Seeded

Of course, Charles didn't have much time to sleep.

The very moment he had closed his eyes, a shadow had passed over our lying forms, and in the next second, a round-eyed attendant stood over our heads. He looked at us as though he had caught us in a malicious act.

The prince took a long moment to open up his eyes. Even when he had noticed the shadow looming over us, he only smiled up at it dreamily. He mumbled, "Hey there, Coran."

"... Your Highness, it's not safe out here," the attendant said, as though it wasn't weird how he found us sprawled out on the spire's rooftops. "I suggest we go back to your rooms, where I am sure we can protect you best."

Charles laughed. "Come now, Coran. Who would attack me inside the Lunar Academy?"

"... Multiple persons and organizations, Your Highness," the man answered honestly. The boy could only sigh in defeat, although he didn't look all that much perturbed by it. He looked at me with a grin, saying, "Let's go back down? I gather you already had a good taste of climbing through rooftops?"

I laughed as I propped myself up. "Quite so, dear prince. Quite so."

~~

'Who are they targeting?' I thought as I stared at the black skinned girl. We still sat together due to the buddy system Assassin Vincentus had forced us to do. Her nimble hands were elegantly tipping over fuming glass vials, emptying their contents into our cauldron.

Then, when the round pot started to exude a pungent aroma, I had to back away in disgust. Pinching my nose between two fingers, I turned to my partner. "Leila, do you really know what you're doing?"

She glanced up at me in the middle of emptying another brackish liquid into the bubbling mixture. She tilted her head. "I think?"

I gave her a face. "You think?"

She smiled innocently, even amidst a tiny explosion of one evilly violet-colored bubble. I sighed. "Let me do the assignment."

She pouted. "But... Are you sure?"

'If I don't relieve you of your position, the whole castle might just crumble from a gaseous explosion,' I thought, but instead said, "Yeah, I wanted to try mixing up... poisons too."

She shrugged as she gave way for me. I thought, 'Now, what was the assignment again?'

Knowing I would be too embarrassed to ask Leila herself, I looked around the classroom. The tables were spread apart to give each pair more room, but I could still somewhat see what the others were doing. I tried to recall my lessons, and the small lessons I also had under Zepherin and Eva back in the Order.

Jackerberry.

Nightlock? No, tamlock...

Now, what would that peculiar combination make?

A smile came into place a second later. Then, I looked innocently at Leila. "We're making a Narcus Drought, aren't we?"

She stared back at me. "I believe so. You didn't know?"

I spluttered. "I-No, I mean, I was just... I wasn't sure!"

I couldn't exactly say that I was simply out of it the past few days. Leila smiled at me gently, her beauty almost making the darkly lit classroom glow with light. Filled with a sudden drive, I brought out a clean cauldron and started on the potion.

The Narcus Drought was a potion commonly used by commoners and nobles alike. It was a sleeping potion, but it could also just as easily turn into a deadly poison. The Drought was easy enough to make, as long as the ingredients were there and a fire was ready. In fact, it was so easy to make that even unlearned commoners would concoct it themselves.

Very rarely, though, a certain and very specific proportion of the ingredients could incite an interesting phenomenon on one of the ingredients. The reaction would then create one of the deadliest poisons in the land. Legends say that the exact formula was no longer around, and if it was, it was probable hidden away.

'Why are we making this potion anyway?' I wondered, already moving around to peel at the ingredients carefully. My mind soon stopped working and my hands moved automatically.

"You seem handy with a knife," Leila whispered at my ear, making me jump.

"Please, Leila," I told her. "Don't sneak up to me like that."

She giggled as she went away. When I looked down, I found that I had sliced my finger when I had flinched. I watched as a tiny, red drop fell slowly down our table.

I cursed in a way a princess would never do. When I looked around for a clean cloth or so, I found that the professor was looking straight at me. The secret assassin looked like he was already fed with a whole bottle of Narcus Drought, his whole demeanor drooping with fatigue.

His eyes, however, were sharp, and his smile was as vile as a snake's.

~~

Days passed, and then more days passed until it was already my fifth month.

Rumors did rise up after a few students saw me going back and forth towards my brother's room, but just like we had planned, we had explained it the way we did. Soon enough, the rumors died down and I was simply known as the prince's childhood friend.

It was, however, unexpectedly easy to keep my friendship with the other prince a secret. We hadn't really spoken about this arrangement, but when we were in the presence of other people, we didn't talk. Besides, we rarely had the same classes, and the only one we did have together was Defensive Spells 101, and I was usually too preoccupied with Albert and Joren to even look at him. Well, not that he needed it.

The moment he had started to go to his classes (the day right after our little dinner), the whole school simply exploded with excitement. Sure, there had already been long-time rumors that this batch would have two high royalty involved, but I suppose seeing the boys in flesh hits a whole lot differently.

Besides, I had little time for friends. My school work had been piling up, and with my recent bout of procrastination, I found it growing high enough to become taller than me. For the past few months, I found myself stuck in a strict routine. I wake up, eat (occasionally with my brother in his rooms), go to my classes, and then head back to my room to do my assignments.

It was a schedule that was almost familiar. In fact, it was almost identical to my time as a princess.

But, somehow, it was a whole world different.

Despite my lack of sleep, I was still smiling. Talking with my brother was no longer a political move. I can choose to sleep in, but I still find it a better choice to wake up anyway.

Right now, I was simply a student.

But of course, like it usually was with my life, I never have it easy.

"Seeded?" I asked, my mind still stuck on a tricky part in a book I read.

Joren nodded fiercely. "Yes! You! Did you hear me?! You were seeded!"

Sensing the boy's desperation, I knew I had to focus on him. Seeing him too excited to even speak coherently, I had to turn towards the other boy. The Montauk Prince simply shrugged. "Alas, I know very little of the customs of the Academy."

So, I had to return my gaze back to my red-haired friend. "Joren, what does that even mean? Seeded? Seeded for what?"

He stopped bouncing like a energized ball. He then grinned. "For the end of the cycle! This cycle is ending earlier than expected, but that means we can test out our magic and head on to the inner rings!"

Albert and I looked at each other in shock. It seems like this was news to him too.

Then, I grabbed at Joren's collars. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?!"

"Wha-!" he shouted. "I- I only just knew..."

I stared at him fiercely. He cowered within a second.

"Okay! Okay!" he said with a shaky sigh. "I've known for a week now, but-!"

I shook him by his collar, and even Albert only stood by without stopping me. He seems to agree with my anger. However, I still needed some answers, so I had to let him go. Perhaps I could have his blood later?

Joren breathed out slowly as he straightened up his now messed up shirt. Then, he looked cautiously up at us. "Sorry, alright? I was really going to tell you, but, well... You both seemed so busy, and then I got busy with that darned paper, and then..."

He shrugged, an easy-going smile already plastered on his face. "I forgot."

I rolled my eyes, but already knew deep down that I was never truly angry. "So, what's this all about? Care to share your inside knowledge, dear boy?"

He laughed nervously. "Well, you do know how bad I wanted to go to school here, right, Therion?"

I nodded, recalling the day he desperately tried to hide his dream from his parents (to no avail).

"Well," he continued. "I did a lot, like a loooot of researching years ago, and so, I... Well, I kinda know a little more than a normal student should, you know?"

"Only a little more?" I teased with a smile.

"Fine, a lot! I know a lot more than a normal kid should know!" he shouted in annoyance. "But, ah... I do know a bit about the end of cycle tests. Well, you both know how it's done to test out the skills of the willing students, right? And those who pass with flying colors get to go into the inner rings? But, well, that isn't all. You see, there are seeded students who really have to join in the tests. Those are the students that the professors think are strong enough to be tested, and-"

"I'm one of them?" I finished, my mind going crazy with thought. "But I'm hardly the best student, you know?"

Alas, I wasn't being humble. It's not like I was a bad student, but I was far from being the best one. I never had any formal teaching about magic before, and what little lessons I had were about basic magic control. My time in the Order didn't also cover much on notes, but only on assassin skills and Dark Magic. All of my lessons seem new to me, with terminologies far too foreign to my untrained ears that I have to take a few moments to register it.

So, this doesn't make sense. I'm not supposed to be one of the... seeded ones.

"Why?" I mumbled at my shoes.

Albert shrugged. "Perhaps since we are new students, they've taken into consideration our entrance examination results? You did have a clear white token, did you not? That is the highest possible result a student can have."

I gulped down discreetly, knowing that this would turn dangerous if we continued to talk about the token. Thankfully, our conversation turned back to the test itself.

"So, what will the test be like?" Albert asked.

Joren shrugged this time. "No matter how hard I tried to dig through my researching, I couldn't find anythin' 'bout the test."

"Huh," I let out. "So it'll be a surprise, won't it?"

For a while, we were silent. But then, a thought came to mind.

"Wait! Both of you are taking the test? I mean, you don't even know if it'll be dangerous!" I asked belatedly. The two boys looked at each other, and then stared at me with disbelief.

"Come now, Therion boy," Joren mumbled with an exaggerated pout. "Ya really think that?"

Albert too was smiling when he said, "Yes, Eleftherion... boy. I would be making a grave mistake if I were to leave a friend alone to face tremulous battles in his lonesome!"

Then, Joren placed a heavy hand on top of my shoulder. "Whether you like it or not, we're gonna stick by you!"

Slowly, the corners of my lips turned up, and the three of us were enveloped in a warm aura. "Fine. The great Eleftherion will allow some minions to follow him on his journey!"

Then, Joren laughed in joy before finally realizing what I had said. In no moment, the three of us got tangled up in a boyish fight of knuckles and fists.