Chapter 8
"Harumasa? Did you fall asleep while waiting for me to come back?"
Wise helplessly crossed his arms and looked at the person leaning against his bedroom door. Perhaps because he had been a bit busy with work recently, Harumasa had been taking advantage of sleeping anywhere, anytime, whenever possible. Hearing Wise's voice, Harumasa woke up, opened the door for the prince to enter, then followed behind to help the other person change into more comfortable clothes.
"Prince, can you finish your work faster next time? I'm so sleepy..."
Harumasa yawned, wanting to jump onto Wise's bed and go to sleep. But that would be scolded by Lycaon, so he tried to suppress the urge to jump onto the bed and sleep.
"It can't be helped, I have to get used to this workload. There will be even more work when I become king.", Wise laughed, looking at Harumasa sleepily like this was really cute.
"Oh, right, prince. What would you like for your birthday?"
Wise was a little surprised that Harumasa had no intention of keeping what gift he was going to give him a secret. But then again, Harumasa rarely surprised him on his birthday, so it was probably normal.
"A gift? Can you show me the berries you picked for me to eat the other day?"
"Are you still planning on going there and eating all the berries? No, something else."
Wise thought for a moment, then suddenly thought of something, "What about a magic sword?"
"You mean the kind of sword that has magic inscriptions inscribed on it? Do you know that out of thousands of swords, only a few have been successfully inscribed? It's so expensive and rare that I can't even buy one with my entire life's salary.", Harumasa sighed, thinking for a moment, "Alright, let me try."
“Really? Then just go to my armory and get the sword.”, Wise cheerfully suggested, after all, it was a good thing that Harumasa agreed to inlay magic on his sword, that way every time he used that sword, he would feel like he was fighting alongside Harumasa.
While Wise was still happy with his thoughts, Harumasa was panicking inside. He had never inlaid magic on any weapon before, there was a high chance that he would fail many times before succeeding. But he still hoped that he wouldn’t use up all the weapons in Wise’s arsenal just to make a magic-inlaid sword.
.
Having never inlaid magic on a weapon before, Harumasa took the time to go to the palace library to look for books about it. It seemed that inlaying magic on swords had such a low success rate that the entire large library only had a few books mentioning inlaying magic on weapons, and they were extremely ancient books. Almost none of them were originals, because the originals had been written a long time ago and were very worn out, so someone had taken on the role of copying them for storage.
One of them contained a record of magic by the great mage who was said to have the most extensive knowledge of magic in the ancient kingdom of Eridu. That person was mentioned a lot in other magic books because he was the first person to lay the foundation for magic, write the rules for chanting spells, create a series of different magic spells, and invent inlaying magic on weapons.
Many people likened the great mage to a messenger of the gods who led them to the era of magic. A person with such a large amount of magical power, and also with profound knowledge, and writing books that are easy to understand, no wonder that many people still respect that great magician.
Harumasa took a book that was said to be a translation of that great magician's ancient book and started to flip to the page of inlaying magic on weapons. He carefully studied it, taking notes on a separate page of important things to pay attention to when inlaying magic. Infusing too much magical power could easily lead to the weapon being damaged, but infusing too little would make the spell on the weapon not have much effect, as if the inlay was not inlaid at all.
Harumasa studied for a long time and concluded a few important experiences. He quickly put away the book and went to Wise's armory. He picked out a few swords that seemed to be able to withstand great magical power and placed them on the table. He borrowed special ink specifically used for inlaying magic from some high-level magicians he knew. They also gave him some guidance when they heard that he was going to give the prince an enchanted sword as a birthday present.
Harumasa rolled up his sleeves, preparing himself to start enchantment. Although he knew that the first time he would definitely damage the sword, he still focused his mind, pouring every bit of his magic power into the spell he wrote on the blade.
He had to concentrate.
.
As the prince and princess's 18th birthday party drew closer, the people were getting more and more excited about the decorations everywhere. Everyone was preparing flower baskets to throw up when the prince and princess rode around the city on horseback. It was like a blessing. Both Wise and Belle had received their formal attire, which was well-fitting and elegant, and it could be said that the royal family had spent quite a lot of money on it.
The decoration of the palace was going smoothly and the servants were always busy. Especially Lycaon, Rina, and Harumasa, they had to arrange the events that would take place that day, check on everyone's progress, and check on the guards patrolling the city. They had to make sure everything went smoothly. That was why Wise had few opportunities to talk to Harumasa. Currently, the people accompanying Wise were Corin and another male butler.
Although they didn't have much chance to talk to each other, after the birthday, they would probably see each other as often as before. Wise was quite curious about the progress of Harumasa's magic inlay on his weapons, but he was worried that the butler would be quite embarrassed to destroy a large number of his swords without success.
Time passed very quickly, and soon it was the afternoon before the prince and princess's 18th birthday celebration. Everyone was so busy that they didn't have time to rest. Wise barely saw Lycaon, Rina, and Harumasa, perhaps they were busy checking everything to make sure it was ready for tomorrow. It was highly likely that they would stay up all night tonight to make sure everything was in place.
Wise took a walk around, everything was beautifully decorated, and almost all of the brothers' favorite dishes were present at the party. Tomorrow he would wake up early, change into his ceremonial attire, and ride around the city on horseback, receiving the blessings of the people in the city. Then he would return to the palace and start the banquet, which would last until ten o'clock at night. At first glance, the schedule seemed simple and took little time, but in fact the parade took quite a while. Perhaps everything would happen very quickly, and when he turned 18, Wise would officially learn the things he would do after succeeding to the throne. Wise wondered whether he should promote Harumasa or not, after all, that butler was a person who was very good at both magic and strategy, and could support him a lot in the process of ruling the country. After all, the two had known each other since childhood, so Wise trusted Harumasa and vice versa.
And tomorrow, as the sun slowly rises, the royal procession will leave the palace, walking on the paved road covered with fragrant flowers of all colors and everywhere will resound with good wishes for the prince and princess.
Their eighteenth birthday party has begun.