The Refuge of Fate

Chapter 111 - The Archer

A/N: The song for this chapter is "The Archer" by Taylor Swift covered by  Josh Rabenold. Listen to it for a better reading experience.

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Faust groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. His blurry vision slowly adjusted to the surroundings and immediately, he recognized the place. It was stale and dark. The place reeked of the smell of week-old urine and excrement.

It was prison.

He often takes trips here to inspect the prisoners as well as the knights stationed to guard it since it was part of his duty as the second prince. How ironic was it that it was now him who was locked up in here?

Looking around, Faust observed the desolate place. He could see the shadow of a person standing guard outside his cell and he knew it was one of the imperial knights that only obeyed his father's words.

A prince's authority can only go so far, especially if you are the second and disposable prince.

Discarding the thought of trying to be a con man in letting him out of the place, he looked around and saw one small window above the wall where his bed was. Faust understood that getting out of there would be impossible at the moment so, at the very least, he had to know what was happening.

The small window for the vent was thankfully appropriate for his height so he could still take a peek while standing on the bed.

What is happening right now? How long was he here?

The last thing he remembered was the knights knocking him out unconscious.

Did the festival already start? How about the hunting competition?

There are three events that happen in a series. The first would be a feast for everyone provided and financed by the palace as well as sponsor nobles and after that would be the horse-racing competition. The last event was the hunting competition which would take three days at most.

The first and second day was for the commencement as well as the all-around celebration.

The Third day would be for the long-day feast.

The fourth day is allotted for the horse-racing competition.

And the fifth to the seventh day would be the hunting competition.

Faust had no clue what day it was right now in the festival and he was hoping it was still the first day.

However, it seemed like his question of what day it was had already been answered the moment his eyes wandered outside. The first thing he spotted was the enormous magical projection in the sky that displayed a real-time event.

And in the display was the young master of the House of Masters, Pier Belmiunde, wearing a black suit while sitting on a stool with his fingers grazing on the keyboard.

"He's about to play something?" Faust asked himself while he fixed his attention on the projected image.

Right. It was the first day.

He hadn't been knocked out that long if he was still seeing Pier perform.

"..." He looked at the young master who was also probably being seen by millions of people right now. Everyone here loves music. Belmaid was also known as the Empire of Music because it is greatly treasured and revered here.

People are probably anticipating what he would play.

Would it be something spectacular? Would it be something heartwarming? They don't have a clue.