Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the long wait!
Enjoy!
Chapter 18: Argonia
[BGM: Neglected Temple – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]
"This place looks… barren…" Aya commented as she and the rest of us eyed the landscape before us.
"Yeah, it's all dark and boring!" Cirno complained.
After we left Baccarat last time, we immediately made our way back to the ship and sailed towards the Northwest Isle. This rocky island was a barren and desolate place, with no vegetation aside from a few dried-up trees. Blighted hills and jagged outcrops surrounded the landscape while at its peak, where we currently were right now, is a towering hill with some kind of majestic ruins. And despite still being daytime, the whole area was dark (which in turn allowed Remilia to put away her parasol), if only due to the dark clouds that swarmed overhead.
"It's not the most inviting of locales," Jessica stated. "But it does seem an appropriate location for the likes of Dhoulmagus."
"And now that we're 'ere, it'll be a cinch findin' Dhoulmagus now we know 'e's somewhere on the island." Yangus smirked confidently.
"I'm still not 100% convinced that he's here, though." Angelo spoke up. "Just because we've been told Dhoulmagus was headed for this island, it doesn't mean the information is reliable. I'm right, aren't I?"
"Once again, you're being doubtful…" Marisa rolled her eyes. "How is it so hard for you to be convinced!?"
"Look, we've gone to great lengths to follow Dhoulmagus here. It was hard enough just getting the ship afloat again. I'm just saying, you can't trust anything unless you see it with your own eyes."
"Still, even if his hideout isn't here… Dhoulmagus might had come to this island anyways in search of his next target." Reimu guessed. "That's been his pattern so far, and I can't see him changing it now!"
"You do have a good point, but why would anyone live here? This whole island looks…dead."
"True, this place doesn't look inhabitable by humans… but you're forgetting one thing, Angelo." Alice said. "What if his target was the posse that Golding's children had sent after him?"
Angelo's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right… I haven't thought about it."
"Yeah, it's hard to imagine Dhoulmagus actually running away from them." Remilia threw in. "I mean, he was strong enough to kill all of his victims, wasn't he?"
"Then we better hurry up, or we'll risk failing to prevent yet another murder." I ushered. "I simply cannot stand having two failures in a row."
The rest of my party nodded and we pressed on towards the ruins up ahead, circling around the old stone monument that was standing directly in front of us. The ruins itself was a grand forbidding structure built out of dark gray stone, with a huge and intimidating entrance from which a strange purple mist of sorts poured.
[BGM Pause]
"…Wait." Youmu suddenly stopped us. "Look."
We all glanced ahead at the ruins' entrance… and what we saw made our eyes grow wide. There he was, standing in front of the entrance: Dhoulmagus! We watched as the vile jester striding into the purple mist, only to suddenly stop and turn around to give a wicked grin as if taunting us, then he made the tip of his scepter glow to completely disappear in the mist.
We stared at the entrance, hardly able to believe what we've just seen. "Blimey lummy…" Yangus murmured. "So 'ere we are, eh? We've finally caught up wiv Dhoulmagus. I dunno wot to do wiv meself."
"'Finally caught up'? I don't feel like we actually did anything!" Jessica snorted. "It's more like Dhoulmagus cornered himself for us!"
"I didn't like the way Dhoulmagus looked at us before he disappeared off inside the ruins…" Reisen shuddered.
"If we're going in, we should be wary. You never know what he might have up his sleeve." Angelo warned.
"I'm starting to get the feeling this might be a trap…" Alice suspected. "That purple fog covering the entrance looks very unsettling… and I can feel a malevolent magical energy coming from it."
"I'm actually with you there, Alice." I agreed. "Dhoulmagus didn't even bother to attack us before he ran into the ruins. He HAS to be up to something."
"I get where you're coming from, but we need to go after him." Reimu said firmly, stepping forward. "He's not far ahead of us anymore…" she pulls out some ofuda and took on a ready stance… is she really going to charge on ahead? "…and I WON'T let him get away now!" and…she takes off flying towards the entrance.
"Reimu, wait!" I called to her, but she ignored me and pushed her way through the mist.
"BLIMEY lummy… She really went in on 'er own…" Yangus breathed.
"Typical Reimu… Charging in impulsively." Marisa playfully rolled her eyes.
I looked at her intrigued. "Is she always like this?"
"Whenever she's resolving incidents, yes. It's all about her 'going with the flow', which alludes to her ability to float through life."
"I see…" well, that's certainly a topic I need to keep in mind once I get the chance to talk with Reimu privately.
Just then, a cruel laugh from Dhoulmagus echoed from the entrance. But before we could react, we caught sight of Reimu suddenly getting flung out of the entrance, as if some invisible force was forcibly pulling her back.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOAAAA-… OOF!" she screamed and grunted once she crashed to the ground on her back in front of us.
"Reimu!" Marisa cried as we all knelt down to the shrine maiden in concern.
[Replay BGM]
"Agh…" Reimu groaned. "What was that all about…?"
"What happened in there?" Youmu asked.
Reimu sat up. "Well, I found myself in a completely dark room the moment I stepped inside. But then out of nowhere, the room rang with Dhoulmagus' laugh… and the next thing I knew, I was thrown back by some unseen force!"
"Oh! It must o' been one o' them…y'know…one o' them 'in-eggs-pickleable fun-on-me-nuns'! A proper weird 'appenin'!" Yangus blurted… in which he was met with confused looks.
"Yangus… Speak English, please." Jessica deadpanned.
"Anyways," Angelo spoke up. "The only thing I can say with any certainty about what just happened with Reimu is that it would be a waste of time to head in there again."
"Yeah, we'll likely just get thrown out if we did." I added. "But why did this happen?"
"Something tells me that it's the fog's doing, and it's without doubt conjured by Dhoulmagus himself." Alice said. "So if we want to go in, we'll have to get rid of it first."
"Sounds plausible enough." Remilia agreed. "The question is: how?"
"Huh!? Who are you!?" suddenly, a voice came from behind us. Turning around, we spotted an adventurous party of three consisting of a blond-haired male warrior, a redhead woman mage and a mustachioed male priest, all dressed in red and blue with gold adornments. "Interesting… I thought there was no one on this island besides us and Golding's murderer." the one whose voice belonged to, the warrior, mused.
"You know about Mr. Golding?" Aya asked. "Then are you… the posse that Cash and Carrie had sent out?"
"Precisely so, young lady." the priest nodded. "We chased that jester all the way here… except that we didn't have the courage to advance to these old ruins here."
The mage shuddered. "Just why did that jester have to choose such a spooky hideout? If it wasn't so creepy here, we wouldn't hesitate to go after him!"
"But when you all set off so bravely, we decided it was time we did the same." the warrior said.
"Wait, so you've been watching us this whole time?" Reimu asked. "Including me heading into the ruins?"
"Correct." the warrior nodded as he walked up to Reimu. "And since you were the one who went in, perhaps you could fill us in?" Reimu then recounted what happened before the trio showed up, and he cupped his chin in thought when she was done. "…Hm, I see. The dark aura coming out of the ruins is some kind of barrier set up by Dhoulmagus, is it? So we have to break through that before we can fight him, then. But how…? How do you break through darkness…?"
"A really big light?" Cirno quipped.
"Ah, wait a minute!" the mage exclaimed. "How about the magic mirror of Argonia? People say that can dispel the dark. You never know, it might do the trick."
"If I remember lightly, Argonia's off to the south-east of Baccarat." the warrior said, then shook his head. "Alas, none of us have any royal connections. Even if we were to go to Argonia, King Clavius would never agree to see us."
Wow, the King of Argonia is really that strict? But if we don't go there, then we'll never be able to break through the barrier and end the curse. Perhaps we could try to earn the King's trust somehow, just like we did with Pavan. We couldn't turn back now; we have to give it a shot!
So I stepped in and spoke up, "Then I and my party will head there in your place and try to convince him."
The priest blinked incredulously. "You're really going to go all the way to Argonia to try and get hold of the magic mirror!? Do you have any idea how far that kingdom is, young one?"
"Oh, believe us, we've already endured long walks during our journey!" Marisa interjected. "We can handle this one, no problem!"
"…Very well, then. We'll leave the rest to you all." the warrior replied. "As for us, we'll report back to Baccarat and let Cash and Carrie know the situation."
"Best of luck to you, then." I bowed respectfully to them, who did the same before they turned around to leave. Once they were out of sight, I proceeded to cast Zoom to warp us all back to Baccarat.
[BGM: Strange World – Dragon Quest VIII]
"…Argonia, you say!?" Trode exclaimed in surprise after we reported everything to him, as we were now walking down the south-eastern mountainous road to get to the Argonia region.
"That's right, Your Majesty." I nodded. "We need to head there to get a magic mirror of sorts."
"Ah yes, I've heard about it. It's been a treasure of the Argonian royal family for ages, passed down through generations."
"You seem to be quite familiar with Argonia, Trode." Reimu noted.
"Indeed. You see, Argonia and Trodain are on friendly terms. It's the Prince of Argonia, Prince Charmles, who Medea is betrothed to."
"Oh, right… It's about that marriage pact, correct?" Alice guessed, in which Trode nodded in response.
"Well, why don't we use that as our introduction?" Jessica suggested. "I'm sure the King wouldn't mind…" she paused, as if she's realizing what a stupid idea that was and shook her head. "Actually, scratch that. It would be a really bad idea."
"Yeah, I don't think he'd be particularly happy to learn that his son was betrothed to a horse." Reisen threw in with a grimace. "That would make things awkward."
"If only I didn't look so…figuratively challenged, I would ask the King for the mirror myself." Trode sighed. "Sadly, however, everything is more than a little challenging at the moment! Should King Clavius or any of his vassals see the Princess or myself in our current state, the engagement would be broken off in a trice! So I must ask that you keep our identities a secret. I'm sorry, I cannot be of any further assistance with the mirror."
"So what are we going to do now? Looks like our journey might have run its course, wouldn't you say?" Angelo asked. "I mean, you can't get more tight-fisted and greedy than a royal. There's no way someone like that is going to lend us a family treasure. Our only hope is to try and steal it."
And nigh-immediately, we all looked at Angelo incredulously. "Absolutely not!" I exclaimed. "We are NOT stealing anything, especially after the whole fiasco in Pickham."
"Don't even remind me of that…" Youmu groaned.
"B'sides, stealin' is me thing!" Yangus exclaimed. "Well…used ta be, at least."
"Then what do you suggest we do instead, fair leader?" Angelo questioned. "Because I'm all out of other options at this point."
I sighed. "Okay, first of all, quit being so pessimistic, Angelo. Second, we could just tell Clavius the truth and ask him outright for permission to borrow the mirror. Of course, we would have to leave out the part about Trode and Medea."
"Hey, that could work!" Aya agreed. "Words about sudden murders spread around fast, after all!"
"Exactly." I nodded with a confident smile. "We certainly have enough reasons to want to catch Dhoulmagus, and I'm certain that the King will want to assist us if it means stopping the murders."
"Optimistic as always, huh?" Angelo sighed with a small hint of amusement, then he went serious. "Still, I can't say I'm overly hopeful. Not all kings are like Pavan, you know."
"I know that. But we've got to try."
"And try we shall." Trode declared, agreeing with me.
"Y'know… When I was travellin' about on me own, I often slept rough in the mountains. But I don't much fancy that 'ere." Yangus said, taking in the scenery of Argonia after we just passed under the arch that separated the two neighboring regions. "Can you feel it, an' all? I reckon there's a lot more monsters 'ere than on yer average mountain."
*GRRRRRRRR!*
[BGM End]
And right on cue, a loud growl came as we immediately stopped in our tracks and looked ahead to see a pack of Jumping Jackals, who were viciously sharpening their claws in a way that shows they were ready to pounce on us.
"…I can think of better things to do than go hiking in monster infested mountains." Angelo sassed as we all took on ready stances and drew our weapons. "Let's just try to get this over with as quickly as we can."
[BGM: Great Plains Pan-Gaia – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]
Half of the Jumping Jackals proceeded to charge after us while the rest launched Wind Sickles, but Aya swung her fan to direct the attack right back at them and blowing them away, then I, Jessica and Angelo immediately finished them off with a Zap, Crackle and Swoosh spells respectively. Our victory was short-lived, however, as the three of us were hit by a Swoosh coming from a small group of Lump Wizards.
"Now, now, guys. This is how you do it!" Aya teased them as she got in the middle of their group circle and took out a spell card. "Tornado: Guidepost for the Advent of the Divine Grandson!" she called out and a huge tornado suddenly wrapped around herself, blowing all of the Lump Wizards into the air where they exploded.
We then pressed onwards, continuing to follow the road when we were next confronted by four Tap Devils. Each of them proceeded to do four of the different types of dances (Sultry, Underpants, Death and Fuddle, to be specific), and all of them were successful: Yangus started dancing uncontrollably, Remilia was knocked off her feet, Cirno was knocked out and Reimu became confused.
"Oh, no…!" Reisen cried at the mess that happened, and then turned at the laughing Tap Devils with a glare. "Mind Bending!" she called out and fired a bullet at them that exploded into a wide circle of shrapnel, taking out all but one. The remaining one then attempted to do a Kerplunk Dance to sacrifice itself to revive one of its fallen comrades… only for it to get immediately cut down by Yangus and his new Steel Scythe that we got from Baccarat.
"That's wot ya get fer forcin' me into dancin'!" he barked. Meanwhile, the others affected by the other dances have also recovered: Remilia got back up, Reimu was snapped out of her confusion by Youmu's Hakurouken and Cirno got revived by Angelo's Zing spell.
"Whoa… Is this how death feels?" the ice fairy wondered. Wait, so she was being serious about fairies not being able to die? Huh. Anyways, we moved on ahead, and Mushroom Mages were the next monsters to stand in our way along with Frogmen… and this got Cirno excited. "Frogs!" she beamed and spread out her arms. "Perfect Freeeeeeeeze!" just like back in Tower of Alexandria, she froze all of the Frogmen… as well as the Mushroom Mages since they were in the line of the crossfire (and what's funny is that both monsters attack with ice…yet are also weak to ice). Once they were all frozen, they shattered into pieces and Cirno was left disappointed. "Aww…"
After taking a few more steps forward, a flying shadow passed by as we stopped and looked up. The shadow belonged to a Hades' Condor who would always target the weakest party member, and since Cirno was just recently revived, it logically went after her first.
"Gyah!" she yelped.
"Cirno!" Alice cried as she quickly tossed a doll to attack the Hades' Condor, then she pulled it back like a boomerang. "Phew…" she sighed before looking back at the dazed Hades' Condor so she could finish it off. "Doll Crusader!" she sends out more spear-wielding dolls to juggle the bird into the air as much as possible until it was history.
Eventually, we came across a fork in the road… but before I could check out the map to see where to go, a trio of monsters consisting of a Skullrider, a Berserker and a Notso Macho showed up to interrupt. However, they were interrupted of an attack just as quick as they had interrupted us, with Youmu stepping forward and unleashing a spell card.
"Preta Sword: Scroll of the Preta Realm!" with a single Roukanken slash, she launched danmaku hell at them to instantly wipe them out. Now you see what I meant up there?
Either way, I checked the map and directed my party to keep heading east where Argonia's castle town awaited us. Alas, our way would be instantly blocked again by more monsters… only this time instead of two or three different monster groups, it was four: Gargoyles, Iron Scorpions, Magic Marionettes and Skullriders, with all of them being presumably led by a single Hoodlum and a Lethal Armor.
"Yangus wasn't kidding when he said about these mountains having a lot more monsters…!" Jessica exclaimed with a wince as she looked on at the large monster group.
"Well, that won't stop us from dealing with them!" Marisa grinned confidently as she, Reimu and Remilia stepped in. "Right, Jessica?"
Jessica smirked. "Right." she nodded and focused on the Hoodlum, who did a Psyche Up before swinging its axe at the redhead, but she ducked from it. Then, using the Poison Needle that we also got from Baccarat, she first used Toxic Dagger to poison the Hoodlum before stabbing it again to instantly kill it.
"Night Dance!" Remilia called out, shooting red magic needles at the Iron Scorpions, but since they were defending, those didn't hurt them much. However, Remilia would soon notice that. "Oh, then how about I break your defenses?" she teased with a wicked grin, making some of the Iron Scorpions actually sweat nervously by her intimidating voice as she went for a spell card. "Fitful Nightmare." cue a barrage of red knives raining down on the Iron Scorpions at ridiculous speeds, instantly impaling them all to death.
"Witch Leyline!" Marisa shouted as she rammed into a small group of Skullriders to knock them away, then she barely managed to prevent her broom from getting cut off by a sneaky Skullrider's Flame Slash. "Woah, close one!" she remarked before grinning again. "But now you're gettin' it!" she takes out a spell card. "Celestial Apparatus: Orrery's Universe!" colorful bits suddenly orbited Marisa, which fired out bullets on her stead at the Skullriders that were knocked down and taking them out, and then lasers came out of the bits, obliterating the rest of the Skullriders next.
"Hiyah!" Reimu flew to one of the Gargoyles and somersault kicked it into the air before flying above it and kicking it back down, causing it to slam into another Gargoyle on the way and take it down with it. In response, the rest of the Gargoyles flew up to Reimu and Vacuum Slashed her repeatedly, but she flew away from the attacks while taking out a spell card. "Dream Sign: Dream Dimensional Rift!" she began teleporting around the Gargoyles repeatedly which caught them off guard and made it hard for them to land a hit on her, while at the same time sending out several ofuda at them until they were all defeated.
The Lethal Armor was charging after Angelo, but the playboy Templar anticipated that as he had a trick up his sleeve. "Here goes nothing…" he spoke in anticipation as dark magic surrounded his hand… oh, I know what spell he's about to use. "Whack!" he called out, launching a dark orb and when it came into contact with the Lethal Armor… it instantly killed it. Seems like luck was on Angelo's side, after all.
[BGM End]
Now only the Magic Marionettes remained, only that instead of doing anything to us, they just… fled.
"Aw, I was just getting warmed up…" Remilia pouted.
"Did they just…flee from us?" Marisa tilted her head. "What are they, cowards?"
"Well, I did read from the Big Book of Beasts that Magic Marionettes have a tendency for fleeing…but after they steal some magic power from their opponents." I said. "So maybe they knew that they were outmatched once we defeated all the monsters, and thus decided to not bother trying to do it and just scram."
"Oh."
"Okay, now let's hurry over to Argonia, before more monsters come out." Jessica said, as we all quickly made our way to the castle town ahead.
"Well, well, well…Argonia indeed." Trode confirmed as we approached the surrounding castle walls. "That means you'll undoubtedly meet King Clavius and Prince Charmles when you go to collect the magic mirror." he then turns to address us, "And when that happens, you all must keep the current condition of the Princess and I absolutely secret! If anyone enquires as to the purpose of your travels, tell them you are hunting the villain known as Dhoulmagus and nothing more."
"Understood, Sire." I nodded. "We'll be back soon." and with that, I and my party proceeded to the entrance gate.
[BGM: Bustling Town – Dragon Quest XI S]
As the wealthiest and most powerful of my world's three kingdoms, Argonia's castle town certainly was much larger than Ascantha's and Trodain's. Rows of firm stone houses were connected by large avenues, while a river ran through a green park to our left. In fact, if one were to trace the river's trajectory, they would find out that it was actually coming from the castle's moat, and in addition, seemingly coming from a waterfall that poured down the sheer cliff edge of the mountain behind the castle itself. With a project like that in mind, Argonia clearly benefitted from a steady planned expansion.
"Wow! This town is huge!" Aya exclaimed as she took in her surroundings.
"Well, Trode once told me that Argonia is considered the richest of the three kingdoms." I stated. "It's no surprise that this city would be bigger than its other two counterparts."
"That makes sense." Alice nodded.
"So, now that we're here… Do you think we've got any chance of getting the King to lend us that magic mirror?" Reisen asked.
"Only way to find out is by asking the King himself." Youmu replied. "He might not say yes, but what do we have to lose?"
"It would be a lot quicker if the old codger just asked the King 'ere for a loan o' that magic mirror, eh?" Yangus chimed in. "If I was green, I think I'd make more of an effort, but Grandad's no use to no one!"
"Yeah, especially if he looks monstruous and ugly." Marisa added.
"I'm not all that keen on royalty and the aristocracy." Angelo spoke bitterly. "If I had the choice, I'd much rather have nothing to do with them."
"Well! Now you've made yourself perfectly clear, you rotten young rascal!" Trode scolded. Wait… again!?
"COR BLIMEY!" Yangus yelled, as I expected.
Trode ignored him and continued berating Angelo, "Of all the insolence! So this is what you've been thinking of me, is it!?" and with a humph, he storms out of the town.
As we all locked eyes on Angelo, he sighs. "Now I've gone and done it. But I didn't mean him. He hardly acts like an average king, after all." he said defensively. "…Or looks like one, for that matter."
"Well, he doesn't look like a king now." Remilia pointed out. "Once we break the curse and he returns to his former self, then we'll see how you will judge him."
"Either way, let's just head to the castle." Reimu said. "We're already wasting enough time as it is." Reimu's right; we should get going and get things over quickly. Thus, we went down the dirt road to find the entrance of the massive castle ahead. Along the way, we encountered a man and woman (presumably a couple) passing by.
"King Clavius is such an excellent ruler. Under his leadership, Argonia can't fail to prosper." we heard the man speak as we slowed down our pace. "But it's a bit worrying to think how things will go when it's time for Prince Charmles to take over. Imagine him in charge of politics! I mean, it's hard to believe he's King Clavius's son with looks like that. Clavius is so distinguished and handsome, while Charmles is just, well, charmless really!"
"Hey, keep your voice down, honey! We don't want to be overheard!" the woman shushed. "Seriously, every time you open your mouth, you come out with something bad about Prince Charmles. I can see where you're coming from, but still…"
"You might think I'm overreacting, but I'm not. Tell me, how would you explain the fact that the castle had been closed because the Prince went missing? Apparently, he was trying to do a runner to Baccarat again! That's the first thing he does when he's stressed. He always turns to gambling! Sounds more like a lowlife from Pickham than a prince!"
"Well, he was found now, and he had been hiding inside the castle all along. Perhaps he must be really nervous about his initiation. After all, I did hear that a few previous Argonian princes have died while attempting it."
"Nervous? Pfft. Have you forgotten that he's afraid of lizards? Including the smallest ones? And guess what type of creature he has to slay to complete his initiation? A lizard! More specifically, an Argon Lizard! He's not nervous; he's terrified. Do you really think he's deserving of the throne if he can't even face his own fear?"
"You…have a point there, I'll admit."
"Tch. Such a sorry state of affairs. What with a cowardly prince being next in line for the throne, this country is really going to the dogs. And the fact that he has been engaged with the Princess of Trodain the minute he was born just to fulfill an old vow made by their ancestors! Hardly seems fair, doesn't it?"
"Oh, honey… You worry too much." and then they finally walked away.
Huh… now that conversation had such very interesting information. So first, this marriage pact had already existed way before Trode and Clavius were born. Makes me wonder what's the full story behind it. Second, apparently this Prince Charmles has left a bad taste in some of the townspeople's mouths (and perhaps in some of the castle's residents too). If what they're saying about him is true, then I dread the day Medea would have to marry someone like this; someone who possibly wouldn't bother to take care of her like a good husband should. And that's not even mentioning the fact that he can't even complete his own initiation, which is almost like a rite of passage of sorts from what I heard, in order to ascend to the throne, further proving his unworthiness. It really makes me wonder how this audience with King Clavius will go.
Regardless, we eventually reached the castle's entrance gates, and we went in.
[BGM: Imperial Palace – Dragon Quest XI S]
Just as you might expect from a wealthy kingdom like Argonia, this castle interior was a lot more exuberant and luxurious than that of Ascantha castle and even Trodain castle when not under the curse. A red carpet with gold trimming stretched across the red-bricked floor to the stairs ahead of us, red curtains were draped over the archways, lit fancy lanterns lined up the walls, and box gardens filled with flowers laid around the corners.
"Ooh! This place is beautiful!" Cirno's eyes sparkled.
"It's even nicer-looking than the Scarlet Devil Mansion!" Marisa commented.
"I'll admit, it does look grander than my mansion." Remilia admitted.
"Eh, I ain't that keen on castles an' abbeys an' the like." Yangus said nonchalantly. "Can't seem to relax, y'know."
"So here we are." Angelo said. "I'm feeling fairly clueless, I must admit."
"I just hope the King is a sensible man." Jessica hoped. "We really need that magic mirror to defeat Dhoulmagus."
Angelo then glances at me. "I hope you have found a good way to persuade the King to lend us the magic mirror, Eight."
"Don't worry, I have found a way." I replied confidently. "You can trust me on that."
"Well, that's good to hear! It'll be interesting to see how you manage to talk him round!"
With that said, we made our way upstairs to the second floor of the castle in order to find someone who could help us seek an audience with King Clavius. And not too long after we arrived at the second floor, a man wearing glasses, possibly a castle servant, noticed us coming and walked up to us.
"May I help you, visitors?" he asked.
"We wish to seek an audience with King Clavius." I responded. "We want to ask him for permission to borrow the magic mirror."
The servant's eyebrows perked up. "The magic mirror, you say!?"
"That's right. We need that mirror for something very important."
"I see… Believe it or not, I happen to be one of Argonia's royal mages. By the King's orders, we have the task of guarding the magic mirror to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands."
"Do you think the King himself would be willing to grant permission to us?"
"The royal family of Argonia are very approachable, but that does not mean they will grant every favor they're asked. Especially when it comes to accessing or borrowing royal treasures."
I bit my lip, but did not lose my composure. "We understand."
"I do have a question, though." Reimu interfered. "Is it true that this mirror is able to dispel the power of darkness, no matter how strong or intense it is? It's that property we're particularly interested in."
"Ah yes, most certainly." the royal mage nodded. "We royal mages have studied this mirror in detail enough to confirm this. However, if merely dispelling the power of darkness is all you require, then surely there are alternatives to the magic mirror?"
"Maybe so, but we do not know any other alternatives that are available." Angelo replied.
"Right…" the mage mused, adjusting his glasses. "Regardless, I can still try and grant you all an audience with him and see if you can convince him somehow. We'll never know unless you try, right? And if he does refuse you, come see me and maybe we could discuss the situation in more detail and work out a solution."
"We would be glad to. Thank you for your assistance." I bowed.
"Not at all. Now, follow me." we complied and followed the mage down the hallway until we stopped in front of the double doors that led to the throne room. "Wait right here while I'll go speak with the King." he requested as he entered the throne room.
While we waited for him, we decided to take our time looking around. I in particular had gone back the hallway we passed through while following the mage, where I would see a portrait of King Clavius and his son Prince Charmles hung on the wall. The man whom I had overheard the conversation earlier mentioned about Clavius being distinguished and handsome, and when I looked back at his portrait, he certainly looked the part; old enough to look dignified but at the same time not so old to be wrinkled or grey. He had long blond hair tumbling down to his shoulders in curls, bright blue eyes and a neatly brimmed mustache. He wore a large green hat adorned with gold trimming, a green longcoat with a golden border and a large white ruff around his neck, a red necktie, a green waistcoat, cream pants and brown boots. His stature in the portrait made him quite a striking presence, giving off a flair of sharp wisdom that perfectly complements his old age.
Charmles, meanwhile, appeared to bear a striking resemblance to his own father if he were in his youth, having the same curly blond hair and blue eyes. His royal garb consisted of a feathered green cap, a white ruffled shirt, a green jacket with red shoulder pads and cuffs, a white ruffle on his neck, a pair of red breeches with white tights, red pointed shoes and a brown belt that held a small dagger on his hip. I don't know… he looks way too refined for being considered a cowardly prince, but that's just me. And besides, looks can be deceiving.
But then, I noticed a third portrait to the left that was partially obscured by a curtain. Curious, I gently swept the curtain away to uncover the hidden portrait. This one depicted a young man wearing the same royal garb as Clavius does, but he looked drastically different compared to the other royals: he had short chocolate brown hair that appeared to be in an unkempt style, though I couldn't see it very well due to most of it being covered by the hat, and round black eyes that gave him a more youthful and softer look in stark contrast to Clavius's dignified and robust one. Looking at the gold metallic tab that shows the title of the portrait, it read: "Prince Eltrio, older sibling of Prince Clavius."
Oh, so Clavius has an older brother? How come nobody (Trode included) has even mentioned about him, and why is his portrait hidden in the first place? I then took a closer look at the portrait…and I noticed something: That person kind of looks like… looks like-…
*BZZZZZZZZT!*
[BGM Pause]
"AAAAAAAARGH!" without any warning whatsoever, a loud buzzing sound echoed in my brain… and good lord, that HURT! I shut my eyes tightly and clutched my head during it, and waited until the pain subsided. When it did, I opened my eyes, and I was left in stunned silence as this thought immediately came into my mind:
'What… What the HELL was that!?'
It is as if my brain had suddenly activated some sort of barrier to block off any important information and to prevent me from digging deeper or connecting any dots related to this Eltrio person…and strangely enough, that action almost felt intentional.
…Okay, something is definitely wrong with me. First the curse immunity and now this. Why did this suddenly happen, and why now!?
"Guv!?" before I could try to make any sense of this absurdity, I heard Yangus shouting from the other side of the hallway as I looked over to see him and the others looking concerningly at me. "We just 'eard ya screamin' over there! Did somethin' 'appen?"
I tensed up; I just wasn't ready to reveal this to them right now. And the worst part is that I can't even lie, since Alice is there. What to do, what to do…
"Excuse me…" as if luck was in my favor (ironic since I just said something similar to that towards Angelo earlier…), the royal mage's voice came calling to us. "The King is ready to see you now. Please come this way." I breathed a sigh of relief before I ran up to join the others.
"Thank you." Jessica said as the mage stepped out of the way, allowing us to freely access the throne room.
We saw King Clavius sitting on the throne at the opposite end of the massive and surprisingly spacey throne room, talking with who was possibly his Chancellor. Eventually, Clavius noticed our presence as he would turn to face us… but then out of nowhere, he gave a start as his eyes shot wide and jumped to his feet. I was at first confused as to why he was suddenly staring at us like that, until I noticed that his gaze was actually fixated towards…me, specifically. And the way he was staring at me… it was one in that he recognized me from somewhere, almost like how two friends or relatives are having a reunion after many years have passed. But, that's ridiculous! This was my first time seeing Clavius! And besides, if we did actually know each other in the first place, then it'd make the whole business of borrowing the magic mirror a lot easier, which is definitely not the case. I had no idea why the King reacted the way he did towards me.
"Your Majesty. Are you feeling poorly?" the Chancellor asked, taking notice of Clavius's strange sudden change of behavior. "Did those travellers cause you some trouble?"
"No, no. I'm fine." Clavius replied, snapping out of his shocked trance as he wearily rubbed his eyes before sitting back down on his throne. "One of them reminded me of someone. But I must be mistaken." and by one of them, he meant me… Hold on, I reminded him of someone? Hmm… it might be a stretch, but considering the new information I found about Argonia's royal family just now, it could be possible that he was referring to-…
*BZZZZZZZZT!*
"GAAAH!" I screamed while clutching my head as the same buzzing from earlier came back again. Damnit, not this again! It was bad the first time, but the second time actually felt worse! And to add insult to injury, this also doubled as a moment of embarrassment since I did all of that right in front of not just my companions, but the King as well!
"Oh, dear! Is something wrong, young traveller?" I heard the Chancellor speaking as I opened my eyes, seeing him and my companions all coming over to me in concern.
Shaking my head to try and alleviate the numbness in my head, I replied, "N-No… It's nothing." despite being relieved that the Chancellor nodded in response, I knew that Alice has definitely caught my lie and will demand answers later.
[Replay BGM]
"Ahem." Clavius cleaned his throat so he could get everyone's attention towards him. "As I was about to say…" he took a low bow. "Welcome to Argonia, young travellers. I am King Clavius, and this is my Chancellor." he directed to the Chancellor at the last sentence. "My sincerest apologies for earlier; I got somewhat distracted and was unable to greet you properly."
"Please, there's nothing to forgive, Your Majesty." I said humbly, the pain in my head completely relieved by this point.
"I appreciate your humble words. Now, I heard from one of my royal mages that you have a favour to ask of me. Then by all means, make your request. However, I cannot promise that I can fulfill it."
'Well, it's now or never.' I thought, taking a deep breath before I made my reply to the King with equal formality, "Well, Your Majesty, I see no reason to beat around the bush and waste your time, so I will get straight to the point: we would like to borrow the magic mirror."
Clavius's eyes widened. "The magic mirror!? But it's a precious royal heirloom. Why on earth do you require it!? Explain yourself!"
"You see, we are currently hunting a cruel, malicious murderer by the name of Dhoulmagus. He's a sorcerer of great power, and he disguises himself as a jester and carries a scepter with him wherever he goes, which he uses it to impale his victims. He had already taken out four of them so far: Master Rylus, Farebury's renowned magician; Alistair Albert, the Albert family's protector knight; Francisco, the Abbot of Maella Abbey; and Mr. Golding, the owner of Baccarat's casino. Given this information, there's no doubt that Dhoulmagus will continue to kill without mercy if we do nothing about him.
"Luckily, we recently managed to find his hideout at the Northwest Isle, but we couldn't access its ruins due to a strange barrier made out of dark magic blocking the entrance. While we searched for another way in, we met up with Golding's posse, who were sent over to the island by Cash and Carrie in order to avenge their father's death. One of them told us that the magic mirror has the ability to dispel the power of darkness, no matter how strong. And that's why we came here, Your Majesty; to ask for permission to borrow the mirror so that we may carry on our mission."
I'll admit, I was quite surprised and impressed at myself for coming up with such an elaborate speech like that without even rehearsing. Even my companions were reacting the same when I took a quick glance back at them. After speaking my last words, I paused in order to give Clavius time to digest all that information I just dumped on him.
"…I understand." he eventually spoke. "However, as I have said, the magic mirror is a treasure of the royal family. I cannot simply give it to you."
"I knew 'e'd say no…" Yangus sighed.
"C'est la vie, I suppose." Angelo said. "It was a lot to ask."
"So now what? How are we going to avenge my brother's death without that mirror?" Jessica questioned, with clear frustration in her tone.
"Hmm…" Clavius mused while cupping his chin in thought, as if reconsidering his previous statement. "If what you say is true, you must have survived a great many ordeals on your travels. That means your fighting skills must be on a par with those of my soldiers."
"You better believe it, Mister King!" Cirno grinned. "Especially me, the strongest!"
"B-But Your Majesty!" the Chancellor protested. "You can't possibly plan to use those travellers instead of royal guardsmen!?"
"Well surmised, Chancellor." Clavius acknowledged. "Listen to me carefully, you all. I rule with a fair hand. But I cannot grant every request that is made of me. However, if the royal family owes someone a debt of gratitude, I consider it my duty to fulfill it." somehow, I knew this was coming; it's King Pavan's situation all over again, only more direct…and less depressing. "You need the magic mirror? Then accept my request. If you complete the task I set forth for you, you may have the mirror." he then claps his hands twice while ordering, "Summon the Prince!"
Immediately, a scholar walks into the room. "At once, Your Majesty." he bowed and left.
"The request concerns my son, Prince Charmles. To become King of Argonia, one must undertake a special initiation ceremony. There is some risk to life and limb. And the Prince is unwilling to do it." so the gossip from that couple minutes ago was true, then… "As a father, the thought of putting my own son in danger pains me. But he must pass the initiation if he is to succeed me to the throne. It is the tradition of our kingdom. I was considering sending a detail of royal soldiers to protect him during the rite. However, I fear it will ruin his reputation. So my request is this: you outsiders will accompany my son to the Royal Hunting Ground. Naturally, this would remain completely confidential. It is vital that everyone believes my son passed the initiation on his own."
I gave the matter some thought…and yeah, this sounds like a fair trade. We just have to ensure Charmles passed the initiation safely and prevent a succession crisis, and in return we could get the magic mirror. Simple, I thought.
(Oh, how naively wrong I was… and you're about to see why as we continue…)
[BGM End]
At this moment, the scholar came back in. "Your Majesty, apologies for taking longer than usual." he said. "Your soldiers had to…shall I say, literally seize the Prince the second he ran out of the food storage room after he got scared by a lizard. But anyways, what matters is that we were successful in bringing him here." after that, he steps aside to let Charmles in.
We saw the Prince himself entering the throne room reluctantly, and what we saw… was NOT the same refined-looking boy from the portrait I saw earlier. Instead, we saw a short and fat, pudgy boy with a very round face that only seemed to emphasize his size. Sure, he still wore the same clothes as depicted in his portrait (aside from having its proportions altered to fit his new physique), but still… I remember being utterly baffled at how extremely different he looked, needless to say.
"Mmph… If it wasn't for that icky, disgusting lizard falling on top of me, I could have stayed hidden in that room at least for another three days…" Charmles mumbled as he walked past us. Sheesh, what a huge coward…
[BGM: A Modest Banquet at Lombardia – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]
"Ah, perfect timing!" Clavius smiled as his son stopped next to him, then he turned to face us. "Fellow travellers, allow me to introduce my son. This is Prince Charmles, the future King of Argonia!"
"What is all this, Father!?" Charmles retorted. "Why are you wasting my time with this riff-raff?"
"They are going to protect you during the initiation. They will need to know who you are."
"Initiation!? Who said anything about the initiation? I don't recall agreeing to that! I hate lizards! How many times do I have to tell you!?"
"Listen carefully, Charmles. Enough is enough. I am aware of your aversion to the initiation, but it remains your duty to complete it. You won't be able to marry Princess Medea until you prove your worth!"
Charmles averts his gaze from his father. "Well, I don't care about getting married anyway." …what. Seriously, is he so selfish that he does not even care about the succession crisis!? For real, this boy…
"You're making a mistake, Charmles. I hear Princess Medea is, well…" as Clavius said this, he slowly shifted his gaze towards Jess with a smug smirk. "Va! Va! VOOOM!" he exclaimed in a way to emphasize Jessica's…curves. "You understand what I'm saying?"
"Wow…" Charmles breathed, clearly looking infatuated as he had a visible blush on his cheeks and a goofy-looking smile.
"Now have you reconsidered?"
"You can leave me out of this, thank you!" Jessica snapped, tapping her foot while cross-popping veins flashed over her head. I wouldn't blame her for being so mad, though; she did just get dragged into a kinky subject without her consent.
"Ahem." Clavius coughed in embarrassment and continued addressing his son, "Anyway, my son. Do you realise what people say about you behind your back? This is your chance to prove yourself! To show the world you are a man. These people can assure your safety. Well, Charmles, do you accept?"
Charmles paused, going back to his insecure state. "Uh… Yes? Wait! No! I mean… Oh, I don't know!"
"I heard a 'yes'! That's my Prince!" Clavius beamed, ignoring Charmles's later responses after 'yes'. "I'll ensure that everyone believes you're doing on your own. You will leave now, hide yourself in the wagon at the city gates, and await your bodyguards."
"R-Right now?"
"Chancellor! Accompany Charmles to the gate. The Prince is leaving for his initiation! Summon the royal guards! The Prince must have a fittingly ostentatious send-off! Remember, he is leaving on his own!"
"It shall be as you wish, Your Majesty." the Chancellor replied and proceeded to escort Charmles out of the room… by dragging him by his collar.
"But! Wait! I'm not ready yet…!" despite Charmles's protests, the Chancellor just ignored them and continued dragging him out of the door.
[BGM End]
"Big baby…" Marisa muttered, perfectly summarizing the two words I would describe Charmles right now; nothing but a big baby.
"Off at last." Clavius sighed. "I wish you all luck. And remember: your mission is top secret. Charmles will explain the details of the initiation himself. Fulfill my request, and you have my word that the magic mirror shall be yours."
"You have our word, Your Majesty." I bowed, and we turned around to leave the throne room.
To be continued…
Well, looks like Eight and his companions just got themselves into yet another diversion... but at least this one is highly important for their quest.
So, there are two changes I did in this chapter when compared to its original game counterpart. The first one being the inclusion of Eltrio's portrait; this was not present in the game, and I did that in order to introduce this idea I came up with about Eight's mind emitting a painful buzz whenever he tries to make any connections that hint to his past. I don't want to spoil the reason for this extra addition, but I will say that it is related to Eight's curse immunity.
Eight: And once again, you come up with an idea that leads to me suffering...
Hey, I mean...if one loses their memories of who they are and where they came from surely they would try to go out their lengths to look for answers, right? And considering that your true identity is itself a major spoiler, I had to come up with a way that you wouldn't draw conclusions too early... even if it has to be a painful one.
Eight: I guess that's valid...
Anyway, the second change is that I completely cut off the part of the game where you have to scare Charmles out of his hiding room by dropping a lizard on him using Munchie. The reason why I did that is because this is one of those scenes that applies to that rule I made all the way back in the first chapter, where events that Eight aren't present in won't appear in this adaptation: since the room Charmles was hiding in was locked, there's no way that Eight would've seen what happened in there since he was standing at the upper floor during it. Sure, he could possibly hear Charmles screaming from below, but still. However, I didn't really want to completely omit that event, so I decided to just reference it.
That's all I have to offer. Next up is Charmles's initiation!
Eight: I don't know why, but I'm already getting a feeling that it's going to be a pain...