XXIV: Know Thy Enemy

Two weeks had passed since my endless training saga had begun. Day after day, I found myself sparring with Evangeline and learning the ins and outs of hand-to-hand combat. To my surprise, I had improved considerably from when we first started the process. Unfortunately, I still hadn’t made any progress in the field of magic. Despite practicing Morning Dew every night like Eva suggested, I failed repeatedly to cast the spell even once.

After yet another grueling session of training behind St. Cirelia, Eva offered me a break—an offer I happily accepted.

“You’re doing great, Shinsuke!” Eva declared as she plopped down on the grass beside me. She was spotless, of course, while I was sweating through my shirt. “You’ve made progress beyond my hopes.”

“Thanks,” I managed through heavy panting.

“So, I hate to ask and put you in this headspace, but have you given any thought to how you’ll take on Emil yet?”

I laughed, drawing a concerned glance from my pink-haired mentor. “I can’t even cast a children’s spell. I have no idea what I’ll do besides die.”

Mizuki, who had been joining our training sessions daily after her classes ended, tossed a water bottle into my lap and chided me. “Stop that, Shinsuke. You’re doing the best you can. I won’t allow you to put yourself down like this.”

“She’s right,” Eva agreed. “Your abilities in hand-to-hand combat have improved greatly. Not only that, but your physique and stamina are also improving. You may not be where you need to be yet, but don’t downplay all that you’ve accomplished considering the circumstances.”

Thoroughly rebuked for my cynicism, I backed down. “You’re right, sorry.” Mizuki patted my head as a reward for my retraction.

“But I really don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “If you were in my situation, how would you fight this guy, Eva?”

“Hmm.” My mentor curled her index finger against her lips and pondered my question for a moment. “He’s a defensive magic specialist. You saw what he could do in that video we watched together. The odds of doing any damage to him while he can erect barriers are slim to none. Even for someone of my level.”

I kept seeing that gods forsaken barrier in my mind every time I simulated battling the pompous blonde prince. Cynthia was right when she said that I had been assigned the worst possible first opponent based on my lack of skill.

“However,” Eva continued. “Protective barriers like that take a lot of energy to keep around. It’d have to come down at some point. And besides that, he definitely has a weakness—everyone does. There is no such thing as a perfect defense.”

“And what do you think his weakness is?” Mizuki asked.

“Glad you ask, sis! Personally, I think the pampered prince has a glass jaw. Or, in other words, because he’s so focused on defense, he’s probably not used to getting roughed up. And I’d also bet money that his offense isn’t so hot either.”

I took a sip of water and chimed in, saying, “I was thinking the same thing. But that’s a big assumption. And besides that, how would one get him out of that barrier, let alone do enough damage before he can put it back up?”

“Well,” Eva started with a devious smirk. “If it were me, I would overload his precious little barrier. You see, my attacks may not hurt him, but if he were to be hit with a ton of elements at once, he would need to focus his energy on the largest blasts, lest he risk something penetrating his shield. It would peel away at some point.”

“But I can’t do that.”

“Right,” she laughed. “There is another way to get him to lower that barrier, though. If you could draw him out of it somehow, that would leave him open to attack.”

“But wouldn’t he just put the barrier back up?” Mizuki inquired once more.

“Indeed, but before he could try it, I would hit him with a drain spell. Then he would have a choice: leave the barrier up and allow his magic to be slowly sapped from him or lower the barrier to focus on breaking the drain spell. That’s when I’d sock him in the face and win!”

She concluded her simulation with a triumphant fist pump, followed by a bow. I was positive she heard adoring cheers and applause in her crazy head.

“That’s great and all, but I can’t do any of those things, Eva,” I reminded her.

“Right, but you asked me what I would do in your shoes, remember?”

I sighed and closed my eyes. I thought about her strategy and considered how I could adapt it for my own use. Needless to say, I was drawing endless blanks.

Not that I was making much progress in the realm of my mind, but any thoughts I could have stitched together were torn apart by the sound of a vehicle’s engine drawing close. I looked up to see a royal car pulling up right in front of me. But this wasn’t Cynthia. No, the car before the three of us bore the crest of the York family and the flag for the kingdom of Vosnus.

The vehicle parked, and from inside emerged Eli.

“Yo, Shinsuke,” he greeted me with a grin. His attention quickly shifted to Evangeline, however, and his eyes doubled in size. “Holy crap, Evangeline Dioli?! The one and only?!”

Eva bowed immediately. “That’s me! It’s an honor to meet you, Your Royal Highness.”

“The pleasure is mine, I insist!” he replied. “I’ve heard a lot about you, but I didn’t realize you were friends with Shinsuke.”

“Yeah, we’re schoolmates. We were just hanging around!” she laughed.

“What do you want, Eli?” I interrupted.

“Oh, right. I got distracted there for a minute! I felt bad about how things ended between us before. Think we could talk privately for a second?”

“Fine.”

Eli motioned to his car with his head and began walking towards it. Before I could follow, Eva grabbed my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Don’t tell him I’m training you. They’ll find out eventually, but they don’t need to know that right now.”

I nodded and accompanied the prince back to his car. Once inside, he told his driver to step out, leaving the two of us alone.

“So,” Eli began. “I wanted to say I was sorry for getting mad at you back at the casino. It’s understandable that you would be so on edge after you got jumped. We’re cool in my book, and I hope you feel the same.”

“As long as you get that I’m suspicious of all you royals, then yeah, we’re cool.”

“Fair enough. But I promise you it wasn’t me,” the prince reaffirmed. “That’s the second thing I wanted to mention. Like I said, I know who did it.”

“Do you plan on telling me?”

“On one condition: you gotta beat Emil first. Consider it…motivation to do your best. Deal?”

How did I know he would say something like that.

“Fine, whatever. It’s a deal,” I agreed, begrudgingly. “What are you still doing in Steylia, anyway?”

“I just figured I’d hang here instead of traveling all the way back to Vosnus just to come back for the fight. I’ve been sightseeing!”

“Right. Anyway, while you’re here, there’s a favor I need to ask of you.”

Eli chuckled and said, “what, you need some more of my money?”

“No. I want you to tell me everything you know about Emil.”

“You call that a favor? I can do that easy-peasy. But why?”

“It just dawned on me that I know nothing about this guy and you royals all seem to know each other.”

“There’s a lot we don’t know about you either,” he pointed out. “That’s why I was hoping you and I could get to know each other. But since something tells me you and Emil won’t be chatting pleasantly anytime soon, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about him.”

“Just start at the beginning. Tell me everything I couldn’t find by typing the guy’s name into a search engine.”

The prince of Vosnus relaxed his posture, leaning back, crossing his legs, and clasping his hands together behind his head. He shut his eyes as he spoke. “I should start by mentioning that I’ve known him and all the other royals since we were kids. Back then, he and I were tight. I wouldn’t describe the two of us that way these days, but I’d like to think we still share a level of respect.”

“What changed between you two?” I asked, laying my head back on the headrest and slipping into my own lazy posture.

“Well, we were young. Despite being royalty, we were all pretty innocent back then. Most of us, anyway. So, we just chilled whenever we met up like kids do. But then real-life hits, you know?”

“So, you two grew distant because of responsibilities?”

He opened his eyes slightly, his crosshairs centered on the back of the driver’s seat before him. “Not quite. You see, Emil always had a…complicated home life. And the older he got, the more it changed him.”

I kept quiet and allowed Eli to continue.

“I’m sure you and plenty of other common folk think being royalty is like hitting the genetic jackpot in life, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. At least, not for most of us. In Emil’s case, he got dealt a rough hand parentally.”

“Oh yeah?” I remarked, pressing for elaboration.

“His dad was always…let’s say, ‘entertaining’ lots of women behind the scenes. Meanwhile, on the surface, he was preaching family values, faithfulness, and all that other jazz to the people of his kingdom.”

“I see where Emil gets his healthy views on women from.”

“You’d think so, but there’s more to it than that,” Eli clarified. “Emil didn’t approve of his dad’s affairs—far from it. In fact, he despises his father.”

I offered the prince a puzzled expression and he continued.

“He found out about his father’s behavior through his mom who wasn’t too pleased about any of it. I’m sure you can understand why she would be enraged about it all, who could blame her? But the way she dealt with it…” Eli trailed off, his face becoming a fusion of anger, distance, and pity.

I said nothing. The prince shook his head before carrying on.

“She resented him for his resemblance to his father. And because of that, she took her anger out on her own son. Day in and day out, she abused him mentally and physically. She made his life hell, Shinsuke. No kid should have to go through what she put him through.”

I shifted in my seat, unable to find the words to respond to what I had just been told. I didn’t need to know the details to know how I felt about it.

“You saw all of this happen?” I asked, my voice unsteady with frustration.

“Not at first. I had no clue about any of this until I guess the dam just burst one day, and he started venting to me about everything. After that, it was hard to miss.”

Eli went on to explain that, according to Emil, his mother had expressed rage about being trapped in a marriage with a lecherous, cheating scumbag, all the while lying to the world about what a perfect, wholesome relationship they supposedly shared. Furthermore, both of Emil’s parents had unhealthy ideas of what “being a man” means and imposed those ideals upon their son.

“Once his father became aware that Emil knew about his affairs, he filled his head with all this nonsense about how a real man must protect his pride, secrets, and dignity at all costs, and as long as he did that, he could indulge in any immoral behavior he desires,” Eli explained. “Meanwhile, his mom said that he was born disgusting because of his father, and only she could mold Emil into a respectable man. Her way of doing this was being unreasonably strict and abusing him anytime he said or did something she disagreed with.”

I rolled my head to the side, glancing out the window to watch Eva and Mizuki sitting on the grass beside one another, having what looked to be another awkward conversation for my poor childhood friend. Eva was laughing, though. And the smile printed on her lips was the only thing that counteracted the anger I felt dying to escape me.

The prince continued. “His mom has always referred to her husband and son as ‘pig’ and ‘little pig’, respectively. As you might guess, this is her way of constantly reminding him she views him as nothing more than the demon spawn of his dad.”

A large cloud slowly eclipsed the sun, casting darkness upon the already dying dusk.

“I remember laughing at the way Emil recoiled whenever his mother called him ‘little pig’. I thought it was embarrassing, but funny, you know? I never understood why it upset him so much…until I did.” He shook his head. “When your own mother torments you all throughout your childhood, and your father is a disgusting, gaslighting phony, how could you not turn out messed up?”

“So, Emil was pretty screwed from the start, huh?” I observed.

Eli ran his palm across the stubble on his cheek. “Depends on how you look at it. The guy has had it rough. But he isn’t the only one in this unforgiving world, my friend. While it might be understandable why Emil is the way he is, he had a choice to be better. We all have a choice. Instead, he chose to look down upon and hurt others, including some of his own people. He chose to be disgusting and harmful towards women because of his hatred for his mother. And he chose to take this opportunity in the gauntlet to put himself above everyone else on the planet.”

The prince looked up and locked eyes with me. With a firm expression, he said, “I told you all of that because you asked. It’s important that you understand him, but don’t you dare go feeling so sorry that you throw this thing. His reasons for wanting to win this gauntlet are flimsy and selfish. And make no mistake, he will hurt Cynthia without a shred of remorse just to get what he wants.”

“What does he want from all of this?” I asked, too many thoughts swirling in my head.

“I’m sure he’ll tell you that part himself. I think you’ll get more fired up hearing it from him rather than me.”

“All right. I only have one more question.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“How the hell did you find me today, anyway?”

He burst into laughter, gripping his knee tightly. “I thought you were gonna ask me something more serious than that! But that information is pretty easy to obtain, you know. I was going to go to your apartment, but instinct told me to check your school first.”

“Instinct, or a glance at the clock and an ounce of common sense?”

“Man aren’t you just full of quips?” He took out his phone and held it out to me. “Here, why don’t we exchange numbers? That way I don’t have to stalk you anymore~”

I retrieved my own phone and handed it to him. “Fine.”

With us now in possession of each other’s numbers, I bid Eli farewell and stepped out of the car. His driver returned to the vehicle and the prince rolled the window down to wave me off as he departed. Eva and Mizuki approached me once he was out of sight.

“Is everything okay, Shinsuke?” Mizuki asked.

“Yeah. I just learned a lot.”

“Hey, Shinsuke,” Eva started. “I didn’t realize some of the other royals were still in the kingdom. I’d like to keep the fact that I’m training you a secret for as long as we can. So, let’s call it quits for today. Starting tomorrow, I’d like to move our training somewhere more private.”

I nodded. “I think that’s a smart idea.”

That ended the day for us. On the trip home with Mizuki, I found myself distracted thinking about my conversation with Eli. Bits and pieces of his words flashed in my mind, and I could feel something bubbling inside of me.

I have an idea.