The Crown Prince In Hiding

To conduct the best research possible, the most important thing was to build the finest specimen storage facility.

Today Nora had barely spoken to Dan. The reason was that he had been occupied all day with Senior Thomasin and Professor Pi'erre, working to restructure the entire paleontology department under its new owner.

"The top-of-the-line humidity controllers available on the market are adequate for preserving specimen remains, but what we're concerned about is the size of the warehouse and the ventilation system."

"Understood."

The renovation of the research center was officially underway.

One fortunate thing was that the center already had people working there. When Dan stepped in as the new owner, he found himself with a workforce capable enough to be put to all manner of tasks.

His demeanor in the meetings left Thomasin and the professors puzzled as to why this first-year student showed no signs of being overwhelmed.

As though he had done all of this before...

Professor Pi'erre thought.

"For the warehouse system setup, I'll try reaching out to some contacts in Snowhaven."

"You can find someone, Nora?"

"Snowhaven specializes in exactly this."

Because of the cold, engineers there had extensive experience with humidity control. They knew how to connect humidity systems for proper air circulation, and so on.

With Nora's connections, getting in touch wouldn't be too difficult.

Before they knew it, the sun had already set.

"Can you find a reliable contractor to build the warehouse for us?"

"We have a prior history with them. Getting in touch won't be a problem."

And with the substantial "capital" that had been injected in, everything became considerably easier.

But even so,

Dan was still a student. He had another side of his life to manage. He couldn't be here overseeing things at all times.

So he would need to appoint someone to serve as his representative.

"And who would that person be, Mr. Dan?"

To oversee everything properly, Dan needed someone he trusted — someone who could be his eyes and ears.

"What a question, Senior Thomasin."

Dan pointed at her.

"You, Senior."

Thomasin's eyes went wide, and she shook her head in a fluster.

But Dan nodded.

"From this point on, I'm appointing Senior Thomasin as my representative. All progress on the Warehouse must be reported to me through her."

He turned to everyone in the meeting room.

"Does anyone have a problem with that?"

"But Thomasin has homework to grade, a thesis to work on... and TA duties as well."

Dan turned to Professor Pi'erre, Professor Benneth, and Professor Keith.

"Understood..."

Professor Keith nodded.

"As for the thesis, she will be granted a special exception to defer submission. Everything will be put on hold until the Warehouse is built."

"And cut the homework grading too. Have the others divide it among themselves."

Dan turned to the other TAs.

"I went through the trouble of raising your compensation, so you'd better earn it."

Senior Thomasin knew right then and there that her life was about to change.

The compensation had taken a dramatic leap, but so had the workload. Even so, at a figure impossible to refuse, no one objected.

"Senior."

Dan smiled softly,

"I'm counting on you."

Before long, it was already the seventh day.

The early days as the new owner were no easy thing. Dan had been in and out of meeting rooms constantly over the past several days, approving the various matters the department had submitted to him.

But at last, it was done. He had cleared them all in time before departing.

And with that, the Warehouse Zero project was finally underway.

"Naming it that way suggests there'll be more warehouses to follow, doesn't it, Mr. Fury?"

"Who knows..."

Dan answered with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze resting on the ancient specimen collection inside the display case.

"Even our own era has left behind this much evidence... how much more must theirs have left behind?"

At that same moment, Professor Pi'erre walked in.

"Professor... with our current knowledge, are we any closer to understanding Luca?"

"You must first understand how we came to be... only then will we draw closer to Luca."

He answered,

"To understand Luca, you must understand this world... our world."

"Our world in the past, you mean."

"This planet we call home has never always looked the way it does today. There were never lush green trees. No oceans, no towering valleys, not even white clouds. Not in our world during the time of Luca."

It was an orange planet blanketed by unbreathable air, with pressure crushing in from all sides, no land or continent to speak of — only an endless expanse of water stretching to the horizon, ceaselessly erupting volcanoes, and a colossal moon hanging in the middle of the sky.

It was a hell where no living creature of today could survive — not a single one. Not even Fury.

"Professor Pi'erre... when exactly was that?"

Dan turned to look at him.

"You once said our world had a time when Snowhaven was still a forest, didn't you?"

"Not at all, Dan."

The Professor chuckled with gentle amusement at Dan's ignorance, before delivering an answer that Prince Fury would never forget for as long as he lived.

"If the time when Snowhaven was a forest was last week, then the time when Luca came into existence was two years ago."

The era when humanity entered the age of magical-industrial prosperity was 1.5 seconds ago.

The human race was born 45 minutes ago.

The time when Snowhaven was still a grassland was 7 days ago.

The time when Luca existed was 584 days ago.

Which meant that,

"Princess Nora... the time when your country was a lush green forest is closer to you than it is to the world that Luca lived in."

4.2 billion years.

That was when the common ancestor of us all came into being.

His gaze fixed on the Professor, unable to truly fathom the depth of that span of time.

50 million years was already a long time ago...

This was 4.2 billion.

"Professor... how do you know all this? Why have I never heard of it before... where can I go to learn more?"

Dan stepped closer to the Professor, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"I want to know more. Luca lived in an era where we couldn't even breathe the air?"

Yet another factor had now emerged.

That factor was the world itself.

"In studying evolution, it is essential to understand what the world was like at that time."

"Life always adapts to its environment..."

Professor Pi'erre nodded and turned toward the girl who was bustling about busily.

"Thomasin herself is writing her thesis on geology. She can help."

He smiled softly.

Dan raised an eyebrow.

This... worked out nicely.

On the way back,

Besides coming away with armfuls of books from the faculty to read at his leisure, the final dinner in Mathema that Nora treated him to wasn't bad at all.

But none of it changed the young man's mood in the slightest.

Dan sat in a daze the entire train ride. The camera in his hands nearly slipped from the seat until Nora caught it, though Dan didn't even have the presence of mind to care.

"...Mr. Fury, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

He said, while writing in his notebook.

Nora noticed and glanced up.

"Unbelievable, Mr. Fury."

It was new knowledge known only within a very specific circle.

"None of us matter at all... my existence is nothing but a speck of dust in this history."

"Thinking like that is exhausting, Mr. Fury..."

"But it's the truth."

"Always siding with the truth..."

"When will Thomasin be coming back to join us?"

"You appointed her like that, so she'll probably come back when we reach second year, Mr. Fury."

"That's not too far off."

"Yes, you're about to become a second-year student."

"And what does that mean against the age of the world?"

"I told you, thinking like that is exhausting."

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