Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

Once the parade was over, Cermin's parents were already talking to viable candidates as his bride. They were doing so at the Centerpiece, in Science Exhibition building at the topmost part.

Which was an open-air Observatory, shaped like a glass dome with a large telescope to view the stars.

Cermin did not pay much attention to the ladies and though how wonderful it would be to view the stars with Ronin here.

They have viewed it many times in the Other Side, but it must be different seeing them from below with a much closer scope than to literally swim in them.

The blue sky was nice to look at in this dome too, and the Griffons flying overhead to deliver people like tiny colorful airplanes.

As he thought about this, a servant bowed to them and said:

"Your Majesties..... Someone is adamantly requesting the presence of Crown Prince Cermin. Shall I let him in the Observatory?"

Cermin's eyes lit up at this. "Who were they?"

His father then asked. "Is it another woman that would like to present herself as Cermin's bride?"

"No, Your Majesty." The servant shook his head. "It was a man. A priest of Demetri."

"Oh." Cermin was hoping it was Ronin since he didn't see him in the parade earlier...

But Zeriav was a welcomed guest for him too.

"It's an old friend that I haven't talked to in a long while." Cermin told his parents. "I will speak to him outside, if you'll excuse me."

His mother frowned. "But you haven't talked to the candidates yet----"

Cermin was already at the door, ready to meet Zeriav.

His father sighed. "Ah, let him be. You know how much he values his friends. Possibly even more than women nowadays."

Zeriav was pacing back and forth below the staircase leading to the Observatory when he heard footsteps, and looked up.

And sure enough, there he was. His golden skin radiating from the sunlight outside the windows.

"Zeriav." He smiled. "Long time no see---"

Zeriav forgot about all his manners and just flung himself to tackle hug Cermin.

The guards that were following after him for his safety drew their sword, but Cermin held his hand up.

"It's alright! It's alright! This is my friend, he just missed me, I guess!" He chuckled.

Zeriav couldn't believe that after years of separation, he really would be hugging his old friend like this.

He tried to calm down and compose himself. He let go of Cermin and cleared his throat.

"Your Highness... My apologies. That was unbecoming of me." He said, realizing the crown that he now always wore on his head. "Congratulations on your coronation."

"Ah, this little thing. It's a bit annoying to wear it all the time when we go outside, but it is what it is." Cermin touched his crown casually, just like how Zeriav once knew him.

So informal and down-to-Earth. He never saw anyone as beneath him, though he was aware as well of the caste system.

There was once a servant of his that wasn't careful and sent a letter to him too brashly. He was complaining about how he was made to travel all the way there, past storms and difficult terrain, just to hand over this letter from his parents.

He made a snarky joke about it, saying, "I could not even inform my parents about the birth of my child, and yet here I am delivering letters for the royals and travelling all the way her just so they can simply see how the prince had been."

And Cermin wasn't mad about the snarkiness, but many of the students around him scolded this messenger.

"Don't you know you are talking to prince!?"

"How dare you complain about this task when you are being paid heftily for it!?"

Cermin raised his hand. "Everyone, calm down. He does have point, my parents really are too overbearing sometimes for these kind of things."

He went over to pull a lot of gold coins from his pocket and hand it as thanks to the messenger, and told him.

"I am sorry about that reaction, but people don't bode well when servants talk back. It's just the way of things, you would just have to get used to it. And congratulations about your child, I hope this would help."

Zeriav had come to admire him more because of that.

Even if it really was just the bare minimum and Cermin wasn't really doing anything against this oppressive system, at least he still had kindness in his heart and good intentions even to those that should be 'beneath him'.

"How have you been, Zeriav? After you left the school..." Cermin's happy expression faltered a bit. "Well, I didn't hear much from you anymore."

"Though, I guess I should have reached out. But the last time we talked was....."

It was reasonable for Cermin to not have reached out all these years. Zeriav pushed him away after all and left him in the rain while running for his carriage.

No explanation about what just happened, or why he did what he did.

But it's all water under the bridge now. It was simply an awkward way to end things, but Cermin didn't have any hard feelings about it. He just waited for Zeriav to approach him first since he was the one who cut ties first.

Zeriav knew all this, and lowered his head. "It's alright, Your Highness.... You would not have been able to reach out to me from where I was anyway."

Cermin took his arm. "Really? Do tell me more. We can also grab something from the Banquet Palace, I'm starving!"

The priest really felt moved by his easygoing demeanor towards him after their long separation. His pale white cheeks easily went red from embarrassment of not approaching him earlier.

Cermin did not change that much after all. Many things on the outside may have changed.....

But in the inside, he was still the same.

They talked and talked as they walked down the halls. Well, Cermin did most of the talking, and Zeriav only spoke when he was asked a question.

Just like in the old days.

Zeriav told him about his years of solitude in the temple, and there wasn't really much that happened there.

He spent years in silence, praying and praying, and eventually received a second chance and forgiveness after repenting for a long time.

Cermin, on the other hand, told him about his experiences after he left.

How he had a better school life and the daemon did not bother him anymore. He told his about his Ascension exams, the Astral Ball, the Coronation... Both major and minor things that happened in his life.

And Zeriav was happy to listen to all of this....

Except every time he mentioned 'Ronin', he would frown.

"Ronin was a really good friend, he reminds me of you a little because you both are so quiet and serious. But somehow still fun to talk to." Cermin said with unfiltered honesty. "And there was this one time where he visited Scirocco and we went to Phoenix Mountain together---"

"You met this Ronin ever since the day I left, right?" Zeriav then decided it was time to slowly broach the topic about this daemon in disguise.

"Uh, yes. I just mentioned that, haha." Cermin blinked. "He gave me an umbrella when it was raining and listened to all my troubles... It was the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me."

"And you didn't find it strange that he was unaffected by the daemon at all." Zeriav prompted. "Even when all four of us who were once your friends were destroyed by it?"

Cermin frowned. "We got lucky. The daemon left me be when Ronin came to my life---"

"Your Highness, don't you see that's too much of a coincidence? Have you never considered that?"

Zeriav held his shoulder. "Please think about it carefully. Why would the daemon only let you go once you became friends with Ronin?"

Cermin still couldn't understand what he was implying.

"It's probably because Ronin was already a Commoner and he wasn't much of a threat... Or the daemon just happened to decide that it will hide for now and attack me later."

He added: "That's why I'll do my best to keep an eye on Ronin from now on. I was so worried after graduation because the daemon might strike the moment we got separated from each other----"

"Your Highness, you're not thinking further about this! Would a daemon discriminate between a Commoner and a Noble? Of course not!"

Zeriav was shaking him at this rate, desperately trying to have Cermin realize this.

"And nothing will happen to Ronin because the daemon would never hurt him. He would hurt you instead." Zeriav said firmly. "Your Highness... Ronin would hurt you."

Cermin finally was starting to see where he was getting at, but could not accept it.

"I don't understand..... How can Ronin...."

Zeriav looked at him straight to the eyes and said:

"Can't you see? This friend you have valued for all these years..... He was the daemon!"