Little Flower |Scaramouche| ✓

◤XIII |There Isn't Enough Time|

The journey to Sumeru by wagon was way easier than what they had previously done to get to Fontaine. The duo didn't have to worry about stopping to take a rest or being hungry and having to scavenge the area for something decent to fill their stomachs. Though the horse pulling the wagon did need to take breaks from time to time, the duo could see the distant land of Sumeru beyond the horizon. They could see the faraway rainforests and deserts that made up most of the nation and somewhere within, was the Sumeru Academia.

"Do you have any suggestions or know anybody we should specifically look for at the Academia, O Mighty Heir?" Scaramouche sarcastically asked the girl. She had been focused on searching the land in front of them for anything interesting. The sun was just beginning to rise signaling that a new day was waiting for them. It'd only been three to four days since they left Fontaine and now, they were just about a day's worth away from arriving in Sumeru. Shrugging her shoulder, (Y/n) closed her eyes to dig through the memories of Ishtar who obviously, was the heir to Sumeru. He had to know something, right? It would be very surprising if he didn't know anything about his homeland, but that wouldn't happen. Not at all.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" A guard dressed in what seemed to be Sumeru's armed forces, the Eremite, uniform held his weapon up against the cloaked figure in front of him. Unbeknownst to him, the cloaked silhouette was the heir to Sumeru himself, Ishtar, who was simply trying to get around the city without being noticed. He let out a sigh and turned around to face the Eremite, his hood covering his face so that the soldier couldn't tell who he was yet.

"What? I can't roam around my own nation without being questioned?" Ishtar scoffed. The Eremite soldier's eyes widened as he recognised that voice as the crown heir to Sumeru. Immediately, he bowed down apologetically for showing such disrespect towards the prince.

"M-my deepest apologies y-your highness! But er...what are you doing out here without any guards—"

"I do not need guards if no one recognises me. I believe I'm allowed to roam around freely in my homeland unless the laws have changed without my knowing," he lazily answered, uninterested by whatever small talk was going on. Turning on his heel to continue in the direction of his destination, he bid the guard goodbye saying, "If my mother asks where I've gone, tell her that I mustn't be disturbed while indulging in my studies." Speechless, the Eremite soldier could only watch as Ishtar continued on his way towards the Academia.

"Eremite," she said out of the blue after looking through the memories and watching one of them. Scaramouche glared at her.

"The fuck is that?"

"Oopsie. Uh...let me continue searching."

The grand library of the Sumeru Academia was filled from top to bottom with all the books and ancient texts one could ever dream of. It had everything from legends to other things that were...forbidden and placed in the restricted section where no normal scholar could obtain access to the books of prohibited information. Well, of course the crowned heir to Sumeru, Ishtar, had access to the restricted section. It was part of his studies after all.

"You're sure it's here?" Cyno, the boy's companion and friend at the Academia, looked over at the silver haired prince with a questioning look in his eyes. Ishtar simply nodded, not looking up from his book. "There hasn't been a single book so far," he deadpanned. Ishtar finally looked up from his book and pointed to the cover of it, displaying its title to the other silver haired male. Cyno took a few long strides over to his friend, his long Academia robes dragging across the ground.

"My friend, we're in the restricted section so of course it has to be here. It shouldn't be that hard for a highly intelligent scholar such as yourself to find a book about the Dark Sea and the fallen gods that had been defeated in the Archon War," he teased before going back to his book. Irked by this, Cyno kept his calm composure and went back to searching the shelves for what Ishtar wanted.