Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

-LUCAS-

Two years ago...

I still clearly remember that fateful day when I first encountered the prince.

Back in the days when I still do not hold the power of being a high royal counselor, I am just a simple boy with a life that I do not wish to have.

Well, being born to a family who has a distinct connection with the royal family, I was being teased and bullied at school for being a 'gold-digger' or in such rare cases, they call me a 'social climber'.

Trying my best to blend in with the crowd, I ignored those harsh accusations they throw at my family and still tried my best to be an achiever in terms of my magic.

Well, as you may know, being born to a father who has a role as the high royal counselor and my mother being supportive as always to my father and was able to befriend her majesty, the queen, I am always pressured to walk in my father's footsteps and take over his place someday.

One sunny day, I was practicing my magic in the practice field for the upcoming magic skills test when I was suddenly surrounded by some bullies of mine to ruin my day, as usual.

"Hey there, Mr. Social Climber." one of the boys my age said.

If I remember his name, I think it was Patrick? Or John? Anyway, let's just call him Patrick since it suits his bulky physique well compared to the latter.

Trying my best to concentrate, I ignored him which pissed the hell out of him and his two remaining buddies by his side. They surrounded me and then this Patrick came in front of me and held me by my collar and said, "We are talking to you, weirdo."

"What do you want this time?" I dared to ask when I clearly know the answer. And that is to, again, ruin my day and crash my confidence into tiny, little pieces.

"We want you to--"

"Incendio!"

The bully was rudely interrupted by someone who chanted that basic fire spell on him, making the tip of his uniform lit with fire. He quickly dropped me down and cast a water spell to put off the flickering fire dancing at the tip of it.

Then with his brows snapped together and lips pressed to each other, he turned around to see who the heck dared to do that to him.

Both of us saw a not-so-tall lad standing in front of us with wavy shag auburn hair, amber round eyes that looked over at us, has a fair skin complex and thin red lips that curled up when he saw this tragic scene I am currently experiencing in the hands of these bullies.

"Who do you think you are for burning my coat--"

"You as well, who do you think you are for bullying such a poor kid?" the wavy-shag-haired lad had spoken, lips now curved into a smirk.

Seeing his apparel right now consisting of a red cap with a white feather attached to it, a lavish royal maroon tunic, black leggings, and heavy-looking black boots to complete his look, I think I might have an idea as to who is this.

"I am the top 1 student of the whole batch. And who is this… lowly-rank looking student daring to challenge me into a fight?" said the idiot Patrick, not having any idea who is this person he is arguing with.

Well, since this person doesn't have a badge of some sort pinned on his tunic that signifies your rank to this school, the jerk thought right away that this is an ordinary student only.

"I can also see it on your uniform that you have many badges. But a badge is nothing compared to the attitude and character of a wizard bearing it." the lad continued.

Being a hot-tempered as he is, Patrick released a high-level fire spell in the intention to overwhelm this person who speaks ill about him. "Halitum meum flammam!"

As the caster chanted the spell, his right hand was then covered into fiery flames that makes it possible for him to release a tremendous amount of fire into his target. Soon enough, flames start to fly its way towards his foe but somehow did not move a single inch but instead anticipated the upcoming attack.

The latter only raised his hand above his head and quickly formed a firewall in front of him to prevent the attack to hit him, which quickly disperses his enemy's spell in a blink of an eye… without uttering any single spell at all.

Basically, a normal wizard needs to do the chanting of a certain spell in order for us to activate its power.

But there are some few persons whose level is beyond rank S... like this one standing in front of us… who does not need to chant spells in order for them to activate it. All they need to do is a certain amount of mana and a little concentration of their energy in order for them to do so.

My eyes, and probably this bully's as well, widened at the sight of it.

When the realization hit on one of this idiot's friends, he suddenly blurted out, "No way. The one standing in front of us right now is Prince Arthur rumored to be our next master wizard of Gilead!"

The idiot, still looking dazed upon hearing his words, suddenly bowed down to the prince and extended his sincere apology. He knew pretty well that fighting against a royalty would cost you your life. What a fool he really is, honestly.

"I think you owe more of an apology to this one who you're bullying with." the prince smirked and pointed his right index finger at me.

Patrick and his friends were hesitant at first to say their apologies, but when the prince threatened them by saying, "You'll say sorry, or you all die?" that must have encouraged them more to extend their apologies in which I only responded with a nod and a "Let's just all forget it." statement before they flee from our presence.

The moment they left, I noticed the prince shifted his amber eyes towards me and genuinely smiled at me. That was the very first time someone showed that kind of smile at me that warms my heart.

"I like you. You're kind, gentle, full of passion for what you're doing yet easy to be bullied with."

He extends one hand in front of him for me to shake, which I was reluctant to accept at first.

"I'm Prince Arthur Spellman by the way. Someone told me I will be finding my confidant here in this school. Say… if you pass your magic skills test, which I know you'll do so… will you be my confidant? "

Upon hearing his words, I hesitantly grabbed for his right hand and we shook each other's hands.

"I am Lucas Springfield. And yes, I am willing to be your confidant, Prince Arthur."

"Arthur! We've been looking all over for you!"

Both the prince and my head jerked to the right as few servants of his ran their way towards the prince. Maybe perhaps the prince must have outrun them like what he always does.

Before completely leaving me to be with his entourage, he held something in his right hand, like it just magically appeared out of nowhere.

When I looked at it a bit more closely, I saw it was a small pendant with the shape of a circle with a star embroidered in nylon I suppose.

"This is a dream catcher. Except for the fact that it catches all of your nightmares, it is known to have the power to catch all of your sadness away plus bad luck. Bear this with you always for you to pass your magic skills test. I really want you as my confidant, Lucas Springfield."

-END OF FLASHBACK-

---

"After that, I did pass my magic skills test and he did make me one of his confidants and later made me one of his royal high counselors when my father died of a terrible illness. Just like that, the prince and I, later on, became the closest friends you could ever imagine."

Upon finishing my story to her, Krisella looked at me with those round amber eyes filled with curiosity, a distinct physical feature that the prince also possessed.

The other one is her long, wavy, auburn hair... also the same hair color as the prince.

"I thought you said that we have an identical story of the dream catcher?" she asked, with one eyebrow arched at me. I chuckled at the sight of it.

"Quite similar, I suppose," I responded, chuckling in the process.

When I finally stopped laughing, I quickly added, "But the feeling I had upon listening to your story and to his is quite similar. You made me feel as if he's the one speaking to the child earlier."

"Base on your story, the prince was indeed kind, gentle, humble and all the perfect qualities that I could ever think of."

But then after saying those things, she tilted her head down and exhaled a sigh of frustration. "I wish I could be as perfect as him."

Smiling at the girl, I extended one arm and rested it on her right shoulder that made her head looked up at me once again.

"You don't have to be, Krisella," I said gently. "Being yourself is already enough for all of us. Alright?"

"Alright then, if that's what you say so," she responded and return the smile to me.