The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 12: Confusion

King Caiden and I stood frozen, and I briefly glanced over him. He was only in his white button up and black pants and shoes, the cloak and his crown no longer being anywhere on his body. Despite his previous predicament, he looked completely calm with his sword raised up in defense. I glanced around me and behind him for a moment, wondering how in the world he traveled all the way over here when the fight started probably 20 minutes ago. And where the heck were Romand and the rest?

"King Caiden," I murmured, putting up my hands to show that I was weaponless, "Are you alright?" I watched as King Caiden's face slowly adjusted to a more relaxed position and he put his sword back into his sheath on his left hip. He stood there with his hands on his hips in silence, and I noticed that he looked at the air around me. I knew that he was checking me out, but I couldn't be bothered with his obvious staring and chose instead to take a small step forward.

"You're the second person not to bow to me the moment you saw me," he finally murmured. I frowned and shrugged. Technically, I had also not bowed to him in the past, but I didn't need to tell him that.

"My apologizes, I didn't think this was the situation to do so." I told him sincerely. His face didn't change at my statement, but instead he looked me up and down once, twice, three more times before nodding and turning away, looking towards the town.

"What's happening over there?" He asked nonchalantly. His attitude slightly threw me off, considering that he was the newly appointed King of an entire kingdom, he didn't seem that scared for his people nor the fact that he was in a different place. Given that, why had Iban lead me here specifically to find King Caiden?

Remembering how I got here, I looked around me, searching for Iban, but he was nowhere in sight as if he thought that he had finished him job and he was no longer needed.

"Mage?" I turned to King Caiden, who was staring at me curiously. I cleared my throat and stopped looking for Iban and turned to stare at King Caiden.

"I'm not sure, I followed my familiar here to help you. We should head back. What happened to Archmage Romand?" I asked, turning to make my way back towards town, slightly jogging so King Caiden had to do the same. I decided that it was best if we kept a fast pace, considering that I now had someone majorly important running next to me and I had actually run away from my duties. Drac was probably going to be pissed, but he shouldn't care that much since I found the King.

"I'm –I'm not sure," King Caiden answer, his breath steady despite both of us jogging lightly towards the town, which would probably take around 10 minutes to reach. "I just remember Archmage Romand taking me off balcony, then everything went black. I woke up surrounded by those demons only a few seconds before you arrived."

I frowned. How could he black out so easily? Especially if Romand, Lucy, and Alan were around him. Did a demon somehow overwhelm them? Aren't they supposed to be the "strongest" mages, though? Even if they were overwhelmed, didn't that mean that something serious was going on. Was it wise to follow Iban out here, even if I didn't manage to save King Caiden?

After a long jog, one where I'm ashamed that King Caiden managed to not get as tired as me, we finally reached the middle of town where the bulk of the fighting seemed to have died down. The mages were going around now and using destructive magic to break down the bodies of the demons that they had just killed. If they didn't use destructive magic to break down their bodies, then they would rot on the surface and cause illness and other disasters to befall the land. Unfortunately, this was learned the hard way.

"King Caiden!" I heard from directly in front of me. I watched as Romand ran his way towards us, his face and body seemingly covered in demon's blood and, for the first time I've ever seen him, he looked worried. He barely glanced at me, instead opting to watch King Caiden wearily. "I deeply apologize for mine, and my team's negligence." I then watched him bend down on one knee. The appropriate manner for someone who was begging for a noble's forgiveness was to get down on their hands and knees, place their forehead to the floor, and put their hands flat out in front of them, far enough to allow them to chop off your fingers if they want to. However, even though that is appropriate, people of a higher status, such as other Kings of other Kingdoms or Romand, are not required to do so, because of their status and what it will do for the balance of the Kingdoms. So, Romand showing his head and fingers clearly meant he deeply regretted his mistake.

"It's no worries, Archmage Romand. I am unharmed. However, I am confused. What happened? I don't remember. " Romand, still in his position, continued to speak, to show how remorseful he was.

"I'm not sure, sir. My team and I did the protocol of stripping you of your robe and crown to make sure you were less recognizable and then we both went into a room. As soon as I turned around to shut the doors, you had disappeared. My magic could not find a trace of you anywhere, despite how much I looked. My magic is powerful enough to find anyone in the five kingdoms no matter where they went, I –I am not sure why it wasn't able to find you." At the last statement, I could hear the strain in Romand's voice as he admitted that he could do nothing, despite being the strongest mage that the world has seen thus far. To be honest, I felt a little perplexed at the statement as well. How could Romand not track down Caiden, and how had Caiden managed to slip away so easily? Not only that, if Romand couldn't find him at all, how had Iban managed to do so?

"Please, Archmage, stand up." Caiden spoke to which Romand nodded once more and stood, a complicated look on his face. "If I am being honest, I have no memories after leaving the balcony with you. I don't even remember taking off my robe nor crown." Romand frowned at this, and at the same time, briefly glanced at me.

"Alan, how did you manage to find him?" Romand asked and I could hear that he sounded slightly suspicious of me. I rolled my eyes and frowned at him.

"Well, I didn't kidnap him," I spoke, slightly harshly. Enough to cause Romand's eyebrows to furrow in annoyance. Looking at his face made me want to not answer him, despite knowing that it would make matters worse. "My familiar took me." I finally croaked. However, Romand seemingly disliked this answer much more than if I had kidnapped Caiden.

"How–?" he seemed to want to say more, but briefly glanced at Caiden. To this, Caiden frowned, knowing that something was off.

"Archmage Romand, Alan, it seems we need to have a chat."

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Hey everyone! Saph here! I hope you all are doing well and staying safe! Here another update bringing Caiden and Alan just a step closer together, super spicy.

I hope you guys enjoy! As always, please let me know how you feel in the comments and if there is anything I can improve. I'll see you all next time!