The Prince Of Magic

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Bright green-blue eyes with long lashes slowly opened, he blinked and breathed out deeply through his nose as he tried to clear his mind from his sleep.

Sleepily, he noticed that there was someone calling out to him from his left, causing him to turn his blurred gaze over in that direction to see who it was.

The figure was familiar. The voice, even more so. He knows this person.

"Master?" A deep male voice said, rendering more him awake than before. "Master, please wake up."

The voice was different from the one that he heard from his dreams. Unlike the one from before, this voice was calm, relaxed and collected. Also, it was a familiar voice of someone close to him.

Suppressing the urge to yawn out loud, Hadrian Mathius von Schweinorg stretched lightly from his seated position on the chair, shaking the tiredness out of his body.

With a sigh, Hadrian rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand as he leaned off of the window sill that was present next to his seat.

He just noticed that he had leaning against the window sill with his right hand supporting his head as he slept earlier.

Perhaps, that was why his neck felt a bit stiff, due to his strange position while he was asleep.

Also, he noticed that he was actually inside an aircraft vehicle. The luxurious interior and spacious room indicates that it was a private plane.

'Ah yes, the jet plane...' Hadrian mused, recalling the memories of boarding the vehicle. 'How can I forget? We got in hours ago, and on our way to North America now. Then, I took a nap.'

Turning to the left, he then saw the person who had awoken him from his short rest.

It was a young man with black and white hair that framed the sides of his comely face, pale skin, and blue eyes. With the height of 5"9, he has a lean and well-built physique that indicates of his healthy condition and fitful form that was suited in combat.

He was attired in a black formal suit that consists of a black blazer with the lapels of the jacket in white, a white long-sleeve dress shirt with a velvet blue tie that was placed neatly around his neck, black pants and formal shoes made in black, glossy leather.

It was Charles, one of his retainer/bodyguards and, more importantly, one of his loyal friends.

With a quick look around him, he also saw his other retainers seated in their respective seats, but turned their heads to him when they felt his gaze upon them.

In return, he received various looks from each of them; some smiled at him, some of them wave to him (one did it in a cheerful way), and some looked at him in concern.

He sent them all a single wave of his hand and a somewhat tired smile, silently reassuring them that he was fine and no need to be concerned about him.

Once they all returned to their own respective businesses, Hadrian looked at Charles in curiosity, eyebrows slightly raised as if to ask him why he was woken up.

Charles smiled, then gestured towards the small window beside him.

"Look, Master, we've arrived."

Leaning closer, Hadrian looked out the window in curiosity and saw the visual of their destination was in sight, which was one of the international airports of Vancouver Island, Canada.

"Well..." He began, expression calm and unreadable as he watched (and feel) the private plane start to make its slow descent. "We're here now."

Used to his liege's seemingly nonchalant behavior, Charles continued to smile and leaned back in his seat, which was a stark contrast to the expressionless facade that Hadrian had adopted.

"Yup." He chirped, taking his liege by surprise for a moment.

Looking at his happy-go-lucky retainer, Hadrian gave him a strange look, as if not knowing what to make of him, especially of what was about to happen in the coming days during their stay here.

Exhaling through his nose, the young heir to the Schweinorg house simply dropped the matter as he too leaned back into his seat.

Even though they had only spent several months around each other, Hadrian knew of his friend's personality the most.

Therefore, he was quite used to him being happy all the time, and was already desensitize to things that were his friend's habits by now. He would not even blink if Charles allowed a certain someone to run around n.a.k.e.d in the plane, regardless of who were in the room.

Just as he was about to meditate and ignore his ever exuberant companion, Charles interrupted him with a question.

"By the way, my lord..." He began, continuing after he was sure that Hadrian was facing him. "What were you dreaming about?"

With one brow raised, Hadrian answered the question with another of his own.

"What makes you think I was dreaming something?" He asked in retort, lacking any heat in his tone.

Unexpectedly, Charles seemed to be prepared for it as he began his usual trend of eccentricity.

"Well, you twitched in your sleep. You made some sounds once in a while too."

He looked to the roof of the plane as if in thought, one finger tapping against his beardless chin before turning back to his liege, who was looking at him with a twitching eyebrow.

Hadrian remained calm and expressionless. But, the twitch of his eyebrow was a dead give away of what he was actually feeling inside for he knew what was about to come.

Charles actually had the gall to smile at him as he began making weird gestures that he 'saw' his liege had made during in his sleep.

"Then, you were doing this..."

'And here comes the teasing...' Hadrian grunted in his mind.

Charles's comely face distorted uglily, making him look quite silly. It reminded him of those famous memes Hadrian had been seeing around the internet.

The cyan eyed Magus, on the other hand, was not so impressed.

Hadrian wondered how many women (that saw and likes Charles) would cry out in injustice to the world for distorting his face in such a manner, and so carelessly at that.

His friend has got quite the comely face, and he literally saw quite a number of women blush like school maidens in his very presence.

'Sad thing is, I bet he doesn't even care.' Hadrian mused with a sigh, feeling a bit sorry for those women who liked his doofus of a friend plus retainer.

He zoned out of his musings, just in time to hear for the retainer to continue his fanciful tale and let his face return to normal, much to his quiet relief.

"... in your sleep. So, what were you dreaming about?" Charles finished, smiling and looking quite pleased with himself for some reason.

Too bad for him, Hadrian was feeling the opposite as he punished the cheeky retainer by pulling on his cheek, hard, and making sure that it was painful.

Lightly activating a few of his magic circuits helped in doing the trick too.

As expected, Charlie reacted the way Hadrian wanted him to, by crying out in pain and with tears nearly leaking out of his eyes.

"Orwh, Oooorwh, dyat wurt! Wuad I doh!" He w.h.i.n.ed, tapping on his liege's wrist in surrender.

Charles may be someone with great power, but against his liege, he was defeated.

"Now..." Hadrian began, 'smiling' in a not so pleasant way. "I would expect this sort of behavior from a certain somebody, but not from you. Remember, the place of where we are about to venture into is not a playground. So, quit the shenanigans."

After a whole minute, Hadrian had finally relented and let go.

Charles quickly held the cheek that was pulled harshly, massaging it to relieve the pain.

"Uwah, that wasn't cool, master!" Charles protested weakly.

"Silence." was the only thing that he got in response, but it was enough to make him submit.

"Yeesh..." He g.r.o.a.n.e.d, defeated and thoroughly scolded by his lord.

Sighing, Hadrian leaned back against his seat with a small frown.

"You guys have been hanging around my grandfather a bit too much, I swear. Don't think I haven't noticed. I might be busy most of the time, but I'm not unaware of what you guys do."

Hadrian leveled a stern eye upon the black and white haired servant, making sure that Charles was cowed by it before turning his gaze to the window.

If Charles had been born a dog, he would be whimpering in fear with his ears flat and tail tucked between his legs.

Anyone can say what they will, but his liege can be quite terrifying if he wants to be.

Hearing the round of chuckles and giggles flittering in every part of the room, Charles knew that his fellow servants saw the spectacle as well.

Turning around with a glare on his face, Charles met the eyes of every single one of his fellow allies (which are mostly in the male group, fortunately), mouthing a 'I'll get back at you guys later' to them after making sure that Hadrian was not looking.

In return, they merely gave out their own unique response and gestures, which either comes with a smile, a 'come hither' motion or a jaunty wave.

After a silent promise of retribution on them later, Charles leaned back in his seat with a sigh.

He glanced at Hadrian from time to time, looking like a kicked puppy.

His liege though, was lost in his own thoughts as he watched the clouds with a deep, thoughtful expression on his face, oblivious to his glances.

Charles pouted, feeling a bit drained and depressed.

Yesterday, Hadrian had been called into Lord Zelretch's private study, and it was there that he was requested to take on a small assignment at his grandfather's behest.

The assignment was to confirm about a peculiar information that the old Magician had heard from one of his sources. When he heard about it, he was not sure of its authenticity, but his suspicions is roused nonetheless. That's why, he had sent Hadrian to investigate the matter.

And so, here they are, about to land the soils of Vancouver, Canada, and spend a week to investigate a case that was personally handed to his liege.

Charles was just trying to make his liege relax and ease up from his much too serious behavior, but he got punished and scolded instead.

What s.u.c.k.e.d even more for him was that his fellow servants saw that embarrassing scene of Hadrian scolding him and then a punishment soon after.

'I'll get back at them later. Just you wait, guys...' He promised, planning his revenge.

His depressed state did not last long than a few minutes as Charles remembered his question had went unanswered earlier.

"Ah, that's right, Master. You didn't tell me what you were dreaming before." Charles said with a look of curiosity on his comely face.

Hadrian gazed at him with a hint of bemus.e.m.e.nt on his calm facade.

"Are you that curious to know?" His liege asked, one brow raised.

Emboldened by the chance to make the young master relax even for a little, Charles nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, yeah!" The cheeky retainer said with a smile.

Hadrian chuckled at his antics, causing Charles to cheer in his mind at the success.

His liege was smiling now, making him appear a lot more younger, carefree and unburdened.

When Hadrian takes on a serious facade, it often made him looked m.a.t.u.r.e and elegant than what his age implies, but also difficult and nearly cold to easily approach for most people.

Charles himself doesn't know the reason why, but when a close friend of Hadrian explained it to him, the cheeky retainer finally understood.

People, both the ones in the moonlit world and the normal humans, are intimidated by Hadrian.

It was not just because of his background, his appearance, and among other things, but something else instead.

It was something that can't be explained with mere words, but if there was one for him to describe it, then it might be related to the strange aura that his liege naturally gives off.

The strange aura was familiar. Charles had some experience with it before, but the one that Hadrian exudes with such ease was magnitudes stronger than what he was used to.

In other words, whatever it was that his master possess was just on a whole different level.

One such example of it, was at the airport before they had left England.

Hadrian had been walking by the front of their entourage, leading the way as they all followed him through the busy airport of Heathrow, London.

There were throngs of people walking about in every direction, but when his master had started to walk forward, the wall of people suddenly parted into two, making way for him.

It was like watching how that person used his staff to part the Red Sea to create a safe passage for his people, as Charles had seen in one of those movies.

'It was cool.' Charles thought with a fond smile. 'I think some people call it 'Charisma'.'

It even made the servant wished that he can be as cool as his liege after seeing it.

In Hadrian's case though, he simply made his way through the busy airport with suave as if he owns the place, ignorant to the looks of awe and surprise that he received from the masses nearby.

It was very amusing to watch for Charles and his fellow servants.

What was even funnier was that his liege does not seemed to be aware of the natural effect that he has on people, seeing as he looked confused whenever they asked him about it.

Recalling the image in mind, Charles let out a brief laugh, causing Hadrian to face him.

"What's funny?" His liege asked, bemused.

"Ehh... you." Charles grinned, his good mood from before making a comeback.

"Oh? Elaborate, please." Hadrian encouraged, bright cyan eyes slowly narrowing with expectation.

Seeing the eyes of his liege narrowed in suspicion, Charles suddenly felt nervous. He could even feel some of his sweat making its way down at the side of his temple.

'Uuuhh... gotta be careful here.' The cheeky servant thought with wariness.

Some might call him a coward when it comes to his liege, but in Charles's opinion, those people can say what they want.

His master was not a joke when it comes to a fight, and his glares were something to behold and one that can be (justifiably) afraid of, especially if they know what his eyes can do.

Although afraid that another punishment might come in his way (again), Charles pushed passed it and went on a brief explanation, trying his best to maintain a smile despite his initial fears.

He's quite known to be frank with his words, after all, and Charles was not one to back down from anything. Perhaps that's why his liege managed to summon him forth, cause they had something in common. The unique courage and determination to persevere, no matter what comes their way.

"Ah, do you remember what happened at the airport?" Charles began with a simple question, swallowing his fears. "Before we left London?"

"Hn." His liege grunted in response.

"The looks on those people's faces!" Charles laughed. "It was really funny!"

Bemused by his sudden amus.e.m.e.nt, Hadrian was about to speak when someone suddenly hugged him from behind his seat, taking him by surprise as they both craned their necks to look who it was.

It was a young man with long pink hair and dark purple eyes. He has beautiful androgynous features that would make people easily mistook him for a female.

In addition to his beauty, he has a fair number of hair ornaments that most females would be seen to wear often. He is 164cm tall, has a pale white skin and a lean physique.

Like all of his retainers, he was dressed in an all-black suit, but his came with a customization, such as his pink tie, black shorts, and white boots with black knee-length socks.

The young man in question was Astolfo, one of his loyal retainers and a friend as well.

"Yeah, Master!" Astolfo grinned widely, hugging him from behind the seat. "Let's record it next time if that happens again. That was fun!"

"Astolfo, don't sneak up on us like that." Charles scolded him. "And don't hugged Master too much. Give him room to breathe. I think you're choking him."

Astolfo blinked, pausing before he looked down to check on his liege.

Sure enough, Hadrian was having a difficult time breathing and looking a bit faint.

"Ahaha, sorry, master!" The pink haired retainer laughed, loosening his hold on Hadrian, but he did not let go. "Guess I don't know my own strength sometimes."

'What do you mean 'sometimes'...?' The other two thought in unison, skeptical.

"It's fine." Hadrian said with a sigh, resigned to his own fate.

His pink-haired servant was someone even more exuberant and happy-go-lucky than Charles could ever become. He had almost a year to get used to their personalities and eccentricities.

As such, Hadrian was not exactly surprised by the action. He was just resigned to it.

He supposed being around a highly eccentric grandfather can also be deemed as an experience in these type of situations.

As the two fellow retainers spoke over him (with Charles continuing to scold Astolfo and the latter was defending himself), Hadrian noticed a mobile phone in one of Astolfo's hands.

Curious, Hadrian stared at the screen and noticed that it was currently playing a game. There was one thing that stood out the most to him about it though, other than being familiar with it.

"Ah." Hadrian said in surprise, watching the gameplay.

"Hm?"

Hearing the sound, the two retainers paused their argument and turned to him. Then, they also saw what was happening in the screen, and one of them was not happy.

Astolfo gasped, looking horrified as he (finally) let go of Hadrian and raised the device up to his face.

"MY FAAAAARM!?" The pink-haired Servant shouted in despair and shock.

Hearing bouts of laughter nearby, Astolfo quickly turned around and saw a familiar group of men were (obviously) laughing at his expense and reaction.

Infuriated, he stomped towards where they are huddled together, mobile device in hand and dark purple eyes glistening with tears.

Hadrian and Charles watched him go and disappear to the other side of the plane.

"Well, there he goes..." Hadrian commented, watching the scene with a small smile.

"Indeed..." Charles muttered under his breath, face palming.

On the other side...

"You guys are gonna pay for that!" Astolfo shouted angrily. "I just vanish for a minute, then you guys steal and wreck my farm!? I worked hard on raising those chickens!"

"Well, you should have been paying attention!" The first retorted.

"All is fair in war and Farma Villa!" The second one cheerfully said, unrepentant.

"Who said anything about allies in the game?" The last one said with a grin, equally unapologetic.

"Argh! Shuddap, ya three!" Astolfo shouted in annoyance. "If that's how its going to be, I'll vandalize all your farms then. This is WAR!"

"Bring it!" The three said in unison with matching grins, enthused by the declaration.

Seeing the four looked invested in the game, particularly Astolfo, Charles and Hadrian turned back to their seats and sighed at the same time, used to the group's behavior.

Charles faced his liege, who looked to be falling asleep again after seeing the usual peanut gallery.

"You know, Master, you still haven't answered me." Charles reminded him gently.

"Well... I was just dreaming about something that happened in the past." Hadrian said slowly.

"Hmm..." Charles hummed in thought, then he asked with a smile. "Is it a good one?"

Hadrian let a soft smile appear on his lips.

"Yes, and quite a beautiful one at that."

Charles looked satisfied with his answer, smiling.

The cyan eyed Master was left alone as the cheeky yet caring servant left his seat, excusing himself to get something to drink before the plane lands in an hour.

Hadrian nodded and waved him away with a faint smile.

However, his gaze slowly turned to the left and they met a pair of bright emerald colored eyes in turn, whose owner looked curious and surprised by the sudden meeting of their gazes.

Once he held that person's attention, Hadrian gave her a soft, genuine smile that caused the owner of the green eyes to blush, as he would have expected her to be.

Feeling accomplished, Hadrian chuckled and gave Arturia Pendragon a wink before he returned his gaze to the window, just in time as Charles returned with a bottle of water in hand.

Hadrian knew full well that he is going to get scolded by her once they arrive at the hotel that they made reservations in, but he feels that any time that he spends with her would make it all worth the light punishment that he would, no doubt, get from her later on.

'Hmm... maybe I've been infected by grandpa's mischievousness too.'

Although worrisome, the thought made Hadrian smile throughout the day.