The Borrower and the Fairy Prince

Chapter 41: Being a King is Boring

"Good morning Roman," his father greeted. Logan was by his side with a clipboard in hand. "Are you prepared to shadow me today?"

"I suppose," the prince answered. It felt weird not having Virgil by his side, he was so used to the borrower's presence. However, he was the one that told him to take the day off and Virgil needed it, hopefully he'll actually find some time to rest today.

"Very well, what's the schedule we have today?" The king looked over to Logan.

The advisor looked down at his clipboard and started reading. "As any day, we start off with breakfast. Following that we go to the throne room to read any mail you should have. Once finished you will be there to be updated on everything from food supply, weather, and other public concerns. After that is finished, you will go to lunch. After lunch, should you have any meetings with the council you attend those. If you do not, that is your free time to do whatever you need to destress. This only lasts for an hour, and once you're finished until dinner you're once again in the throne room to handle any legal disputes between the people."

"Do we have any meetings with the council today?"

Logan looked up from his clipboard. "Yes, today you'll have a meeting with the elders to discuss what more can be done to find Ignis." Roman tensed up at this, and it did not go unnoticed by Logan. "It's been five days since he had attacked Virgil, and we have yet to find any sign of him."

"Very well, we'll deal with that when we get to it. First we'll head to breakfast, then we'll deal with the rest."

~~~

Virgil jumped to the side, slashing at the roots that tried to grab him. Remus rarely tried that move since yesterday, and everytime he does he hesitates so it's easy for Virgil to read. It annoyed the borrower since Ignis wouldn't hesitate and he needs to be ready.

He was mostly annoyed at himself though. It was embarrassing that he almost went into a panic attack in front of everyone just because he was grabbed.

Patton and Janus watched on the sidelines. Janus watched their moves carefully, and Patton stood on standby with a pitcher of water to help should either get hurt.

Janus raised an eyebrow, impressed as he watched how fast Virgil moved. He's improved greatly since he started training when he first became a guard. He ducked, slashed, and dodge faster than Remus could keep up.

Remus had created a shield for himself, and it was covered in deep scratches. He used his free hand to move the roots, trying to keep Virgil back. Maybe working with one hand slowed him down, but if he didn't have a shield Virgil would have won by now.

Virgil jumped over a root and landed low to dodge one that went right over his head. The prince practically made a parkour course instead of actually fighting. He jumped and rolled, standing up right in front of Remus. He pushed the shield out of the way and went to stab Remus, planning to stop right before the blade hit him but the knife ended up digging into a root that shot out in front of him.

Remus moved his hand sideways, making the root move and tearing Virgil's knife out of his hand. Before the borrower could recover from that, he was hit with Remus's shield and fell onto the ground. Roots came up from the ground and pinned him there.

Remus sighed, dropping his shield and sitting down. His face was red and he was covered in sweat. "I think that's all I got for today," he huffed, out of breath.

Virgil let himself relax and the roots let him go as Remus waved his hand. He took a deep breath and wiped away some sweat. "At least it's still cold," he laughed slightly. "I guess we should stop here today."

"You came really close!" Patton encouraged, grabbing two nearby cups and bringing over his pitcher of water to them.

"You've both improved too, not just Virgil," Janus added. "In only two days too."

Patton gave both Virgil and Remus the cups and poured some water. "You could definitely beat me in a fight."

"I don't know if it'll be enough to beat Ignis in a fight though, he has dark magic," Virgil pointed out before taking a sip.

"Wait, that's right!" Janus smiled. "He might not have nature magic anymore! The dark magic would have consumed most of it by now!"

"Unless he hasn't used dark magic since he cursed Virgil," Patton reminded him.

"Even if he only had dark magic left, I still want to continue to train," Virgil told them. "Not just to keep up my skills, but in case I have to fight a different nature fairy. It would also be wise if I fought against fairies with different kinds of magic too."

"The good thing is that you're a fast learner," Janus told him. "If you fight against anyone else, you'll learn their tricks fast and find a way to beat them eventually."

"And yet I can't beat Remus."

"Hey! I'm my mothers son!" the prince defended himself. "I fight with my magic just fine!"

"I never said you didn't."

"Let's get you back to your room so you can rest," Patton suggested, helping Virgil stand.

"No, I just need a small break, then I'll train by myself for the rest of the day," the borrower protested.

"There's no point in doing that, you'll go past your limits and won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Besides, I promised Roman that I would make sure you'd rest."

"Roman made you promise that?!"

"Well he didn't make me, he asked me and I said yes right away. You're going to go back up to your room, wash up, get something to eat, and then rest your body. I know some yoga to help your sore muscles!"

"I guess I'll just take care of Remus then," Janus sighed, walking over to the prince.

Remus held out his arms to him, making grabby hands. Janus rolled his eyes and simply picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

"That works too," Remus said. "Thanks for sparring with me Virgil! This was fun! You better beat me next time otherwise it'll get boring!"

"I just hope I can," Virgil mumbled mostly to himself.

Patton put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. He told the borrower, "Don't worry, you will! You're tougher than you think!"