“…What about the letter?”
When Rowen, who had been listening to the conversation with Sir Rodrick just moments ago, asked, Nigel snorted and then started walking.
“This is more urgent.”
Hmm….
“Right, if you say so, then that’s how it is.”
Rowen hesitated for a moment, then quickly moved his steps to catch up with Nigel, who was already walking several paces ahead. A faint smile hung on his lips as if he had no choice.
* * *
The western part of the Academy, the most secluded corner bordering the forest. That’s where the Alchemy Department building was located. Unlike the main building or the Swordsmanship Department building built with splendid marble, this place had a gloomy atmosphere from the very entrance.
“What the hell are they doing here to make it smell like this?”
As soon as they approached the building, Nigel’s brow crumpled like paper. He felt like he might gag. It was because of the pungent stench that pierced his nose. The acrid air mixed with the smell of rotten eggs, sulfur, and unidentifiable chemicals stabbed at his lungs.
Nigel covered his nose and mouth with his shirt sleeve and muttered.
“…I can’t believe I’m walking into this place with my own two feet.”
“This smoke doesn’t seem good for the body…. Do we really have to go in here?”
Rowen frowned and waved his hand in front of them both, especially in front of Nigel. He was worried that if Nigel, who was already suffering from a headache, inhaled this mysterious smoke, it would only get worse.
But Nigel didn’t stop. He grabbed the worn doorknob with a determined look. Meanwhile, he didn’t forget to use a handkerchief he’d taken out from his pocket to avoid touching the doorknob directly.
Creeeeak—
The door opened, and the interior of the Alchemy Department was revealed.
The sight was a hellish scene that transcended what Nigel had prepared himself for.
The interior wasn’t even properly ventilated, thick with purple fog, and the floor was covered with sticky liquids of unknown origin. Various boxes were piled up in one corner, perhaps they were preparing for the festival.
The students’ appearance was even more of a spectacle.
Hair matted as if unwashed for days, and cloaks covered in soot or even scorched at the edges with crumpled ends from fire. Dark circles extending down to under their eyes.
They didn’t even notice that an uninvited guest rather than a department student had entered, each one burying their nose in their parchment and writing something diligently.
“…….”
Nigel lost his words for a moment and stared at the scene. He hadn’t yet stepped inside the hellish space. It was an excessively unsanitary and chaotic space for him to set foot in.
However, Nigel was convinced that somewhere in here was the person who had turned him into a frog. Whoever it was, he would make them regret daring to do that to the Empire’s Crown Prince.
“…Are we really going in?”
As he took a step, Rowen asked from beside him with disgust.
“Why are you asking something so obvious?”
Nigel kicked aside an empty medicine bottle rolling on the floor and walked into the thick smoke.
If a situation arose where they needed to use force, Rowen Ashfield beside him would step in. He was incredibly reliable in this aspect. Though of course, he had no intention of using force inside the Academy.
But the Alchemy Department students didn’t welcome the Crown Prince.
“Move! Don’t block the way!”
Someone suddenly cut in front of Nigel.
They were holding a boiling beaker in their hand. It was a split second where that unidentified liquid could have splashed onto Nigel’s collar, or he could have been drenched on his face or arms.
Thunk. Before Nigel could even frown, a solid arm suddenly shot out and blocked the student’s path. At the same time, Rowen’s other hand wrapped around Nigel’s shoulder and pulled him firmly behind his back.
“If you’re going to carry something like that around, watch where you’re going.”
Rowen growled in a low, sunken voice and created distance from the student. A fluid yet agile movement. It was a conditioned reflex that only a knight who had protected the Crown Prince’s side for a long time could display.
“What the—”
The male student sharply raised his head with an annoyed expression. He was planning to confirm the face of the interferer and unleash a torrent of curses.
But.
Huh? The male student’s mouth fell open blankly. What was in front of him wasn’t a scruffy classmate who hadn’t washed in days.
Someone who seemed to emit a sacred light alone even amidst the smoke and stench, excessively handsome… and a face he’d seen somewhere many times. That face he’d only seen on imperial coins or portraits was now looking down at him coldly.
“…….”
Nigel silently stared at the student who had bumped his shoulder. He merely raised one eyebrow, but the color drained completely from the student’s face.
“I, I…….”
Crash—!
The beaker that slipped from the student’s hand fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. The sharp explosive sound echoed through the noisy laboratory. At that sound, other nearby students turned their heads one by one.
“Hey, what? What’s with the sudden commotion….”
“What did you break this time?”
The gazes of students turning around irritably all fixed on one spot simultaneously. And they too froze with the exact same expression as the student who had broken the beaker.
“……Gasp.”
“C-Crown Prince Your Highness…?”
Those words that spilled from someone’s mouth instantly froze the entire laboratory. Actually, their shock wasn’t simply because of the Crown Prince’s authority.
These were Alchemy Department students living buried in this gloomy research lab in the deepest corner of the Academy, where not a ray of sunlight entered, cut off from the outside world. To them, the Empire’s Crown Prince was like a unicorn from a distant world, something they only saw in textbooks or newspaper scraps.
And yet that dazzling and noble being had walked into their smelly moldy den with his own two feet. To them, it must have felt more surreal than a dragon appearing before their eyes.
In the eerie silence where only the bubbling sound of boiling cauldrons remained, Nigel brushed off his wrinkled shirt collar with an elegant gesture.
It was an attitude as if even the air in this space was filthy. Nigel spoke to the students standing with their mouths open in a very gentle yet arrogant voice.
“It’s finally gotten a bit quiet.”
Nigel’s gaze slowly swept over the frozen crowd. Students whose eyes met his were startled and either bowed their heads or stepped back. There was no one brave enough to dare look directly into the eyes of royalty.
Nigel raised the corner of his mouth diagonally as if satisfied and got to the main point.
“Where is Ezra?”
As soon as those words fell, the students’ gazes simultaneously focused on one spot as if by agreement. At the same time, the crowd blocking Nigel’s path split left and right. Like the parting of the sea, a path opened straight through to only one person.
At the end of that path sat a man perched on an experiment table, recording something.
“…….”
Nigel’s eyes narrowed.
The Alchemy Department president he knew was always a gloomy figure who wore a dull gray robe. He was someone who wore his hood pulled so deeply that his face was hidden in shadows, making it hard to even see the tip of his nose. But the person over there right now….
‘Who is that?’
It was a face he’d never seen before. Skin so clean it was incongruous with the filthy laboratory, neatly arranged blue hair like the night sky. A straight nose bridge and gentle eyes. He even looked young, appearing to be only a third or fourth-year student at most.
Nigel frowned slightly.
“Ezra?”
Nigel called the name of the Alchemy Department president he knew, but the man didn’t react immediately.
“Ezra Kaba?”
The man blinked very slowly, like a rusted machine. Light green eyes that had lost focus stared blankly at Nigel.
After a long silence, he opened his mouth.
“…Ah.”
A short word. That was all.
Nigel’s eyebrows twitched. ‘Ah’? The Crown Prince himself had come looking for him and that was his entire reaction?
“…….”
“…….”
But Ezra didn’t continue speaking any further. He simply watched Nigel, who had walked up to his desk, with a dry expression. It was unclear whether he lacked manners or if his reaction speed was just remarkably slow.
“…Nigel, did we come to the right place?”
Rowen muttered quietly from beside him. This was his first time seeing the Alchemy Department president’s bare face too.
“You are the president, correct?”
“…Yeah. Right….”
Ezra nodded slowly as if it was bothersome.
Then he lowered his head again and fumbled to pick up the quill pen he’d briefly set down. Despite clearly knowing Nigel’s face, his attitude showed that his own work was more important whether Nigel was in front of him or not.
Nigel was dumbfounded.
He could understand if someone was burdened or intimidated because he was the Crown Prince, but what the hell was this? It felt like talking to a wall.
“Right. Ezra. The reason I came here today is—”
Swish.
Just as Nigel was about to get to the point, Ezra suddenly held something out.
