out. And I think Calista knew, given how friendly everyone is here, that you would be just fine living here. She put you in good hands, and also has a chance to get what she wants. However…" A sigh left him at that, "Due to the war between the Sechs and Selphia, we have a couple of setbacks. The death of Lady Ventuswill was most unexpected, plus several of the airships were damaged."

Arganan couldn't help but groan. "Because of me?"

"Well," A chuckle left Arthur at that, "One of them was, when you crashed it in the middle of the night. Another few were damaged by the Sechs' attacks, including the one that you, Dylas and Doug used to make it to the Sechs' Floating Empire in the first place."

"It makes a lot more sense why Sir Therius keeps pressing me to get my airship debt paid as fast as possible, now." Arganan noted, shaking his head. "No wonder he wants me to stay alive while paying it."

"He has a fair point." Arthur managed. "Lazulis has enough expenses as is, right now."

"Fair." Arganan paused, thinking of how Arthur handed over the role of ruling Selphia to Frey. "Arthur, because you knew about the points system, you got out of it so you could attend to whatever things you had to do." Arganan noted. "Hence why you handed it over to Frey?"

"That…was a partial reason, I admit." Arthur conceded, nodding. "It wasn't the whole reason, though. I have nothing against the kingdom itself, but I found that my skills were better put to use for trade and merchantry. Frey is a very capable ruler. I admit that I should have done more to support her during her start of ruling, as you eloquently and loudly stated to me months ago, but Selphia is in good hands."

"What about the capital itself? Have they approved of such a decision?"

"Well, about that…" Arthur shook his head. "It seems that the capital finally caught wind of me and the Princess trading places. They've sent someone to come deal with this, but…I assure you, we will figure things out. They'll only be arriving by tomorrow or the day after, so we can't do much until then. In the meantime…" Arthur moved to pick up a closed envelope from his desk, offering it to Arganan. "I assume that, since you're heading back to the flower shop, could you bring this letter to Illuminata for me? It's an order from outside town, asking for another shipment of flowers."

"Sure." Arganan took it from Arthur. "I'll make sure to do that."

"Thank you." Arthur smiled back at him. "I appreciate it."

On the way back to the flower shop, Arganan couldn't help but think back on what Vishnal said. Hadn't Illuminata sent Arthur a letter the other day, having Vishnal send it to him for her? And now the flowers…

He paused in his walk, staring down at the letter. Why was Illuminata sending Arthur flowers in the first place? Sure, his vase that he usually put flowers in could use some new ones, but…why did he have the feeling that Arthur was lying about the letter being a shipment request?

He decided to do the one thing Leon previously did to him: Open the letter that was definitely not for him, and read it.

And he did that…and found something very, very interesting.

Arganan dashed (as best as he could, given his limp and prosthetic limbs) straight into the shop. Amber wasn't present, and Arganan guessed she was out running an errand or something,but Illuminata was. "Lumie!?"

"Wha!?" Illuminata almost spilled the fresh cup of Relax Tea in her hands. "Arganan? That was fast!"

"Illuminata, you and Arthur are dating, aren't you!?"

"What!?" Illuminata's jaw dropped, and she quickly set her cup of tea down. "H-how absurd! Why would you think such a thing?"

"I saw Arthur's most recent 'order' for 'shipments.' They're clearly romantic letters." Arganan raised the letter he held in his hand, looking her in the eye. "You and Arthur have been secretly seeing each other, haven't you?"

"Er…" Illuminata blanched, looking at the letter in his hand, and then up at Arganan, sighing. "Okay, okay, guilty as charged. I'm seeing Arthur. We're keeping it private, for his sake. And mine, too, I guess. Don't let Amber or anyone else know, okay?"

"I promise." He handed the letter to her. It was the least he could do, ontop of keeping a secret. "How long has this been going on?" Even more surprisingly, how did I not figure this out until now?

She scratched her head, sitting down in the closest chair, and gestured to Arganan to take a seat. He did so, just as she spoke up again. "We've been seeing each other since before everything that happened with the Sechs, but while Lady Ventuswill first collapsed due to the lack of Rune Spheres." She scratched the back of her head. "We got a bit close while investigating, and…well, you get the idea."

"I know elves and humans have gotten along and can romance each other, as I know with Margaret and Forte, but…" Arganan raised a brow. "How old are you, even? Or Arthur?"

"Hey!" She glared at him. "You don't ask a lady her age."

"Sorry." He sighed, shaking his head. "I mean, I wasn't expecting it, but I'm happy for you two. I just never expected it, that's all."

"Fair, fair." A soft laugh let her, a smile coming to her face. "I don't think anyone would see it coming…."

"Arthur said that the capital found out about him and Frey switching places."

"He told me that, too, the other day." A sigh left her as she leaned back in her achair, shaking her head. "I'm worried for him, you know.

"Is that also a reason why you're keeping the relationship a secret?" Arganan asked. "Because the capital might not approve?"

"It's a reason." She managed. "But not the only one. There's two others. One of them is the rumors that are about him."

"Rumors?" Arganan raised a brow. "Like what?"

"Apparently, he's the child of a mistress, and wasn't a true Prince to begin with. Plus, apparently he came to Selphia over something involving his birth mother…but I haven't asked him for details." A sigh left her. "I just hope he's okay. And even if that gets resolved, there's still the whole question of whether the two of us will work out in general, in the long run."

"Because you'd likely outlive him?" He vaguely remembered how Margaret told him that she'd likely outlive Forte, due to being an elf. Illuminata was one too, right?

She grimaced. "Er…yeah." A sigh left her, and she adjusted her monocle, reaching for her cup of tea. "I know I never told you this, but here's the thing: Years ago, I used to date someone. They were human like Arthur, too, and one day, they ended up in the Clinic because of a serious illness. It wasn't anything that would easily infect anyone, so I was allowed to visit often. At first, we hoped for him to recover, but…" She shook her head. "By Christmas, he died. At least it was in his sleep, so he didn't feel any pain, but since then, I haven't dated anyone. Dating Arthur is…it's…" She shook her head again, and Arganan noticed her trying to hold back a few tears, seeing them well up in the corner of her eyes. "Agh, this is stupid. I'm really happy that me and Arthur are together. He's not without his flaws, with him being a total workaholic and all, but…gods, I don't know if I can bear with the pain if I do outlive him."

Arganan took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket, offering it to her. "My condolences for your first love."

She took it from him, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. "Thanks. It makes me worry for Forte and Margaret too. Forte's a knight, too, so the chances of Margaret outliving her are probably even higher. I just hope both of them will be okay when that bridge has to be crossed."

"I hope so, too." That was all he could say to that. He had a feeling he should switch to another topic, or her sake, and so he did. "Someone's coming from the capital to discuss Frey and Arthur switching places sometime in the next few days. And my niece is coming to Selphia…tomorrow, I think."

"Oof." She offered him a little grimace. "You gonna be okay?"

"I hope so." Arganan filed away the information he gleaned in his mind. Illuminata and Arthur dating, the rumors surrounding Arthur, and the upcoming visits. Until things came to pass, all he could do, once again, was wait and hope for the best.