Chapter 58

58 The Plan

Justice was having a bad day, his head throbbed, and not to mention he need to lie to a certain someone. The fact that the four of them stayed as far away as they could from Anne was just a concoction of a lie. A lie to protect her from the vicious people, the surrounding bully.

“We need to make sure that we never have a direct interaction with her for the time being, especially when Henry and I are in Gaftan.” Said, Vale.

Xavier raises his hand, his face says it all, he doesn’t like the idea of having to stay away from Anne, “No, I can’t do it, I need to at least be with her, you need to make an exception for me.”

The other three share a glance at each other. They know Xavier has an obsession, an obsession with everything that he cares for. An unhealthy obsession that is sometimes unsettling. Sometimes it was for animals, or maybe one of them, but this is the first time in the twenty-three years of his life he got an obsession with a girl. A certain purple hair girl, with a beautiful smile and a temper to match.

Justice leaned on the sofa, his red eyes focusing on Xavier, “What do you want us to do? All of us become the j*rks at her and you came in as the savior?! No, Xave, all of us will do this.” Justice’s face remain the same, but his red eyes of his were glaring at Xavier, demanding a subjugation that fits the authority of a crown prince.

Looking at the red eyes, Xavier know, he could never win this argument, he mumbled a few words and prefer to lean on the window. Vale and Henry took a deep breath. At least the crisis was averted for now. Vale begins to speak about his plan thoroughly.

“Tomorrow is the second exam, right? Justice, you need to be there, supporting her from behind.”

Disbelief came into his face. “Are you sure about this? I mean, most of the exam administrators recognized me as Anne’s savior back then.”

“Exactly! You’re the only one who can do this because they’ve already known you as the savior of Anne from the first exam.” Vale enthusiastically said to Justice, his eyes glinting, and a grin came to his face, a rare trade coming from brooding magi, “You need to make sure, they accepted Anne’s low-level magica, and press them to keep your identity as Anne’s savior a secret.”

.....

“I think you make a mistake here, Vale. Anne doesn’t have any magica, like, at all.” Muttered Henry, the captain knight was leaning on the door frame, going to observe the other three from afar.

“No, she has some now.” Whispered Vale. He tried to avoid his three friends’ gazes at him.

Xavier stands up from the ledge of the window. He got closer to Vale demanding and answered, “Vale, what did you do?!”

With an awkward smile, Vale has a confession to his friends, “I... I may be gifted Anne, my elderwood bangle.”

The looks on Justice, Xavier, and Henry were priceless. They went up and surrounded Vale in a short amount of time. Justice just sat beside him in disbelief at his looks.

“You what?! How can you do this, Vale?!” The enraged Xavier was practically standing in front of Vale and giving him a little private space.

“Unbelievable! You gave her your one and the only elderwood bangle, the token of a soulmate for a magi?!” Said Henry while he massaging his temple. His eyes were ringing endlessly after Vale’s confession.

“Wait! I can explain, please hear me out!” Said Vale, panicking at the amount of pressure that his three friends were giving him.

The most level-headed in the group right now, Justice the crown prince, tells the others to be quiet. He wanted to hear the excuses conjured by the captain magi himself.

“Thank you, Justice,” said Vale, sincerely to Justice, he continued to explain everything, “I did it for her you know, elderwood bangle is not only for decoration, it’s also a source of sharing magica to each other, in a short term, she can give me her magica and I also could give him, my magica.”

“What happened when you give her your magica?” Asked Justice. He seems curious about the elderwood bangle.

“Nothing will happen to her body physically, only that she will have a small amount of magica that she can use. I need to see her before I go, though, need to recharge it for tomorrow.”

Unexpectedly, Henry was laughing out loud after hearing Vale’s confession about the elderwood bangle. “What a sly man you’re. Now you have your excuse to meet her since you need to recharge the magica inside the bangle.”

“F*ck! You’re right Henry, why didn’t I think about that? What a cheeky b*stard.” Xavier said to Vale, his anger already vanished from the earlier mishap.

Justice, on the other hand, was losing his own thought. He remembered something. Back then, when Anne helped him fight the Bog Yeti, a certain dagger appears in her hand. The crystal dagger only shapeshifts when there’s a magica involved. “So that’s why...” muttered justice, a smile blooming on his face, remembering how brave Anne was back then.

Henry turns around to see Justice. He tilted his face and asked him, “What? Did you want to say something, Justice?”

He takes a closer look at Henry’s face. Horden had already told him about Henry’s infatuation with a woman. It’s not the same as Xavier’s obsession, but him being thinking that he was in love with Anne makes him vulnerable in his time for this crucial mission. Justice decided it was best to keep a secret about the crystal dagger from Henry for now.

“Nothing, just...” Sad Justice, smiling at Henry, then voicing his opinion so Henry doesn’t pry anymore, “Anyway, I just wanted to say that it will be a tremendous help for Anne tomorrow at the second exam.”

“It will only be from the range of five percent, though.” Vale reminded Justice about the magica transferred.

“Five percent is better than zero, five percent I could make an excuse for her, there’s a record about someone having a four percent magica, but zero percent...”

Vale and Henry nodded their head. They agreed with Justice’s statement, “Yes, she will become another center of attention if it’s a zero percent magica.”

Xavier yawned, and stretches out his huge body, “So, I guess it’s settled then, Justice, better for us not to talk about this regularly.”

“Agreed, let’s go, Gaftan needs the two of you.” Justice took his coat and step outside of Vale’s door. He then turn his head and said, “Be safe, alright?”

Vale and Henry chuckles and answered the crown prince, “Always.”

Back in the recent event, at the main hospital, Justice and the other examiners were sitting in the private lounge area for the high-ranking officers. Chief Hale looked at him curiously. It occurred to Justice that the rumor about him being the savior was contained to a handful of people only. Chief Carla is one of them. She looks at Justice with a resentment that he can’t even describe. He never knew what kind of fault he had done to deserve any resentment from one of the main hospital chiefs.

“So, your majesty, I’m kind of surprised that you actually coming here today to observe the exam.” Asked Chef Hale. He was friendly to Justice, knowing a lot about his father, Leon.

“Yes, chief Hale, you may say so.” Said Justice, with a calm demeanor. One of his traits is to appear as calm as possible in any situation.

Chief Carla take her cup and spoke to the crown prince, “Or maybe, to observe only one girl that has just finished her second exam, right, your majesty?” sipping her Caftea, she looks at Justice, wanting to see his reaction.

Remained undeterred, Justice sips his caftea, put the cup back, and said, “Yes, you’re absolutely right. I came here to observe the last girl on the second exam, River Anne, was it?”

Chief Carla scoffed at the crown prince. She didn’t believe him at all. It was obvious to the chief how much Justice cared about the safety of River Anne. His gaze when Anne was carried to the infirmary it wasn’t your typical curiosity, but rather a concern that he tried to hide from the others. He deeply cared about the purple hair girl.

“So, you came here to assist her? Wait, are you her sponsored? Cause I know she is a silver pass recipient.” Asked Chief Hale to Justice. He was actually in his own way, very curious about Anne himself. Her skill was beyond anything that he could hope for from an exam participant.

“Yes, I am her sponsor. I... have some duty in her village back then, when she and her parents save my friend’s lives.” Justice sincerely tells his story to chief Hale, as for he knows this is good bait for the chiefs to have more sympathy for Anne, “I do realize she doesn’t have much magica, but her skill and knowledge is something that you can’t...”

“I’m afraid I need to stop you there, your majesty.” said chief Carla, suddenly, “As for now, River Anne might be failed on her second exam evaluation.”

Justice’s calm demeanor shifted. His red ruby eyes stared at chief Carla, challenging her directly because he doesn’t like what he had just heard from the chief’s mouth, herself.