The Crown Prince In Hiding

The day had finally come.

For Fury, this might have been a day he had looked forward to even more than the day he had to attend the UN summit.

The young man stepped out of the cottage with his travel bag and a film camera hanging around his neck, early in the morning.

It didn't take long before he left Anfield and arrived at Artheris.

Dan Burn arrived nearly an hour ahead of schedule. He reached the front of the Paleontology faculty before the building had even opened.

He sat with his hands folded neatly on a bench, his travel bag set down beside him, waiting for senior Thomasin to arrive.

He looked left. Then right.

...Might as well take a short walk.

With that thought, he got up, taking only the film camera hanging at his side.

The young man walked across the Maximin Garden, past the hero statues, and crossed to the other side where the Colosseum and the closed lecture buildings stood.

"The sandwich shop's closed... just my luck. What am I supposed to eat now."

He let out a sigh and was about to turn back when, just as he turned, he heard the sounds of a group training coming from inside the Colosseum.

Inside would be the knight scholarship students going through their routine morning drills.

And of course, Rafinya would be among them.

The young man pulled back his sleeve and checked his watch.

Twenty minutes until the meeting time.

"Might as well stop by for a bit."

He walked into the Colosseum through the spectator entrance, which brought him out at the viewing stands.

He passed a cleaning attendant, giving a small nod in greeting.

Then, stepping through the column archway, he saw a group of six students training intensely with their swords.

Magic auras surged. This atmosphere was more familiar to Dan than anyone. The strength of these young students, which in this human body he could only sit and watch from the sidelines.

And with her back to him, down on the floor below, was Rafinya Saint Pauli.

She looked like an engine just hitting its stride. One hand gripped a silver training sword, the other tugged at her collar to vent the heat. Her eyes fixed on a practice dummy she had just struck with a fresh, clean cut.

*Hmm... she still looks the same as ever. Morning drills must be nearly done by now.*

Then it seemed his arrival was noticed.

Senior Aaron spotted him first, just as he was passing by Rafinya, and Dan watched senior Aaron say something brief to her before Rafinya turned her head to look for him, and their eyes met.

Dan scratched his head lightly. If it had been anyone else, he might have been annoyed at having her called over. But senior Aaron had always held a special place in Prince Fury's heart, so he didn't think too much of it.

The young man simply waved at Rafinya from a distance. The gesture carried a simple message: *I see you. Keep it up.*

Rafinya set her sword down beside the training floor.

*Whoosh.*

She leaped high with a body-enhancement technique, launching from the floor below up to Dan at the third-level stands in the blink of an eye.

Her shoes landed against the floor.

Both feet planted straight, her posture like someone reporting to a commanding officer.

"Sir."

"Lively as ever."

He glanced down below.

The other scholarship students had already taken notice of Dan's arrival. Chiesa in particular had spotted him and was watching him and Rafinya with unbroken attention.

They had hearing-enhancement techniques, and for all he knew, they might be using them right now if he wasn't careful.

---

Outside the Colosseum.

"I hope the Tampa trip didn't keep you up at night."

"Not quite, Mr. Fury."

Rafinya answered him.

"It was an experience that doesn't come easily."

Not even Rafinya's father had ever let her see anything like that.

"Is that so?"

"Thank you for opening my eyes... Mr. Fury."

"I had a court summons warning me not to be too hard on you. But hearing that puts my mind at ease a little."

Dan nodded.

"By the way, why was your practice dummy so tall?"

"Pardon?"

"You stacked two of them together, didn't you? What for? Were you practicing against a pile driver?"

"...Ah..."

"It wasn't me you were imagining, was it?"

Rafinya's expression cracked wide open, impossible to hide.

Dan narrowed his eyes.

"How would prince Fury feel if he saw that, you little brat? Would he be upset?"

Rafinya raked a hand through her hair, fingers dragging back and forth.

"After everything I've done for you, you still want to get rid of me? You're just as ungrateful as Nora. If you ever want a real fight, just say the word."

Rafinya lifted her chin, eyes slowly widened.

"Someday I'll find a place out of the way, and I'll give you one round as a sparring partner. I've taken a liking to you after Tampa. That's all."

"Really?"

"I don't take back what I say."

"Thank you... Mr. Fury."

And it was only then that Dan realized that even someone like Rafinya... could wag her tail just like anyone else.

"I'm off to Mathema."

"Yes... Mr. Fury."

"And another thing."

Dan turned back.

"Don't forget about Professor Darwin's book."

"I'll be heading back to Newcastle tomorrow, Mr. Fury."

"Good. And also."

Dan pointed.

"Stop using that dummy to imitate me. I feel targeted."

"I'm not allowed?"

"You're absolutely not. "

"...okay"

"Can I even trust that..."

From a distance, the eyes of the senior knight faculty students were fixed on the exchange between the two of them, utterly baffled.

"...What was that? What just happened? Why did Rafinya suddenly..."

No one could answer senior Jenny's question.

Even the faculty instructors felt it.

Something had changed between them.

Once the visit with Rafinya was done, Dan made his way back to the front of the Paleontology faculty, where two or three TAs had already gathered outside, preparing for departure.

Senior Thomasin was easy to spot.

Dan hurried over to join the group at once.

"Junior Dan."

"Senior."

He noticed right away that Thomasin was carrying an enormous bag, so large he found himself wondering how she had managed to haul it here.

"We can head out now. Professor Pi'erre is already waiting in Mathema."

"Alright..."

Dan glanced briefly left and right.

"Junior Dan?"

"Just a moment, please. Someone here has to be on time."

And the moment the short hand and the long hand of the clock pressed together,

Princess Nora Ophilis appeared, materializing from behind as though conjured with a snap of the fingers.

"Hello, everyone."

The TAs and Thomasin stood with mouths hanging open, eyes nearly falling out of their heads.

"Princess Nora?! What are you doing here?!"

Dan shook his head with mild exasperation and turned to Thomasin.

"I happened to invite Princess Nora along, and she agreed to join us."

"...Is that going to be alright?!"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Thomasin swallowed hard, a bead of sweat sliding down her forehead that she had to wipe away with a finger.

"It's just that our journey might be... not quite befitting of a princess..."

"I'm just coming along to travel."

Then, with one hair tie, one hat, and an outfit consisting of a black overcoat,

"Today I'm not Nora. I'm Nadia."

"One hair tie and a hat where I come from isn't called a disguise... I'd call it a change of look."

"As long as no one recognizes me, isn't that enough?"

"With a face like yours, Your Highness, who wouldn't recognize you."

"That's a bit much... Mr. Dan."

"I invited you along, Your Highness. Could you at least try not to get in the way of my privacy?"

"Come on, Mr. Dan. You complain like an old man. Or are you old on the inside?"

"You're CUT."

"Sorry... I was joking..."

Thomasin had sensed well enough that Dan might be a person of influence.

But to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, speaking to Princess Nora with such casual familiarity, or more accurately, to the Crown Princess, direct heir to the formidable Snowhaven Empire...

The word "influential" might not have been nearly big enough.

Artheris Educational District Railway Station.

The steam locomotive on this line would head straight for Mathema.

The journey would take roughly a full day.

All of them boarded, with two carriages reserved: one for the TAs, one for Dan's group.

But for some reason, Thomasin Mayfield ended up in the same carriage as Dan and Nora.

*(Sound of the train pulling out from the platform.)*

The young TA knew full well that she was nothing more than a small mouse being squeezed by the pressure of two very extraordinary individuals on either side of her. She sat rigid, fists clenched tight, eyes darting left and right with barely contained nerves.

When the carriage door closed, Nora pulled off her hat.

"Why are you taking that off? Keep it on."

"Not a single person recognized me, Mr. Dan."

"They recognized you. They just didn't say anything."

Nora reluctantly put the hat back on, then drew out her personal notebook, leaned back against her seat, and began writing something.

Simple as that gesture was, one Dan had seen enough times to think nothing of it, for an outsider like Thomasin Mayfield, it was something else entirely.

They're this close?

"Senior Thomasin."

"...Hm? Yes?"

The young TA snapped out of her thoughts, sitting properly with hands folded, eyes blinking.

"Someone I know happened to pick this up recently..."

Dan reached into his bag.

Then he pulled out a chunk of golden-yellow amber, the one obtained from Tampa Bay, and set it down in front of Thomasin.

"...Where did he get this?"

"The person I know didn't say, but my guess is probably from a market."

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