My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 92
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 92
With that, Lancer snaps his fingers.
"Woah." The next moment, a monotone voice comes from Phoebe, who stands behind me.
But unlike that dull single word,
‘Kaaaaaah!’
Phoebe screams on the inside.
Why is she screaming like this?
I turn his head, unable to make out her incomprehensible thoughts, and find out why.
"Hi." Lancer, who's just been in the booth below, stands behind me.
Without any warning, he used teleportation magic to come up here. It's not a surprising sight. It's a scene I see every day.
But not for the Crown Prince.
"Lord— Lord Lancer." The Crown Prince is equally surprised, if not more so. "I didn't expect you to suddenly… appear like this."
"That's because it's teleportation magic."
Who wouldn't know that?
The naïve Lancer hasn't picked up on the hidden meaning beneath the Crown Prince's words.
But I, who can hear the Crown Prince's thoughts clearly, know what he's currently thinking.
'I've known since the last time he broke through the palace walls, but I never realised he could use magic so freely that he could appear without a warning…..'
The Crown Prince is wary of Lancer's abilities.
‘I know he's skilled with magic, but I never realised it's this good. I'll have to tell the Emperor about it.’
Reading the hidden subtext in the Crown Prince's words, I turned to Lancer urgently.
"Lancer, next time, take the stairs."
"But if I use magic, I can save time."
"Saving a few seconds doesn't improve your quality of life!"
"But by saving those few seconds, I can see more of you, even if it's just for another second. With that, in a year, I can see more of you for almost six minutes."
"I'll give you those six minutes. So from now on, just walk."
The last time we fought and parted ways, Lancer and I were having an argument.
"Welcome back, Lancer."
Hubert puts a hand on Lancer's shoulder.
"...Brother?"
It seems to dawn on Lancer that his brother is here.
Ignoring the puzzlement that flashed across his face, Hubert continued. "Listen, Lancer, someone just threw a fake egg in the direction of His Highness and Princess Skyla."
"What?"
"I'm going to go down and light up the theatre and stop the play, and in the meantime, can you protect His Highness and Princess Skyla?" Hubert's complexion is solemn as he says these words. "Answer me. Can you do it in the honour of the Soli Duchy?"
At this point, Lancer seems to realise the gravity of the situation. "I can." Lancer's expression turned uncharacteristically serious.
"Then I'm counting on you."
Removing his hand from Lancer's shoulder, Hubert kneels before the Crown Prince. "I'll be right back, Your Highness."
And with that, it's just me, the Crown Prince, and Lancer in the booth.
“....”
Dead silence descends between the three of us as soon as Hubert leaves.
In contrast, the theatre is in an uproar.
Someone has recklessly thrown a fake egg around earlier, and the atmosphere is messy.
Realising this, the emcee shouts out, "Please only throw eggs towards the stage!" in an attempt to calm everyone down, but it barely worked.
The audience begins to notice each other.
"Who the hell is throwing eggs at other people?! Where are your manners!"
"Stop cowardly hiding in the dark and come out!"
The innocent audience members began to turn their heads in all directions to find out who had thrown the egg at their backs.
"Did you throw that at me?!"
"Don't blame me, I don't have any eggs to waste on you!"
The seeds of distrust had begun to trickle down through the audience.
Some people in the non-booth seats were turning their backs on the stage and gossiping amongst themselves, while others were crossing their arms and looking for the culprit.
This sucks. I sit back in my seat and stare at the scene unfolding before me.
Good thing there's an intermission scheduled after this scene.
I feel a little sorry for the theatre staff, but at least the intermission can clear up some of the confusion.
"That's a lot of noise." The Crown Prince, sitting next to me, mutters.
As he speaks, he's thinking something similar to me.
‘I suppose the theatre has suffered some damage, and I'll have to send them a donation to make it up to them later.’
Still, it's good to know that the Crown Prince isn't the kind of person who will turn his back on others to achieve his ambitions.
At least he has a conscience. I think as I steal a glance at him.
Then, as our eyes locked, the Crown Prince gave me a bright smile, and then turned to Lancer, who stands beside me.
"Lord Lancer, are you in a relationship with Lady Artberry?"
"No." The words of denial fall from Lancer's lips.
Hearing that, the Crown Prince looks at Lancer with interest, then speaks again.
"By the way, I heard that you invited Lord Artberry to the Soli Duchy alone the other day."
"That was originally intended to be a meeting between Brother Hubert and Lady Artberry, but Brother had an emergency, so I took his place."
"So something came up…." The Crown Prince smiles wryly at Lancer's reply. "Whatever the circumstances, doesn't that mean you two are on good terms now?”
"I said no," Lancer snaps back. He casts the Crown Prince an unflattering glance, seemingly disliking being asked this question.
The Crown Prince must have found it refreshing to be treated this way. "It's a random question, but your reaction is so intense."
‘I felt like you were stubborn and didn't like me when I first met you, and it's still the same now. Is it because of Kayla?’
Me? What? Lancer just doesn't like people.
I think, sneaking a glance at the Crown Prince.
'Even so, Kayla will still choose me.’
The Crown Prince's words ring in my ears.
That's true.
Of course, Ryan is the one who benefits me more in this situation. I can easily inherit the Kaerun Duchy after announcing my fake engagement to him.
"Anyway, I personally would like to see Lord Lancer interacting positively with Lady Artberry. Don't you think that's a good idea?"
"I don't think so," Lancer says.
"Haha, who knows? Sometimes the best encounters come from the most unexpected places." The Crown Prince laughs in mirth and flatters Lancer, but somehow his smile doesn't seem so gentle anymore.
‘You're in the palm of my hand, Lancer,’ he thinks, ‘and I'm going to continue to intertwine the two of you, just as I did last time.’
…What?
I narrow my eyes.
Like he did last time? You mean Ryan deliberately did something to keep Lancer and Artberry together?
Oh, God.
The day Hubert was supposed to meet with Lady Artberry….
He told me that he had to return to the palace in a hurry because of an emergency drill with the knights.
Dang it.
My eyes dart towards the Crown Prince.
Once again, our eyes lock, and he gives me a sweet smile.
Just then, the theatre lights come on, and the audience begins to scramble in panic.
The theatre staff wave their arms wildly and shout,
"This is the end of the play!"
"Please stop throwing eggs!"
Seems like Hubert explained the situation to the staff and stopped the play.
That was quick.
"I don't think there will be any more malicious people throwing eggs at me and Kayla now." The Crown Prince smirks at Lancer. "Kayla is in my care, so why don't you go and visit Lady Artberry?"
"...."
Lancer can't argue with the Crown Prince's words. Perhaps he knows he can't remain here forever.
Whatever it is, Lancer has come here to accompany Lady Artberry. He can't just leave her alone.
"...I'll see you later, Skyla," Lancer whispers to me as he walks towards the booth's door. Unlike before, he doesn't use his teleportation spell, but trudges to the stairs.
As his footsteps fade into the distance, I hear the sound of someone panting and running.
Turning, I see the culprit who caused the commotion.
"Crown—Crown Prince!" Lord Carberry breathes heavily from his haste up the stairs. He seems to have realised the seriousness of the situation and rushed over.
"Carberry." The Crown Prince smiles gently at him.
But from that smile came words that were anything but gentle.
"This time, it won't end with a letter."
Seeing the Crown Prince say such words so casually while smiling, my heart pounded.
This is the utmost power in the empire…!
Power is the best, how exhilarating!