Guardians of the Prince

It was a couple of months after the prince started going to school.

There was an illness going around town, and the school ended up shutting down for a few days.

It wasn’t a life-threatening illness, but it did give you a high fever and stomach pains, so it was apparently quite the ordeal if it came for you. Thankfully, the prince didn’t get it, and he was just as lively as ever. All thanks to Mr Lahzt, who as his attending physician, had put precautions in place within Shiz Cagna when the illness first started going around.

“Even at Ouji’s school, there’s no reason for it to be too widespread. But if the prince gets it, it’ll be a big deal, so just in case, I think.”

We were chatting about things in the prince’s living room with Mr Lahzt, who’d come to explain the details. The prince himself had been doing some origami I’d taught him for a little bit now, but he was starting to complain.

“This isn’t any fun…”

He looked out the window, looking bored. He really did like school after all, didn’t he.

If the weather was nice, he could’ve gone to play in the garden, but it was rainy. It’d been like this for a few days now, too.

“Hmmm, there’s gotta be something fun we can do indoors, something that stays on the grounds of Shiz Cagna. Something different from our usual.”

I racked my brains.

“Oh, here we go. Maybe something like, ‘My First Errand’ would be good!”

“Errand?” Mr Lahzt parroted back.

“Like, for example, we ask the prince to go fetch us three sweets from Chef Gaen in the kitchen. Go directly to the kitchens without any detours, complete the task successfully, and come back without crushing them or dropping them or anything… It gives the prince a sense of responsibility, and we adults can watch over him from a hidden location, it’s a very exciting event!” I explained proudly, but what was this? Mr Lahzt had a strange expression on his face.

Mr Kahzam, who’d been standing guard at the door, laughed softly.

“What? Mr Kahzam.”

“No… I think it sounds like fun. This Prince’s Errand.”

“Oh!”

I panicked.

That’s right! Ouji is a prince! I was proposing to have a prince run errands for me!

“Nevermind, forget everything I just said!”

I waved both hands back and forth in front of me.

“If it’ll foster a sense of responsibility though, I think it’s a good idea,” Mr Kahzam said, smiling as he stood at attention. Ah, jeez, and I brought it up while you’re working too, I’m sorry.

“Well, it’ll definitely surprise Chef Gaen. ‘What are you making His Highness do!’ I can hear him now.” Mr Lahzt grinned.

I know, right?

“But I do think it’ll be good for him to come into contact with the people who work in the palace. And direct contact with the prince will encourage the people who work here too.”

“Oh, that’s true…” Then a light bulb went off. “Okay then, maybe we should do a treasure hunt!”

I explained the idea, getting misty-eyed about when I was a kid, and then again over when Nanao was a kid, and Mr Lahzt nodded.

“Hmmm… That might be good for learning his letters too. So, in other words, if you make it to the end, there’s a treasure waiting for you.”

“Exactly. The treasure can be anything nice, but it’s usually some kind of candy or sweet.”

And then Mr Lahzt grinned again. “There’s one treasure that the prince likes the best, you know.”

“What? What’s that?” I asked back, and Mr Lahzt stared at me without saying a word.

I gasped and pointed to the tip of my own nose. “… Me!?”

The following morning.

Instead of me going to wake up the prince first thing like usual (although it was usually the prince who woke up first), the maid Lauren went to wake up the prince.

The prince, of course, asked about it. “Where’s Koume?”

Lauren put up a bit of an act. “Hm… She doesn’t seem to be around anywhere.”

The prince went into the nanny’s bedroom, which was connected to his own. There wasn’t so much as a peach pit in there. But on the bed was a single large piece of paper, with a Ren seal written on it.

“Koume’s in the laundry room.”

The prince, who had just learned the Ren seals, managed to read this one and reported it to Lauren. He must have been confused.

Lauren guided him. “Well then, let’s go to the laundry room shall we?”

When they got to the laundry room at the back of the palace, the women were busily working in a room where echoes of water rose above the steam. The prince suddenly coming to ask a question must have caused quite the stir.

“Good Morning. ls Koume here?” the Prince asked, and the older woman who was in charge there grinned and offered him a letter.

“I have a letter for you.”

When the prince opened the letter and again put his all into reading the Ren there. “Koume is in the greenhouse,” it read.

When they went to the greenhouse, which was connected to Shiz Cagna by a passageway, the gardener was caring for the flowers. He was moving heavy bags of fertilizer, and making his pruning scissors ring.

“Good Morning. ls Koume here?”

And again, the gardener smiled at his young guest, and offered him a letter.

“I have a letter for you.”

""

And in this way, the prince searched for me, getting a peek at how everyone at Shiz Cagna spent their workday, and getting in some practice reading Ren seals. This was today’s Treasure Hunt. Being able to study and interact with people and all of that, it was a good way to eat up some free time, huh. I’d spoken with everybody at the palace yesterday, and they’d graciously agreed to cooperate.

I snuck over to the handrail along the walkway that was above the banquet hall, and peeked in on Lauren and the prince, who’d come to see a court lady polishing the silver in the china room. Good good, they seemed to be getting around alright.

I figured they’d be getting to the bell tower that was the end goal before too much longer, and turned on my heel. I was just about to turn the corner in the hallway, when I almost bumped into someone.

“Oh, sorr– Wait, what?”

I looked up at the man in surprise.

“When did you get here?” I said, and the man flashed a conspiratorial grin.

“I heard you were doing something fun today. But are we really going to let Ouji have the treasure that easily?”

And then he grabbed my arm.

When the prince and Lauren climbed the stairs to the bell tower, I had my arms pinned to my side by a man wearing a festival mask, and we were standing with our backs to the tower window. The wind made the masked man’s cape flutter.

“Koume!?”

The prince looked at us with a surprised expression, and the masked man let out a loud laugh.

“Bwahahah! So you’ve made it this far, have you! But if you don’t solve the riddle I have for you, I won’t give you Kohme back!”

“What? Nobody said anything about this…”

Lauren seemed perplexed herself. Come on now, don’t take it seriously.

Mr Lahzt and Mr Kahzam came up the stairs from behind them, and both stared at us, dumbfounded.

“So then, my riddle!”

The masked man suddenly posed his question.

“Ishdir, King of Vio Rizonna, has a special nickname for his second wife, Solamire. What is it!?”

The prince gave an immediate reply. “It’s Sora.”

“What– How do you know that?!”

The man stumbled exaggeratedly. Good grief, seriously? That question was way too easy.

“You leave me no choice. I shall return the princess to the prince.”

The man released me. I rushed over to the prince.

“Oh prince, you saved me!”

""

“Koume! I found you!”

The prince came over to hug me with a big smile. And then he looked at the man, a bit nervous.

“Who is that?”

“That’s your Uncle Fatido,” I told him, and the man who’d taken off his mask and cape, Mr Fatido, grinned.

“Hey, Ouji! Wasn’t that fun?”

There was the briefest moment of silence. Mr Fatido seemed a bit taken aback.

“What? It wasn’t fun?”

“… It was fun!”

Ahahah, that was some pause there. The prince was always putting other people’s feelings first.

“Alright then, next time we should have something a little more realistic,” Mr Fatido said, and laughed.

“If your capture of the princess is too much like an actual kidnapper,” Mr Lahzt sharply pointed out, “Kahzam will punish you before you have a chance to pose any riddle. And he’ll do so with my Shiino to back him up.”

Mr Kahzam nodded from behind him, and the metal fitting of his weapon clinked together.

Yeah well, sorry, but I’m a little past my prime to be playing the role of princess anyway. Well, it’s just pretend anyway, right, pretend!

“Koume, I’m hungry!”

“Mm, yeah, it is getting to be lunch time, isn’t it.”

We came down from the tower, waving to the men on bell tower duty as we passed them one their way up the stairs.

Eventually, the clear sound of the bell echoed out over Shiz Cagna, peacefully wrapped in a light rain.

[Treasure Hunt – end]