The Prince Of Magic

...

...

The day was another good morning in Nice.

The skies were blue, the clouds were fluffy and white, and small animals of different kind commonly seen in a spacious, well-kept garden were seen and heard.

Usually, one would be in a good mood when the weather was so nice and calm.

Hadrian, however, greeted the morning with a calm but calculative façade.

The reason for this was due to the notice that the automaton had sent to him last night.

It was literally all that he could think about, starting from the moment that he woke up and to the present.

Of course, his sudden shift in behavior did not go unnoticed.

When his retainers greeted him earlier, as they often should when they came up to fetch him for breakfast, their good-natured smiles and normally relaxed facades slipped off their faces, giving way calm but disquieted ones as they all led him down to the large dining room.

Hadrian knew that he unnerved them, despite returning their greetings.

But, as they were his retainers, they knew instinctively that something had happened.

His familiars were still the same, being cute and cuddly, playing around while being in near proximity to him.

His retainers, on the other hand, knew something was wrong.

They tried to be behaved normally around him, but Hadrian can sense that his retainers were more alert than usual as they take their usual positions in guarding him. To shed some of their nervousness off, he gave most of them the task of assisting the twin homunculi maids, Yuuki and Yuuri, with their daily chores around the Flamel's chateau.

The ones that remained at his side were King Hassan, Yan Qing and Charles.

The distraction worked at some point, though the questioning glances sent in his way made it obvious that they would ask him what bothered his morning.

Which was fine with Hadrian as he would need to tell them about it eventually.

But the thing was, how could he tell them of something that he was not even sure of?

While the notice had been alarming to know, the first that Hadrian had to confirm was whether the presence was a potential ally or enemy.

And then, the automaton had decided on that moment to become vague with its answer.

[… Neutral …]

That was its answer to him.

Meaning, whoever had their eyes on him last night can potentially become either one of the two to him in the future.

It's a fifty-fifty chance, but one that Hadrian was comfortable with for now. He would just need to be aware of his actions from now on.

The second that he wanted to know was where it came from, and specifically, who it was.

This was where his good, casual mood had gone down, or whatever was left of it.

The Moon Cell, for all of its amazing computations and vast wealth of knowledge that it had gathered so far, was not clear on his inquiries.

Instead, the unearthly artifact simply informed him 'unknown' to both questions.

Such a strange response can only mean one thing, that whoever or whatever was watching him did something to elude the automaton's gaze. Most likely, it might be a powerful spell of some kind, one that could made outside of earth, similar to those of alien origin. Whatever it might be, it was certainly powerful enough to make the Moon Cell go blind and go cop in the dark for its answers.

Something did manage to slip out when Hadrian chose his words carefully, but out of the ten questions, there was only one that he got a clear answer to.

The source of the gaze did not come from the world he was in currently.

From there, the questions in his mind simply multiplied, considering as the owner of the gaze could literally be anyone in his world.

Hadrian sighed, lifting a hand to scratch the side of his head.

Turning to the side, he exhaled as he observed the vast, well-trimmed garden of the Flamels, taking in the beautiful sight, despite the questions in the back of his mind.

He was sitting by the outside dining table, which was ironically situated below the veranda of his private chambers.

The floor that the outside dining table was placed on was slightly elevated, providing him a great view of the garden from where he was seated.

Across from him was King Hassan, in his usual dark gray garb, Yan and Charles, who were also dressed in their usual custom suits.

The old assassin was seated in front of him, drinking his cup of tea from time to time as he too takes in the garden's wonderful scenery. The old male servant was probably the chilliest among his retainers in his recent shift in behavior, merely content in letting him breach the subject than to take the lead, which was a side of the old assassin that Hadrian was always grateful for.

Yan and Charles, however, were not so relaxed.

After breakfast and from the moment he took a seat near the gardens, Yan Qing and Charles had been giving him curious glances.

Neither seemed eager to open their mouths and ask him for some reason, but at the moment, Hadrian was unwilling to give them answers.

At least, not yet anyways.

His musings came to a halt when he heard footsteps nearby, catching his attention as he turned his gaze to the right, an action that was followed by his retainers.

Coming into view was the relaxed, smiling façade of Nicolas Flamel.

"Ah, there you are, las. I had a feeling you'd be here for some reason." The alchemist greeted with a slight wave of his hand.

Acknowledging his presence with a nod, Hadrian gestured to the empty seat to his left, which was vacated by Yan Qing, who offered the seat to the newcomer.

Surprised, Nicolas then thanked the retainer before taking it, turning to Hadrian as he pushed the chair inward.

Hadrian smiled faintly when the alchemist finally noticed the old assassin's presence, double-taking a glance to the latter as he snapped his gaze to him.

The old assassin was, and still is, the master when it comes to erasing his presence out of all of his retainers. Not only that, the old man's has a powerful gaze that break a man's will with just one look. Thus, the ancient alchemist nervous reaction was understandable, and Hadrian could not blame him for it.

Even in his most humane state, King Hassan will always be intimidating to those that were not aware of his personality.

"Uh… hi?" Nicolas smiled awkwardly, lifting a sweaty palm when King Hassan glanced at him in the corner of his eye.

The gray eye that was not covered by the cowl of his cloak narrowed slightly, making the alchemist sweat a little as the lone eye trained upon his face for a few moments before the old assassin turned away, favoring the cup of tea in his hand and sipping on it instead than to pay him any more mind.

Leaning to Hadrian while maintaining his curious stare upon the cloaked assassin, Nicolas whispered.

"Who's this guy?"

"One of my retainers." Hadrian answered simply.

"Err… is he…"

"Don't worry, he's alright. Extreme at times, but alright." The young mage explained vaguely with a smile.

Nicolas was about to open his mouth to ask more, but jumped slightly in his seat when the assassin's lone eye turned the young mage beside him.

The stare alone was enough to make Nicolas squirm in his seat, but the weight of the gaze was trained upon Hadrian, who took it head-on with a dimpled smile.

If the assassin was more used to modern dialect, he would probably say to the young mage 'really', seeing as it was literally written on the old man's facial expression.

But since he was not used to speaking in a modern language, he simply huffed and turned his gaze back to the garden.

For some reason, the action was oddly similar to an elderly man losing an argument to his grandchild.

The image in his head was amusing enough to make Hadrian shake his head with a smile, aware but uncaring of the surprised, amazed gaze that Nicolas Flamel sent to him.

"How'd you do that?" The ancient alchemist asked, whispering as he leaned in again.

"What is?" Hadrian returned, smiling.

Giving the man a sideway glance, the young mage simply gave Nicolas an indulgent smile, one that caused the latter to lean back with a bit of disbelief on his face.

...

...