"What exactly are you doing in my workshop, you overgrown child?" Lucy stood in her workshop, glaring at Maxwell, who was lounging beside her with a bag of salted nuts in hand.

  "I'm making sure you don’t go and bother Axel on his date," Maxwell replied, his mouth stuffed with so many nuts that he resembled a chipmunk.

  "Don't speak with your mouth full, it's disgusting. How can someone like you—a prince—have such terrible manners?" Lucy shot him a look of disapproval.

  "Besides, I don’t need to spy on them personally," Lucy continued. "I left a little birdie to watch them at the ice cream shop, and it will show me everything."

  Lucy pulled out a mirror, which displayed an image of Axel and Lily at the ice cream parlor, chatting. The mirror only showed visuals, with no sound. She saw Axel and his companion suddenly looking startled. Then, Axel stood up, his face full of concern. Suddenly, the image cut out.

  "Lucy, we need to go. Something bad just happened." Maxwell clapped his hands, as if calling someone. Within a minute, two members of the Royal Guard appeared. They were Maxwell’s bodyguards, always hidden in the crowd, watching from the shadows. Every time Maxwell was with Axel and Lucy, his guards were never far. His friends had long accepted this as the price of his "normal" life before returning to the palace.

  "I've never asked you for anything before, but I have a bad feeling about this," Maxwell said to his guards. "Gunter and Eustace, I need you to come with me."

  Gunter was a short man, barely one and half meters, slim but highly skilled with all types of weapons. His gift was "Vibration," allowing him to make enemies and objects vibrate at high frequencies upon touch—highly effective in combat.

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  Eustace had the gift of "Illusion." He could manipulate reality to deceive opponents. A towering man, nearly two meters tall, he and Gunter made an odd but effective duo in battle.

  "Yes, sir. We will accompany you, but remember: your safety is always our top priority," they said in unison.

  Maxwell carried Lucy on his back as he sprinted at high speed, his guards keeping pace. As they neared the ice cream parlor, a sudden portal opened before them. Out poured goblin-like creatures, each about a meter tall, looking disturbingly childlike. There were eight in total. Then, something worse emerged—a towering goblin, two and a half meters tall, with massive muscles and a shaman-like goblin beside it, draped in ragged robes. This one, despite being frail and skeletal, seemed the most dangerous.

  The massive goblin wielded a colossal axe and struck first. "It’s huge and bulky—it must be slow," the guards assumed. They were gravely mistaken. With lightning speed, it targeted Lucy. Maxwell shoved her aside and took the blow himself. Then, an arm flew through the air.

  Maxwell was more surprised by the goblin’s speed than by the fact that he had just lost an arm.

  "Guys, I’ll handle the big one. You take care of the little ones." He spoke calmly as his arm rapidly regenerated, the cells multiplying at an astonishing speed. This was Maxwell’s gift—his birthright as royalty. "Regeneration and control over his internal biology." He could suppress pain at will. He wasn’t immortal, but his ability was undeniably useful.

  "Thanks, Max. My appreciation for you just went up by one percent," Lucy remarked as she brushed off dust.

  "You called me Max?! You must really be warming up to me!" Maxwell beamed as he drew his sword, a long and straight blade. Lucy pulled out her magic staff, preparing to fight the goblin shaman. Eustace and Gunter unsheathed their weapons—Gunter with his favored daggers and Eustace with a lightweight spear. The battle against the goblins had begun.

  "Can someone tell me why none of you brought a gun?" Lucy asked as she readied herself.

  "The prince is strictly forbidden from using firearms until he has mastered other weapons," the guards replied.

  "And why didn’t you two idiots bring guns?" Lucy snapped.

  "We forgot, ma’am," the guards admitted.

  "By YH, you two are idiots!" Lucy groaned, covering her face in embarrassment.