Oktofinitum

Chapter 40

Mirakov

"Rise and shine, sleepy head." I immediately covered my face and groaned, "Five more minutes..."

"I wish I could let you sleep in but we have an investigation to do," agad namang nagising ang diwa ko. Shit. I totally forgot about the fact that I am in a bunk bed in a tavern in a mystical empire and not in my own room. Naalala ko ang mga panahon na si Gaige ang gumigising sa akin sa umaga, imbes na ang perpektong mukha ng prinsipeng naka-dungaw sa akin ngayon.

He smiled and took a step back giving me my personal space, "I'll be down the tavern, come down when you're ready," he said, "You look great in the morning by the way," pahabol niya bago tuluyang umalis dahilan para mamula ako. Holy hell, may muta pa ata ako tapos sasabihan niya ako ng ganoon? Tss, what an annoyingly charming prince. I shook my head and went on to do my morning routine instead. I wore the school uniform that I have without the vest because it has the academy's logo which will compromise our supposed covert investigation.

Nang makarating ako sa baba, pamilyar na senaryo ang bumungad sa akin. There were morning drinkers and some who have been there since last night, which made me realize that this typical tavern, despite it looking olden, is not very different from the one on earth.

Aidan was sitting on a round table for two on a far edge near the door. There's a nice breakfast in front of him with boiled eggs, avocado toast, and a glass of... "Milk? Really?"

He looked up to me, "What? You need a healthy breakfast, my Lady."

I shook my head and slipped to the wooden stool right in front of him, "So, where's this Centrium? How are we supposed to go there? And where are the rest?"

"Easy on the questions, eat your toast first," he motioned his head to the plate in front of me, which I gladly took a bite on.

"The Centrium is located at the Capital's central plaza, between all the districts. We can go there by carriage which should be waiting right outside. The others are already gone, they went the moment that daybreaks," he explained which caused me to choke on my food, "We're late? Should we go now?"

"You should finish your breakfast first," he said, "Sanay naman akong hindi nagbi-breakfast sa umaga, let's go? The earlier we get there the better, right?"

"No, it's okay. It's actually better to go there late into the day when the plaza is packed so that we can conceal ourselves among the crowd," he said and I simply replied with an 'Oh.' Still, it's embarrassing to make a prince wait for me while breaking fast so I ate with haste. I was also excited to ride this carriage he's talking about, which to my surprise is different than I expected.

"Carriage," I scoffed.

"Conspicuous," he said. It was a cart of vegetables and fruits, "We'll pretend to deliver them on the market, so that we have a cover in case anything comes up," he said as he mounted atop the driver's seat. He then held his palms out to help me up like a gentleman, looking as graceful as ever, even when he's disguised as a vegetable vendor. I shook my head and chuckled as I accepted his hand and pulled myself up.

The ride to the market was very exciting as I got to see the rest of the capital's features, infrastructures, and the people most especially, their fascinating abilities. There was one guy who was doing an on the spot sculpture and selling it to kids, while there was another guy who was doing water tricks. I was busily roaming my eyes around the place when we hit a missing cobbled stone along the road causing the cart to become unstable, "Easy there..." Aidan, with his expert maneuver, saved the cart and held my stomach from behind as I was about to fall. Agad akong umayos ng upo dahil tila nakayakap siya mula sa likod ko. I cleared my throat and sat properly. Aidan on the other hand was guiding the horse drawing our veggie carriage with only one hand, like the Mirkovian version of a guy doing car reverse with one hand on the steering wheel.