The Prince Of Magic

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It was a tiny creature with a round form, and has a small pure white fur that covered its entire body.

In the far distance, one would be reminded of a soft, round white bun by simply looking at the small creature. It was only due to its bright blue orbs for eyes, its small mouth, the long white tail and its pair of white feathery wings that one can tell that it is a creature, despite its strange appearance.

Upon closer observation, one can find four stubby little appendages with the front of which he form little 'fingers' with, and on top of its head (?) were two furry cat-like ears.

On where its forehead would be, there was a tiny round diamond above and in between its eyes, and there are two fangs peeking at the edge of its upper lips.

This was Ryu, one of his familiars.

'Well… technically counted as a Familiar.' Hadrian corrected himself.

Ryu is a special case amongst his familiars.

What makes Ryu different is that it does not have a gender (but Hadrian likes to call Ryu a 'he' nonetheless), possess magical abilities that can put most Magi to shame, and also had an original owner before he met Hadrian.

Ryu was given to Hadrian as his twelfth birthday gift by his father, who had also received him as a gift from his deceased brother, Mathius von Aelfryth.

According to his father, Ryu is a living breathing Mystic Code that was created by his late uncle.

Thus, it did not really surprised Hadrian when he became aware of Ryu's true nature and capabilities.

Also, while Ryu's appearance was extremely cute, he is not without peculiarities of his own.

Should people carelessly stretch out their hands, Ryu would suddenly open his mouth and snap at a person with the fangs growing closely packed within.

Having said that, Ryu's personality is actually cheerful and very innocent, so whenever he does such a thing, it was not out of malice but simple curiosity.

It would be similar as to how a shark would open its mouth in curiosity and bite if there is something in front of their face.

As Ryu's owner, Hadrian had never been a victim of his quirks, along with a select few of others, including Rider in that aspect.

But, most of the people around him were not so fortunate.

He had seen a fair number of people nearly get bitten by Ryu for carelessly stretching out their hands to pet him. There were even some who did, and one of them was his friend, Flatt Escardos.

The scream that Flatt let out on that day had echoed throughout the whole building of where Lord El-Melloi II's private office was located.

It was so loud that he would not find it surprising if Flat's scream that day had woken up the dead.

Hadrian smiled at the sight of his little round familiar.

"There you are, Ryu."

Noticing his master's attention on him, Ryu let out an excitable sound and flew straight to him from Rider's shoulder.

"Kyu!"

Hadrian laughed as the round familiar hug his face with its bun-shape form, cuddling him.

"Hmm, I've been wondering where you had been. I take it that you were accompanying Rider?" He asked gently, holding Ryu in his hands with care.

"Kyuyu!" Ryu said in happiness and agreement, bouncing a little on his owner's palms.

"Ah, I see." Hadrian smiled, then glanced at Rider briefly.

Seemingly cheered up, Rider watched as the familiar and owner interact with a small smile on her lips, which widen as their gazes met for a moment.

Amused by the sight, Hadrian returned his attention to the excitable familiar.

"Good boy."

After patting Ryu's head and let him return to Rider, Hadrian looked around the room with a small frown.

"It has been a few minutes now and those five have yet to show up." Hadrian said as he looked at his gold watch (a gift from his mother).

Seeing an opportunity to be of use to his liege, Dia spoke up, gaining Hadrian's attention.

"If you wish, I can fetch them, my lord." Dia volunteered, leaning to the table to look at his liege properly.

Hadrian was about to accept his offer when he sensed five people nearby, causing him to frown in thought.

"Thank you, Dia, but I don't think you need to do that." Hadrian said with a sigh. "The troublesome five are here."

Almost immediately after he said it, the Master and the four retainers heard the sounds of footsteps and five people talking outside the dining room.

The occupants inside the room became silent as they listened into the conversation with their enhanced hearing.

"Ugh… my head…" The first male voice said lowly in a pained voice.

"You're not the only one there… Mine feels like it's about to split." A second male voice said.

"Man, that wine that Master brought out was soooo good, but the hangover is really vengeful." A third male voice, Astolfo, said loudly.

"Agreed, it tasted awesome, but the hangover ain't so awesome." A fourth male voice, Charles, said with a sigh.

"Hm, really? I feel fine compared to you guys. It's probably because you all drank too much of that wine. That wine can pack quite a punch with its hangover, especially to humans." A fifth male voice said in an easy going tone with a chuckle at the end.

"Tsk, Master is the one at fault here!" The first voice said with faux annoyance.

"Ha ha ha, true, but he ain't the one who told us to drink the wine down to its last drop, you know?" The fifth male voice reminded.

"Oh yeah! Didn't Master told us to drink it slowly? Why didn't we do that?" Astolfo asked.

"More like, why did we forget it in the first place?" Charles asked with a groan.

"That was your fault, pinky! Weren't you the one who said that whoever lost the most will have to drink until they drop?" The first male voice accused.

"Yeah, and weren't you the one who proposed the idea to drink all the alcohol and leave the divine wine for last?" The second male voice added snidely.

"Like any of you got the right to talk! I only did that to make the game interesting. It's supposed to be a party, not a boring one!" Astolfo reasoned loudly.

"Well... it happened anyways, so there's really no point in arguing about this." The second said wearily.

"In agreement to that!" The fifth said in a cheerful voice.

"Yes, there's something more important to address at hand…" Charles started.

"Which is?" Three people asked in unison.

"Astolfo!" Charles shouted suddenly.

"What's up?" Astolfo asked, sounding unperturbed as he seems cheerful as always.

"Don't you 'what's up' me! You are one of the Holy Paladins, so why are you wearing those girly clothes again! Daddy is so disappointed in you, I could cry!" Charles scolded.

"You're not my dad! Besides, I have a super-good reason for dressing up like a girl!" Astolfo retorted.

…

Inside the dining room, Hadrian heard Arturia made an idle comment.

"Those two are… intense, as always." She muttered unsurely.

…

"Argh! Shut up you two! Your shouting is making my headache feel worse." The first voice complained.

"Uh, guys, I think we have a more serious problem in our hands." The second began, nervous.

"And what is that now?" The first asked, disgruntled.

"It's Master. I think he was the one who cleaned up our mess last night. We just passed by the lounge and not a speck of dust or mess are in there." The second answered, apprehensive.

"Uuhh… now that you mentioned it, the broken stuff looks brand new too." Charles said, dread clear in his voice.

"Hmm, I also remembered Master bringing each of us back in our rooms." The fifth added, sounding thoughtful.

"… Are we in trouble? Cause I feel like we're about to be." Astolfo asked with a bit of nervous laughter.

"Okaaaay, guys! I'm gonna go last, you four can take the first step into that room. I'm fine being the last one to enter." Charles announced brightly.

"Huh?!" Astolfo shouted, sounding betrayed.

"What?!" The second asked in shock.

"Oi!" The first yelled indignantly.

"Whaddya mean 'what?' I already felt the full brunt of Master's glare yesterday, which ain't awesome, by the way! Now it's your turn, you bastards!" Charles retorted, also indignant.

"This is revenge from yesterday, isn't it?!" The first voice shouted.

"He he he, payback is awesome!" Charles ended with a weird laugh.

If Hadrian can see him now, he knew that the black and white haired retainer would be wearing a cheeky grin.

"Umm, I don't think I want to deal with that right now. Master's glare is scary. I mean, he's beautiful and alluring to look at, but really terrifying." Astolfo commented.

"… I don't know what's in that empty head of yours, pinky, but yes, Master's glare is terrifying." The second agreed in a deadpan tone.

"Ano, should we really be having this conversation right now?" The fifth male voice asked unsurely.

But, he was ignored as the others talked over him in favor to the subject of their conversation: their Master.

"True, true. Master's glare is quite something to behold, especially up close and personal. I thought I was going to piss myself yesterday when he glared at me." Charles agreed sagely.

"Yeah, and when Master does that thing where his eyes change color and squint them like this." Astolfo added cheerfully.

It did not took a genius to guess that the pink haired servant was demonstrating what he said just now outside the room.

As for the subject of their gossip, the four retainers inside stared at Hadrian, who suddenly went quiet as they listened to the five troublemakers outside talk about him without any filter.

Through the Servant and Master bond, the four can tell that Hadrian was irritated, despite his calm and stoic façade.

What they did not know was that Hadrian is irritated because the five were making the food he ordered go cold the longer they are outside, not because they were gossiping about him.

Their attention however, was forced to return to the five troublemakers as their talk seemed to have taken a different turn.

"Still, I bet the girls would love to see that anyways." The first voice commented offhandedly with a grunt.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Charles asked curiously.

"Oh, I know what he's talking about!" Astolfo said in excitement, sounding giddy by the turn of their gossip.

"Ah, c'mon, Charles, I'm sure even you wouldn't be that obtuse. Those girls are thirsty for —"

* Whoosh *

In three milliseconds, five crimson spears with thorn-like designs suddenly appeared three feet above Scáthach's head, and shot itself like strong arrows in the air to the one spot (near the dining room's entrance) that she was glaring at with her narrowed crimson eyes.

Idly, Hadrian took note that her gaze seemed to have went pass below the waist of an average person.

One after another, Hadrian watched in curiosity as the spears zoomed pass and buried themselves into the wall so deep that half of its length was on the other side. The sounds of the spears piercing the wall worked in tandem like rapid noises made from a loud instrument.

As he expected, shouts of surprise and shock came from the other side of the room as soon as the spears had pierced through.

Hadrian figured that someone probably fell down as well, based on the sounds he heard and sensed.

"Uwah!" The first voice and Charles cried out in unison.

Although, the fear and shock in Charles's voice was more clear to be heard.

"What in the hell?!" The second cursed in bewilderment.

"Whoa!" Astolfo said in surprise.

Then, a second later…

"Ha ha ha!" The fifth male voice laughed. "Honestly, I kind of saw that coming."

Footsteps were soon heard, then someone pulled a spear from the other side and a bright amber eye was seen peeking through the hole.

Said owner of the amber eye landed on a smug-looking Scáthach, who met his gaze confidently.

"Hey! Crazy woman, watch it!" The first voice shouted. "You almost killed some of us in the most horrible way possible, you know!"

"Well, it's quite rude to gossip behind someone's back, you know." Scáthach returned calmly, smiling with obvious satisfaction.

"I would have prefer if you used the real thing." Rider commented, looking nonchalant as she leaned back in the chair. "Better to lessen the bad influences around Master that way."

"Hmm, perhaps next time, I will." Scáthach hummed thoughtfully.

"You bitches, I heard that!" The person behind the wall yelled out in anger.

"Stop peeking through that wall like a weirdo and just get in here already." Hadrian cut in, looking a bit annoyed.

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—X—X—X—

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After an hour of eating breakfast and cleaning the dishes, they all adjourned to the lounge where Hadrian intends to discuss the plan for the day.

Like in every other room of the penthouse, the lounge area was also lavishly furnished.

Blue and white walls, a blue velvet carpet covered the white marbled floor, a U shaped sectional black sofa in the center and a black tuxedo couch at the middle of the gap, a flat screen 50' inches TV placed by the wall, and a glass coffee table in the center of the seats. Hanging directly above the coffee table was a small chandelier, and art paintings hung on a few walls.

With Hadrian sitting alone on the tuxedo couch, the others took their seats on the sectional sofa.

Dia was standing on Hadrian's left side, while Charles, who is dressed in his usual suit, stood on his right. Both the male knights in question were smiling as they stood on either of his sides, as per their usual habit.

On the right side of the couch, there was Scáthach, Rider, and Arturia, who sat the closest to Hadrian.

On the left was Astolfo and his three retainers that had joined him on this case.

The one seated next to Astolfo's left is a man in his early twenties, who goes by the name of Arash.

He has a short black hair and dark brown eyes. He is 6 feet tall, has a light brown skin, and a muscular physique fit for combat.

He was dressed in a cyan hoodie with the zipper opened, a black V-neck T-shirt, black jeans, and brown shoes. His features bears similarities to people with West Asian descent.

What stood about him the most were his dark brown eyes that radiated lively energy and positivity.

Next to him is another man in his early twenties and is of Chinese descent, whose name is Yan Qing.

Unlike Arash, Yan has a lighter skin tone, a lean but muscular physique, and is 5'6 feet tall, which makes him a bit taller than Hadrian.

He has a long black hair that was tied into a low ponytail and extends pass his waist, and a pair of light yellow eyes. He has a young and comely features, and has a lot of colored tattoos that can be seen all across his upper body and arms.

But, due to his clothes covering them, most of the tattoos remain hidden from plain sight.

Also, unlike his fellow retainers, Yan has foregone with the suit and settled for a set of custom clothing instead.

He is wearing a white classic shirt with a mandarin collar and long sleeves that was folded neatly up to his elbows halfway, a long Chinese tang jacket made of black linen, black tai chi pants and a pair of black tai chi shoes. On his left wrist was red braided band, and there is another of similar design around his neck, but is a necklace instead.

And sitting at the end of their side was a young man of similar height with Yan Qing, but younger in terms of appearance.

He has a short dark brown hair, and dark amber eyes. He has a lean yet muscular built, and a somewhat comely features.

Like Charles and Dia, he is wearing an all-black suit, but less prim in appearance. His black tie was inside the coat's right b.r.e.a.s.t pocket, his blazer was opened, the top three buttons of his shirt was left unbuttoned, and the sleeves of his blazer and shirt was up to his elbows.

Also, there is a red handkerchief wrapped around his right wrist as accessory.

Overall, he looks like a young delinquent still in high school.

The way he sat lazily, leaning against the arm of the couch, and the boredom in his amber colored eyes was clear for everyone to see.

This was Kieran, one of his retainers with a unique case in his group, and the third servant Hadrian made a contract with.

Unlike the rest of his Servants, he did not have a true name, so Hadrian gave him a new one instead, which is 'Kieran'.

Also, Hadrian did not summoned him via the Moon Cell.

Instead, he found him by chance when he was investigating a certain past incident, and had even considered killing him the first time they met after he discovered Kieran's true identity.

One thing led to another, and Hadrian had decided to give him a place among his retainers.

His decision was questioned by nearly everyone, even his grandfather had asked him to reconsider as they deemed Kieran to be a threat due to his past, but Hadrian has no intention of changing his mind.

What he did promised to them was that he will be the one to 'take care' of Kieran should it ever comes down to that.

But, in all honesty, Hadrian felt no motivation to follow through that promise after being around Kieran these past several months.

Hadrian and Kieran had a private conversation before, in which Hadrian realized what exactly Kieran wants in his life.

'To live freely…' was what Kieran told him before.

Knowing of his past, Hadrian knew that Kieran was telling the truth, and he did not need the Moon Cell to confirm it.

However, his grandfather's warning about rogue servant was also true, and Hadrian cannot take that risk, despite the chances of it happening were slim.

The rogue servant might not have a d.e.s.i.r.e to wreak havoc upon the world, but it doesn't mean that there won't be others who will try to use him for their own gain.

Thus, Hadrian offered him a place in his group.

Of course, Kieran was wary of him at first, but after Hadrian explained his intention and the benefits of being his retainer, he accepted his offer in the end.

It helped that Hadrian assisted him with his issues and made a promise to let Kieran do as he please as long he behaves while under his employment.

Since then, Kieran had been on Hadrian's side, though their bond is more akin to close brothers than a Master and Servant most of the time.

'Speaking of which…' Hadrian thought as he looked at Kieran.

While the retainer looked relaxed and lazy as he sat on the other end of the couch, Kieran would send a glare at Rider and Scáthach every now and then, which was quite telling that he had yet to forgive nor forget what the two had said and done earlier.

For their part, Rider and Scáthach appeared amused and uncaring of his glares, ignoring him even as they turned their attention to Hadrian instead.

As for Kieran and the four who arrived late, Hadrian had intended to punish them before, but he figured what they had experienced outside the dining room was enough.

Based on what the five were saying, the sharp tips of the spears had almost skewered them below the belt, which nearly grazed their private parts in the process.

Thus, Hadrian can't really blame them for feeling annoyed by Scáthach's 'fatal attack'.

It was only thanks to the sturdy wall that the spears had lost its momentum by the time they had pierced through. Also, Hadrian had a feeling Scáthach might have held back in shooting the spears via levitation magic.

Getting skewered via below the belt was a bit too much even in Hadrian's opinion.

In all honesty, he was only glad that Scáthach used non-cursed spears instead of the real Gae Bolg.

Else, Hadrian would have lost five retainers in one day because of an irritated Divine Spirit, who also happens to be his retainer.

With a huff, Hadrian began the discussion.

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