I stood there, in the middle of the training ground and realized something. I did not have a place to stay. In my hurry to deal with the fish and magic, I had forgotten to ask Oak for a place to stay.


    The fuck do I do now. Not having a place to stay was, well, not really acceptable. So I had to figure something out.


    I walked up to Connor as the class ended. “Do you, um, have a minute?”


    The giant turned to look at me. “Yes.”


    “I, um, don’t have a place to stay. Do you think -”


    “Miss Emily said.” Connor nodded. “The house ready. Follow me.”


    I gaped as he walked away. The house was ready? What house?! I hadn’t talked to Miss Emily about this.


    “What do you mean? I haven’t had the chance to-”


    “Miss Emily knew you not have place. Told Alice to find for you. Alice live near empty house, she give.” Connor explained. I continued staring at him.


    “Did she mention how much it cost?” I asked nervously. “I don’t have a lot-”


    “The house not ours.” Connor interrupted. “The royal knights give house. But royal knight not give you. Ask them. Alice just know house empty.”


    Oh. So, the royal knights were the ones that owned the houses. And since I hadn’t entered through them, I hadn’t been able to negotiate for a house. So I was going to be staying somewhere I wasn’t allowed.


    That still didn’t tell me why she had gone as far as to prepare a house for me. But now probably wasn’t the time to ask that. I did need the house.


    “So, how did I do?” I asked.


    Connor turned to look at me. “Not bad, too early to say more.”


    Oh. That put an end to things, didn’t it.


    “This way.” Connor said, walking into a cobbled street. I followed until we right next to the wall that separated the awakened area from this one. The houses here were larger than the rest. There were gardens. Even a few carriages.


    “The house is here?” I asked, doubtfully.


    “Miss Emily thought you would need better place. The slum not for you.” he replied.


    I blinked. Did she think I couldn’t handle living in the slum because I was a prince? That couldn’t be true, could it? I hadn’t lived like a prince for most of my life. I hadn’t lived in a slum either, but I could probably handle it.


    “Miss Emily very nice.” Connor said. I looked at him in surprise.


    “Heal the weak without charge. Could live as awakened. The Alchemist guild offered her mansion. But she refused. Want to heal.” he continued. “Take care of us like she our mother.”


    Oh. The woman did have the tendency to take other’s problems as her own. I had seen her do that with me.


    “Don’t want her too involved.” he continued. “The royal knights not hurt you, they hurt others. Alice, me is fine. Not Miss Emily.”


    Oh, shit. That was what this was about.


    “I will…try to keep her from harm.” I responded. But even I knew that I had little power. The royal knights shouldn’t target her, she had little to do with me. But I could hardly defend her if they did target her. I was too weak.


    Connor grunted, but did not say anything. The two of us continued walking for a bit.


    “Has she made any predictions about when Elena will wake up?” I asked.


    “Not to me.” he replied. Well he was the wrong person to ask. Perhaps I should go to Miss Emily’s and check on her. I had checked up on her a couple of times while she was there, but she was still asleep.


    Of course, it had only been a few hours. And she had been heavily injured. There was a chance she would wake up tomorrow. Perhaps I should wait.


    “This you.” Connor said, stopping at a door. “The door open. Alice live to left. I live to right.”


    I raised an eyebrow. “So even you live next to me?”


    “Yes. This good part of city. Have good beds.” he said. “Don’t fit in bad ones.”


    I couldn’t exactly say no to that. So I just thanked him for guiding me here. And then went to the door.


    As he had said, the door was open. There were no lights here, but my eyes did not have trouble adjusting. Rank 3 eyes were apparently good for that too. I hadn’t noticed before.


    The corridor led me to a single hall. The hall was far too large, having six sofas across its length. There was a large empty space in between that probably should have held something. I walked through it to reach another corridor. This one led to the kitchen.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I could see a dusty sink and a rusted stove. There were two doors to either side of me. The right led to what looked like a dining room. The table had space for six chairs, but two of them were missing. A third had a leg broken and was thus tilting at a very awkward position.


    The other room was empty. There was no furniture in it. Wasn’t there supposed to be a bedroom? I walked out, heading back to the first corridor. This one continued onwards into the darkness. I followed it.


    The way ahead became clearer as I walked, until I reached stairs leading upwards. That had not been visible from afar. I climbed them. The stairs led to the floor right above. There were some breakages in the railing, but it did not seem dangerous. The structure was largely intact.


    The upper floor looked larger. For one the stairs led to a very large room. I would almost call it a ballroom. The room seemed to extend into the darkness, probably as long as the downstairs corridor. The width was twice that of the hall and then some. There was no furniture, but I could see a stage off to one side.


    I kind of wished I had some more light. But Darkness magic wasn’t exactly good for such things. So I walked without. The ballroom had a door to the right, next to the stage. I opened it. That was the bathroom.


    So I walked to the other side. There was a door right across. This one led to what looked like a bedroom. The room was large, almost as large as the hall below. There was a window that led to a large balcony. I walked to it.


    The dark street seemed so much brighter from up here. This room looked like it had been cleaned. At least, there were no visible layers of dust. I walked to the bed and dusted it. There was no spray of dust like I had been expecting.


    Perhaps Miss Emily had it cleaned so I could sleep here. That was sweet. The healer had a house prepared for me and even had a room cleaned. I had been expecting to stay at someone else’s. But here I was.


    I could continue exploring the house. There was probably plenty to be seen. But it was dark. And looking at the bed made me tired. This had been a long day.


    I could hardly believe it had only been one day. How long had I been awake? Had to be more than twelve hours by now. I had left the Eldanvier mansion in the morning, before sunrise, but the carriage ride had probably added some hours in.


    Laying down on the bed, I closed my eyes as I felt myself drift off to sleep. The day was getting to me now. So much had happened. I could hardly believe it had only taken so little time.


    <hr>


    The next day saw me being awoken by a rather annoyed old man. The light was streaming from the window, still darker than most surface mornings but brighter than the nights. I still felt sleepy. The old man in my bedroom did not seem to care.


    “What are you doing?” I asked sleepily, trying to place him. I had seen him somewhere before.


    “Wake up.” the old man demanded. That voice, yes, it belonged to the Head of the Adventurer’s Guild.


    Wait, who? I was suddenly very awake, staring at the old man.


    “What do you need?” I asked.


    “Have your money.” he said, holding out a pouch. I looked at it.


    “I see. Thank you.” I rose to take it from him, only for him to pull it out of my way.


    Then I just looked at him. I was still tired, and really not in the mood for such things. The old man did not look like he cared.


    “Why did you kill the fish?” the old man asked.


    “For the money. And because they asked.” I shrugged, my mind struggling to begin working.


    “Hmm.” he replied, looking at me like he was trying to figure me out.


    “If there is something you want to know, just ask me.”


    “Then you would lie.” the old man said, tilting his head as he glared at me.


    I shrugged. “I might. That’s a chance you’ll have to take.”


    Perhaps being quite so rude to the Head of a Guild was not a good idea. But it was morning. And I was not in a good mood when I was woken up.


    “What do you intend to do in this city?” the old man asked. “I know the House of Fire did not send you, they are too busy to care.”


    “Why are you so interested?”


    “The Alchemist Guild is annoying. The bastards keep getting in my way. I do not want another irritant. The city has enough of those already.”


    “The city? More like a town. What makes you think I am going to stay? I might leave. There isn’t exactly much for me to do around here.”


    The old man scoffed. “Like those knights would let you. No, you’re stuck here, same as me. Besides, why would you get a house if you aren’t going to stay? In the unawakened quarter no less. There are some that would say you were trying to compete with my guild. What with you making friends with so many of my clients. ”


    Oh, so that was what he was so mad about.


    “I don’t plan on making a Guild.” I told him. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t let my people treat my ‘clients’ like that.”


    “That’s good. I would not be letting you get in my way.” the old man said, ignoring the rest of my words.


    “Oh?”


    “Yes.” the old man growled, his mana cloak expanding to cover the room. I remembered that. This was the same thing the guard had done. What was it even supposed to do?


    “I would also get out of this house if I were you. The royal knights might not be happy you are staying here. The house is theirs.”


    I looked at him. What a stupid argument. Yes, they would care, but I really didn’t think it would be too much.


    And I liked having a house to come back to.


    The old man blinked, narrowing his eyes at me. “Yes, that might not be true. With that face, they might just let you. Is that why you are here? To get their attention?”


    Now he had my attention. The sleep had flown away. But I did not speak. The old man was saying enough by himself.


    “The Rose knights will not follow you so easily. Just having a pretty face is not enough to gain their loyalty.”


    The Rose knights. The knights that served my mother, the Rose princess. Why were they here? No, that was a stupid question. The knights had numbered in the hundreds back then. The Emperor had not been pleased at their failure. The lake was a good place for them to be out of his sight.


    “Are you not going to say anything?” the old man asked.


    “Should I?”


    “Hmm. Tell me about that girl you brought here. The injured one.”


    I called on my mana, conjuring bolts around me. Was that a threat?


    “What do you want, you old man?”


    The old man raised an eyebrow. “Oh, me? I was simply watching her. And I was not the only one. Do be careful young man. This is not your mansion. And not everyone wants a royal butting into their business.”


    With that he was gone. The old man left through the window, leaving a pouch of coins on the edge of my bed.


    I would rather he not have come. The visit had confused me.