"Brother, take care!"
Luke waved goodbye as he watched Jarvan IV's back disappear down the road.
Right now, he was naturally in a pretty good mood.
His original target had been Miss Crownguard's secret stash, but that plan had failed.
Who would've thought he'd get lucky so fast—an unexpected windfall just waiting around the corner.
Jarvan IV really was a good brother.
Lux, who had witnessed the whole thing, seemed to have figured out what was going on. She leaned in and said, "Did you spend all the living expenses you got that day?"
If she remembered right, Lux had been there the day Luke received his allowance. They'd even gone out to eat that day, and he'd burned through a lot of gold.
Hearing that, Luke sighed. "I've only got a bit over ten gold left."
"I knew it." Lux wore an expression that said she'd predicted this ages ago. "From the day you started spending like that, this day was inevitable."
Luke said helplessly, "How was I supposed to know there were rules like this?"
If someone had told him in advance this was how things worked, he obviously wouldn't have spent so freely.
He was the kind of person who did whatever he felt like.
When he had no money, he could get by day to day and didn't care much.
When he had money, he naturally lived the kind of life that felt best to enjoy.
But now that his money was nearly gone, someone suddenly popped up to tell him the royal family opposed extravagance and waste.
Luke really wanted to say: where were you earlier?
He could tell there was intent hidden behind all of this, but being able to live like he did now was already good enough. He wasn't going to complain.
"Normal," Lux said, suddenly sounding oddly reflective. "This is the standard routine. They create a problem for you, tell you to find a way to solve it, call it some kind of 'test,' and then judge you based on how you perform."
The more she spoke, the more it even started to rhyme.
Lux wasn't unfamiliar with this sort of thing.
When she was little, there was a fruit she loved called the Redhill Chestnut. It was sweet—sweet like candy.
At one noble gathering in High Silvermere, the adults only brought out two of them for her and her brother, Garen—one big, one small—and told her to choose for herself. (universe.leagueoflegends.com)
Back then, Lux loved that fruit more than anything. Maybe more than anyone else.
Even though she desperately wanted the big one, she also understood that everyone wanted to see her pick the small one and give the big one to her brother.
She didn't understand why that kind of "hard question" had to land on her shoulders.
But that was how adults were, wasn't it? They forced what they considered "training" onto children, entirely out of their own wishful thinking.
In the end, Lux didn't choose.
Because Garen said he didn't like Redhill Chestnuts, so naturally she got both.
But Lux remembered it clearly—her brother, who wasn't much older than she was, liked Redhill Chestnuts just as much as she did. (universe.leagueoflegends.com)
Luke sighed. "The adult world really is vicious."
"Yeah." Lux sighed too, deeply sympathetic. "Those five gold coins just gave me a brand-new understanding of how cruel this world can be."
Luke pretended he hadn't heard a thing and smoothly changed the subject. "If I remember right, we're pretty close to the Temple of the Lightbringers. Want to go take a look?" (League of Legends Wiki)
"Sure. I haven't seen Kahina in days either."
Lux's attention was successfully redirected.
They planned to buy ingredients on the way back. For now, they headed straight for the Temple of the Lightbringers.
When they arrived, there weren't many people around. Illuminators in white robes occasionally went in and out. (League of Legends Wiki)
They hadn't even taken more than a few steps when they spotted Kahina.
Kahina stood off to one side, strikingly noticeable—her youthful, bright presence made her easy to pick out.
She saw the two of them arrive as well. Her eyes lit up, and she walked over.
"Why are you here?"
"Obviously to see you," Lux said with a smile.
Luke followed behind and greeted her. "Long time no see, Kahina."
He remembered that after the last poker game at home, he hadn't seen Kahina for a while.
"Long time no see, Your Highness." Kahina smiled faintly when she saw Luke. "Come in and sit."
The three of them entered the Temple of the Lightbringers.
Inside, it looked about the same as the last time—nothing had really changed.
After glancing around, Luke asked, "Where's Moff?"
"He's in the back courtyard playing with the others. I'll take you to see," Kahina said, leading the way.
The two of them followed, and when they reached the back courtyard, they indeed saw a group of kids gathered together, playing and roughhousing.
At the same time, Luke spotted a familiar red cape. It seemed like among this whole group of children, only Moff wore something like that.
Moff ran back and forth through the crowd, having the time of his life.
Laughter and happy shouts drifted over now and then.
The three of them just stood quietly and watched for a moment.
Soon, Moff noticed Luke standing there. A second ago, he'd been grinning like a kid—then his face instantly turned deep and serious like an adult's, and he walked over.
Luke understood him perfectly. He temporarily stepped away from the two girls, ready to have a private talk with Moff.
"Why did it take you so long to come?" Moff asked the moment he arrived.
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone, but it was obvious he'd actually missed Luke.
Luke sighed. "Too much trouble lately."
Moff looked surprised. "There are problems you can't solve?"
"Of course not," Luke said confidently. "It just took a bit of time. Forget that—how did the task I gave you go?"
At that, Moff's expression turned confident and smug. "Ridiculously easy. With my incredible acting, I've already become their boss. Whatever game I say we're playing, that's what they have to play."
Being the king of the kids really did take skill.
"Good." Luke nodded in satisfaction and patted Moff's shoulder. "Since you've completed the task, I'm officially appointing you as my first personal guard. Moff, are you willing?"
Moff immediately put on an extremely fake look of shock, then said with great honor, "I'm willing!"
In truth, he'd fantasized about this day for a long time.
Becoming the prince's first personal guard!
Moff was extremely excited inside.
Even though at his age he didn't really understand what a "personal guard" was supposed to do, it sounded impressive, and that was enough.
"What do I do next?"
Now that he was Luke's first personal guard, Moff was already ready to carry out the next mission.
Luke couldn't think of a new task on the spot, so he said, "Keep doing what you're doing for now. When I have new orders, I'll come find you again."
Moff immediately snapped into a military salute. "Yes!"
A kid giving a military salute looked pretty ridiculous.
Luke's eyes were full of amusement. "Go on."
Moff ran right back, beaming. Before long, he was organizing a brand-new game.
"What secret stuff were you two talking about?" Lux asked curiously when Luke returned.
"Not telling you."
"Tch. Like I wanted to hear it," Lux said, curling her lip in disdain.
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