The Unwanted Prince

Ch. 9 - Oliver

When I had heard there was a new prince to take on the Quest of Death, my interest wasn't at all peaked.

In the beginning, when I first arrived at the castle, I would try to convince previous questers to let me come with them. I mean, just imagine!

The world beyond the cities!

Questers would be out there, fighting beasts, monsters, villains! It would be just like a storybook! A fairy tale might I say!

It's always been my dream as a child to go on an adventure.

Of course, it was obvious from the start that I was never strong. I'm not a fighter, I can't pick up a sword even if my life depended on it.

But my brain took up work where my physical traits couldn't.

I was top of my class at Vincello, the richest and most prestigious school in all of the human lands!

And my major? The magical world.

I've studied beasts of all kinds. From unicorns to chimeras, you name it. I know almost every creature by heart.

The history of humans versus magical beings had always been my interest as well. Long forgotten magical objects, treasures, battles, everything! I've even studied deeply about the Dark Empire itself, well, as much as the ancient libraries and authorities offered.

Turns out, there's not enough public information about the Dark Empire. In fact, the Dark Empire has it's own name!

The Zedan Empire, lead by their emperor, Dormaris of the Fae.

Do you want to know what a fae is?

Faeries are a cruel species that are known for their trickery and lies. But in this world, they hold the most magical power. Well, aside from dragons of course. But dragons are very very very VERY rare. In fact, there's ever only been one sighting of a dragon in the human territory within the last century.

If I remember correctly, and I'm always right, it was in a forest near a small kingdom about I'd say, thirteen years ago. Yeah, pretty recently. But that was the first dragon is, well, forever. Of course, obviously, it ended in death.

Plus, according to my studies, faeries are actually ugly monsters. But I don't believe that to be honest.

As a top scholar, I've come to learn that a lot of humans are biased in their works talking about the Zedan Empire. Like for example, I've read a chapter about trolls. But it wasn't at all helpful, the author only discussed how trolls were ugly creatures.

I wanted to know more about trolls, like how their diets, habits, and culture! Trolls were beings of mind and emotions! They must have traditions of their own!

Oh! And just imagine! The Zedan Empire must be full of unknown studied cultures! Heck, there might be undiscovered species living in the empire's lands.

The only reason why humans know of creatures of magical descent, like hydras, nymphs, and so much more, is because of the empire's attacks on humans. That I know to be true.

The Zedan Empire hates humans, and they've sent magical creatures to our lands to rid of the humans.

It's terrifying. But so fricking cool!

I want to know more about the magical world!

Wait- where was I again?

In my own head, getting off-topic, as per usual. Okay okay, back to the main story at hand. And that would be... Oh yes! The Quest of Death!

Anyway, yes, the Quest of Death would be an obvious way for me to discover more about the world magic.

But every person who went on the quest rejected me coming with them. It's most definitely because I'm a scholar, not a knight. Just because I can't fight, they think I'm of no use! But I have my knowledge!

In fact, I'm sure most of the questers have died because they didn't do their homework beforehand. They probably didn't know the weaknesses of the creatures sent by the Emperor to kill them.

Eventually, I gave up begging.

It was no use, they would just die and a new desperate man would come up and take the quest. Then they would die and the cycle would repeat.

So I didn't care at all when I heard about the new guy coming in to take the quest. Just another prince wanting to stay a royal, nothing new.

I was in the library when I heard something about the prince that did interest me. The library was always my go-to spot, I've read every book in there three times. And every time I find something new that I had overlooked before.

I even remember what book I was reading at the time, Yvelt's Guide to the Dark Beasts Vol. 7.

There were other students, wasting their time gossiping about the new prince.

"He's cute, I heard. With pretty green eyes, green eyes are so rare!"

There was a snark, "Pfft, my king has green eyes!"

"But he's like, old. Plus, I'm pretty sure he was just a lucky shot. This prince came from a long line of green-eyed folks." There was an excited giggle.

Usually, I would be ignoring chatter like this, but they were talking really loud. I almost wanted to turn around and yell at them for being so loud in a library. But I hate confrontation even more...

"Prince Adrian of Tavern, he's such a cutie!"

"Ugh, but he's been rejected by like, twenty girls."

Prince Adrian of Tavern?

Huh, where have I heard Tavern from?

Tavern... Tavern... The Kingdom of Tavern... Oh!

Of course! Tavern! The small kingdom! The Lions of Tavern!

I remember I had jumped up with excitement, my toes were tingling from it. I must've had the widest grin on my face.

I had gathered my things and rushed to my room, immediately going to pack my belongings.

The Kingdom of Tavern, it was where the last ever sighted dragon was. Well, technically it was in a forest close to Tavern. But nevertheless, it was on Tavern property.

There wasn't at all any good information on dragons, just the outdated stuff.

Prince Adrian had to have known about the dragon!

And he's going on the quest!

Kill two birds with one stone they say.

I'm going on this journey to learn more about the magical world and about dragons.