My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 91
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 91
"OUCH!"
I scream like someone who's been standing up after sitting on the toilet for too long, flailing about with all my might.
I'm sure I look like a squid that got fished out of the water, but I give it my best shot.
"My shoulder, my shoulder!" I shout at the top of my lungs.
Then the Crown Prince starts acting like he's been waiting for it.
"Kayla, what happened, did you get hit by an egg?" His tone sounds fake, but it's not bad.
I begin to act accordingly. "Oh, Crown Prince, stay away from me, it's dangerous!" I exclaim, sprawling voluntarily on the floor.
"My lady? My lady, what is it?"
"His Highness! Skyla, what's wrong?!"
Hearing the commotion, Phoebe and Hubert rush over at the same time.
"Phoebe, I'm so scared!" I cry into her arms. "Someone has thrown a fake egg at me! It must've been aiming for my spine!"
"What, who would dare?!"
‘How dare you aim for my lady's cerebral spine! I haven't even touched it yet!’
Phoebe's eyes widen as she scans the surroundings. She looks as if she will seize the egg-thrower at any moment and hang it upside down from a tree.
"Crown Prince, are you unharmed?"
Seeing that I'm okay, Hubert hurries to the Crown Prince's side.
"It looks like someone took advantage of the darkness to throw a fake egg in our direction, how terrible," As he speaks, the Crown Prince deliberately shows his anger.
Yet he's the one who bribed those cowardly servants….
"Perhaps someone is doing this out of spite, seeing that you happen to be in this theatre, Ryan, I suggest you duck to avoid being hit by eggs—"
"My lady!" Phoebe cries out.
I jerk my head up reflexively and see a fake egg flying towards me.
Not again!
I freeze.
"Skyla!" Hubert shouts, blocking the Crown Prince's path and waving his arms in front of him at the same time.
Then an unbelievable scene unfolds before my eyes. The sword in his hand slices through the air, striking down the egg with precision.
I say "slice" because the sword cut through the egg and descended in a straight line.
Poof.
The fake egg lands at my feet snapped in half.
Huh?
The cotton… is split by a sword?
To be honest, it might not sound too cool to slice through cotton wool with a sword.
But what I see is a little different.
Hubert's sword sliced the glass bead in the wad of cotton exactly in half.
He did it so thoroughly that not a single shard of glass was visible.
"...."
I'll have to bribe Hubert with a bundle of money and bring him to the Kaerun Duchy.
"They keep coming, and it's still dark, so I don't know who's doing this evil deed," Hubert turns to the Crown Prince and says in a firm voice. "I will go downstairs at once and demand that the theatre company stop the show and turn on all the lights."
"Hubert, who will escort us when you go down?"
"That would be…." At the Crown Prince's point, Hubert is momentarily at a loss for words, for he remembers that the man who's supposed to escort him, Lord Carberry, is away.
'That d*mned Carberry.'
Hubert cusses in his mind in an ugly language (to be fair, it's a milder version of the word "bastard").
I can understand his feelings all too well. After all, the only thing more terrifying in this world than an incompetent enemy is an incompetent ally.
Mulling over that quote, I glance at the Crown Prince.
How is he going to handle this?
The Crown Prince's purpose today is to obtain evidence of Carberry's neglect of duty. And right now, the mere fact that he was absent had served that purpose.
The people who threw the fake egg at us from afar must have sensed this.
The Crown Prince ponders on his next move when,
"Your Highness," Hubert speaks first. "I am wary of saying this as your escort knight, but…. there is my brother, Lancer, in this theatre."
Huh?
I stare at him, wide-eyed.
Why is Lancer's name mentioned here?
The Crown Prince is equally puzzled. "What does Lancer have to do with anything?
"My brother may lack common sense and be slow to grasp the situation, but he's not that incompetent."
When you say it like that, he doesn't sound very credible at all.
"I'll pass the word to the theatre staff to take action, so perhaps my brother can escort His Highness for a while while I go down, is that all right?"
The sound of eggs still falling on the stage can be heard sporadically. The theatre is still noisy from the audience, who are still busy throwing fake eggs at the villains.
It's like a marketplace.
The theatre management seemed to be oblivious to the fact that someone had thrown a fake egg in the direction of the Crown Prince and continued with the performance.
I, of course, knew that the whole thing was a play orchestrated by the Crown Prince. But others, including Hubert, did not.
So now Hubert has to find the culprit who threw the fake egg.
Do you really have to call Lancer?
Something stings within me.
I just had a nasty fight with Lancer, I don't think I want to be forced to see him face to face.
Please, no! I'm not ready for this!
And to top it all off,
I don't want to be seen with Ryan together like this!
This is what bothered me the most.
I secretly hope that the Crown Prince will say no to Hubert's request. No, he must say no.
After the events of the last Imperial Ball, Lancer would have been a thorn in his side in more ways than one. So the Crown Prince shouldn't have to drag Lancer into this scam—
"Good idea, let's do it."
Why?! How is that a good idea, Your Highness the Crown Prince?!
I shoot a glare of resentment at the Crown Prince. But he has calculated in his head.
‘It wouldn't be bad to create a situation where I had to use an outsider in a hurry because Carberry didn't escort me properly, and Lancer could be a witness later.’
What an improvisational man he is, thinking on his feet in the meantime to turn this situation to his advantage.
"I will call for Lancer at once." As he nods and says that, Hubert glances at me.
What the hell, why is he looking at me.
As I stare back nervously, he whispers to me, "Skyla, I need you to call Lancer."
“What…?”
"He never comes if I call him."
He's correct, which makes it even sadder.
I'm going to have to face Lancer after all….
I stand up from my seat and grab the railing of the booth.
Just as I turn to look for Lancer in the dim lighting, I lock eyes with someone.
Golden hair that spills a subtle glow even in the lack of light. Clear eyes that shine even in the darkness.
Lancer.
He's sitting in his seat, staring at me.
When our gazes meet, he slowly raises one arm and waves at me.
He doesn't look away, nor does he look surprised to see me.
It's as if he's been waiting for me all along.
…Huh.
My head spins.
Why is he smiling at me?
"Lancer...." I think I mumble pretty low, but Lancer must have heard me.
"What's going on?" He shouts, taking a step towards where I'm standing.
My heart sinks.
Could Lancer really hear my faint voice in a theatre filled with so many people?
Is this magic?
I get lost in my thoughts.
"Princess Skyla!" Artberry, who's been standing by Lancer's side, engrossed in an egg toss, exclaims happily when she spots me.
She seemed to have no idea as to what was going on where I was standing.
"Thank you for the eggs, I'm putting them to good use now!" She shouts in the noisy theatre.
"...."
I can't even respond to her thanks. All my attention is on Lancer now.
When I see him smiling gently at me, my tension melts away.
The fact that we had a big argument a few days ago and built a wall seemed like a distant memory.
It seemed so long ago that it could have been written down in a history book, and I would mumble something like, "Oh, so that happened," and turn to the next page.
So I decided to be a little brave.
"Lancer," I mutter. "Come up here."
And then a smile breaks across Lancer's face.
"As you wish.”
