My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 54
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 54
"Lancer! Eat this! You won't be able to eat this anymore after you go to the north!"
"Meat, eat meat! My poor son, we'll have you put on a lot of weight to stand the bitter cold of the north…!"
The large dining table in the centre of the room was laid out with all kinds of food.
At the head of the table sat Lancer, and on both sides were the Duke and Duchess of Soli feeding him.
"I'm not hungry." Lancer looks at them with a distant expression.
Duchess Soli nags him, "Eat up! Lancer, it's so cold in the north that it can't be compared to here in the capital! The imperial family won't give you any accommodation when you're banished… go eat now!"
Lancer doesn't seem to understand his mother. "If I'm cold, I can use magic to make a fire."
Duchess Soli sighs. "Are you going to keep the fire going with your magic even when you're asleep? What if the fire spreads nearby and starts a big fire?"
"Then I'll just have to summon a gentle fire elemental, won't I?"
"Yes, Lancer. Let's say we do what you say to take care of the cold." Duke Soli, who had been listening to Lancer, interrupts him. "But meat like this is rare in the north, and I could bribe the Northern Grand Duke… no, I'll request him so that you don't starve. When you go to the north, you won't be able to eat such nutritious food again. Eat it now while you have the chance."
"Then I'll come back here from the north every mealtime."
"Come back?" Duke Soli's eyes widened.
Lancer shrugs like it's obvious. "With my teleportation magic, I can come back from the north in three seconds."
Uh… can anyone explain to him what banishment is?
As I listen to their conversation, I become dumbfounded. Does Lancer even realise what he's getting himself into?
Just then, his eyes met mine.
"Skyla!" Lancer jerks to his feet when he spots me. Phoebe stands beside me, pulling out a pocket watch from her pocket.
"The ten-minute countdown starts now."
'Nine minutes 59 seconds, nine minutes 58 seconds, nine minutes 57 seconds…."
I click my tongue sharply like a knife at her mind counting down. I could feel how impatient she was to leave.
"Skyla, are you okay?" Lancer rushes to my side and grabs both of my hands.
I reply nonchalantly, "I'm fine, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here in front of you right now."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes."
He checks me from head to toe. As if examining my condition. He stares in particular at my forehead.
"What are you looking at?"
"Does your forehead still… hurt?"
"Nope."
"Thank God." He lets go of my hands after confirming that I'm okay.
"When did you wake up? Ah, is your head okay? It must have hurt a lot from bumping into me so hard… I'm so sorry." Lancer's eyes are red as he says that. When I see him looking like he's about to cry, There's a throbbing pain in my heart.
But the back of my mind reminds me that I don't want him to know that.
So I snort lightly, as usual. "I was the one who hit you in the head, so don't say sorry to me."
"Oh… then I'm not sorry."
"Well, at least be polite and pretend you are." I click my tongue and pretend to pinch him.
"My God, Skyla. What are you doing here?"
"Are you all right?"
Duke and Duchess Solly hurry towards me. I bow politely to them.
"Long time no see, Duke, and Duchess."
"The imperial palace said they'd send a message when you woke up, but how did you get here before them…?" As he mutters, Duke Soli gulps. "Ah! Skyla, you didn't come here straight from the palace, did you?"
"I did."
Upon hearing my answer, he seems puzzled. Wondering why I came here first instead of the Kaerun Duchy, where my parents were waiting for me to wake up.
In the meantime, Phoebe continued to count the time.
'Six minutes. 22 seconds, 21 seconds, 20 seconds….'
"I spoke with the Crown Prince about Lancer's punishment." Not to be outdone by her meticulous sense of time, I quickly admit my reason for being here.
"I heard roughly of the situation shortly after I woke up. Lancer will be banished to the north for breaking the palace walls, right?"
"Yes, you are right." The Duke and Duchess nod, their faces dark.
"I persuaded His Highness the Crown Prince," I add hastily. Hopefully, those words will ease their worries a little.
"I told him that while it was true that Lancer caused a great deal of damage, banishing him to the north would be too much of a punishment, and His Highness agreed to some extent."
"And what did the Crown Prince say?"
"Did he offer to pardon Lancer's banishment?"
Listening to me intently, the Duke and Duchess interrupt me urgently.
I don't nod or shake my head. "The final verdict will be decided by the Emperor, but the Crown Prince has said that he would speak to His Majesty," I say, mixing facts and lies appropriately.
At this point, there was no reason to bring up that I said I would train Lancer well. The most important thing now is to convey the possibility that he might not be banished to the north.
Surely, the Duke and Duchess' faces light up at my words.
"Thank you so much, Skyla!"
"Ah, what would have happened without you here? I don't know how to repay this favour…."
"Consider it repayment for the gate I broke down before."
'Two minutes eight seconds, two minutes seven seconds, two minutes six seconds….'
"I don't know exactly how things are going to work out, but let's hope for the best."
"Yes, let's do that." Duchess Soli looks at me with tears in her eyes. Her voice is unsteady, like an icy lake beginning to crack in the spring. But it's by no means a voice filled with worry.
"Lancer."
I turn to Lancer. He's been staying silent beside me while listening to the conversation between me and the Duke and Duchess.
"Don't worry too much."
"I wasn't worried." He responds, his voice clear and without a trace of anxiety, "I would come back to the capital whenever I want to with my teleportation magic anyway. I'd come here when I miss you."
"Yeah, yeah." I pat him on the head.
It's something I would normally never do. So the moment my hand touches his hair, even I become surprised. But Lancer's not at all fazed by this unexpected behaviour, he simply smiles up at me.
"Come to think of it, I think it'd be better if I just clone myself. "
"...What?"
Two Lancers roaming in one world is a horrible idea. No matter how handsome he is, it's already overwhelming with just one of them right now.
"If I have to come to the north every time I miss you, I'll need to be in the capital at all times except when I'm sleeping. So I'll just leave a fake Lancer in the north, and have the real me be by your side nonstop-"
"Lancer, I think you should let Skyla go, she must be tired now." Duke Soli hurriedly interrupts Lancer's terrible plan.
His consideration allows me to return to the Kaerun Duchy with Phoebe. And of course, the whole conversation was completed in ten minutes.
* * *
When we returned to the Kaerun Duchy, my parents hugged me while crying. My father even said, "You must've had a hard time hitting the head with that rock-hard forehead Lancer."
My parents and I are now sitting in the parlour like a reunited long-lost family to catch up. And I realised once again that a lot went down when I was passed out.
I was told that the whole country, including the imperial capital, was in an uproar. Many had mistakenly believed that the Hebnia Kingdom raided the capital. Because of this, patriotic people rushed out of their homes with any weapon they could find, and soldiers outside of the capital flocked to the palace, causing a huge commotion.
"Fortunately, thanks to the Crown Prince's swift action, the disturbance subsided quickly without spreading into a national chaos." My mother tells me.
People wondered who or what had brought down the sturdy walls of the palace, but the imperial family remained tight-lipped about the entire incident.
I'm not sure exactly why they did that. But it's good to know that there were no rumours of Lancer doing something irreversible.
"The trial to discuss Lancer's punishment was held in secret. Apparently, the Duke of Soli did something for it." He probably didn't want anyone to know that Lancer destroyed the Imperial Palace.
"I've asked the Crown Prince to think twice about banishing Lancer to the north," I inform my parents, repeating the words I told those at Soli Duchy.
However, only this time am I adding a bit more detail.
"Of course, I didn't ask him to reconsider Lancer's punishment just for the sake of it. I asked for his release on the condition that I educate him so that he doesn't repeat his mishap."
My parents' eyes widen as wide as two gold coins. "You're going to educate Lancer? How are you going to do that?"
"I have an idea."
I drink cold water instead of the hot tea served by the maids. My throat has been sore from the last few days of passing out in bed.
"Mother, Father, do you believe me?"
With the back of my hand, I wipe the water from the corner of my mouth.
"O-Of course!"
"Y-Yeah! I believe in you!"
'I can't say I don't believe you!'
'How are you gonna do something even Lancer's father and mother couldn't do?!'
I ignore their inner thoughts.
