The man behind the cash register was a Cryptid, which was quite eye-catching in a village of Demons. His clothing was a mix of polyester and cotton, a cheap, mass-produced option he brought from his homeland. Thanks to the air conditioning, his shirt being a sleeveless model was not a problem. 

While he was looking at his phone, small black spikes were visible around his wrists. These spikes existed at other parts of his body that were hidden beneath his clothing, such as the sides of his legs (the ones on his legs were turned outward at each side, therefore not a bother when moving one’s legs) a tad bit higher than the feet but lower than the knee, his belly button and his earlobes. The aforementioned features were all appearances of the third form of Cryptids, half humanoid, often accompanied by animalistic features. Small pointy things akin to wings sprouted from his waist, although the gills on it suggested it may not have been used to fly. This excrescence was dark black like the spikes.

The peculiar excrescence exposed his belly. Despite not being of healthy weight by BMI standards, he did not seem bothered.

Johnathan roamed the small shop with adoration. The somewhat sturdy shelves were bolted to the ground or the walls, depending on their location. There were many supplies on sale, such as batteries of different sizes, lightbulbs, and seasonings not naturally found or commonly grown in the Kingdom. All of them are in their original plastic packaging.

In other aisles, there were more expensive products such as A4 paper (which was cheaper than papyrus, or any other paper Demons were used to, although it was pricey compared to its manufacturing costs), canisters with gasses intended to be used as fuel for various contraptions, cigarettes, etc.

There was a freezer at the right upmost corner of the small market. Inside were beverages and snacks from the Federation, although no one had ever seen the shelf order differently. It was impossible to determine if he used the fridge himself and replaced the products or if no one cared about them, and therefore, he hadn’t even bothered getting rid of the outdated ones.

While Johnathan inspected the supermarket, Kristine had already picked one canister from the cluster. She carefully pulled it out of the shelf. The canister made a loud noise as she dragged it on the floor. Another loud thump followed as she placed the canister on the counter.

“We’ll take this one.”

The man laid his phone on the table and nodded dismissively. He grabbed the canister from the handle and slightly lifted it. With his other hand, he grabbed a scanner and scanned the barcode underneath the canister.

“Anything else?” 

“What’s that?” Johnathan asked excitedly, pointing at the scanner. Kristine jumped in place because she had not noticed him approaching.

“A scanner,” the man replied curtly.

“What does it do?”

“It scans.”

“That’s all,” Kristine quickly intervened.

“That’ll be six silver coins, then.”

Kristine sighed and ruffled her pockets. She dropped six silver coins on the counter one by one. The man took them, and after ensuring the payment was complete, he got back on his phone.

“Is that all we came here for?” Johnathan asked.

“Yes,” Kristine muttered as she clung onto the canister as if hugging it and lifting it.

Their way back was uneventful. They stopped by a bakery, bought a loaf of rye bread for a silver coin, and headed their way. Kristine refused to allow Johnathan to aid her despite her apparent struggle. Upon his insistence, she mocked his lack of muscle, insinuating that the extravagance of royalty is especially straining to one’s musclepower and physical strength.

They knocked on the door. Kristine’s mother, Reginleif Chadeleya, answered the door and welcomed them in.

“But what about my training?!” Jimothan asked loudly and in disbelief.

“I am sorry, but I can not ignore a letter from the Chief of Staff,” Ødger explained rationally. “I have to go to the capital and at least hear them out.”

“But you’re retired, right? Right? What does he even want from you?”

“I cannot answer for certain,” Ødger tried to end the discussion.

“I am a prince, hello?!” Jimothan shook Ødger with his grasp on his arms. “You think the Chief of Staff is above me? You listen to him over me?!”

Ødger apologised but did not change his mind. The conversation repeated a few times with the same outcome until Kristine asked, “What happened? Is something the matter?”

“That scroll that came in the other day,” Ødger answered, ignoring Jimothan yapping about his status beside him, “I decided that it may be best to head back to the capital and learn why they’re trying to summon me.”

“Oh! Can I come with you, dad? I haven’t been there since we moved!”

“Maybe another time, but if you want me to relay a message, I will see what I can do.”

“Okay! When are you leaving? I’ll write a letter and hand it to you.”

“Tomorrow, if all goes well. Who’s the lucky person?” 

“Haven’t spoken to Bobathan since forever,” Kristine spoke enthusiastically. “It’s already been over 20 years! Hope he hasn’t forgotten about me by now.”

Johnathan and Jimothan both turned to Kristine at once.

“...what?”

“Who do you…” Jimothan started.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Johnathan interrupted, “Kristine, can you please describe this Bobathan?”

“What’s with the sudden interest?!” she screeched. “I feel pressured!”

“You should be,” Jimothan spoke arrogantly.

“Just answer the question, please,” Johnathan answered.

Kristine put a hand to her chin and rubbed it precariously. “Ginger hair, I suppose… red eyes, a bucket hat with a green clover on top, and a frog underneath, and…”

“...and he is an airhead?” Johnathan finished Kristine’s sentence.

“I was going to talk about his clothing, but now that I think about it, he is kind of airheaded. So you two know him too?”

“Small world, huh?” 

“How’d the two of you meet, anyway?” Jimothan asked Kristine. Ødger silently got up as he was giving a thumbs-up to Kristine right before he slinked away.

Kristine stared at her father, unable to understand what it meant. Jimothan, too, looked back to see what she was looking at, and he, too, became confused. Instead of realising what had happened, however, he got angry at Kristine for ignoring him and repeated his question. He was going to poke Kristine’s cheeks like how he did to Bobathan when he got mad, but Kristine pushed him away.

“Stay away, first of all,” she started, “As for how we met…I can’t tell for certain. Apparently, our fathers fought side by side and their friendship goes back centuries…”

“Not apparently, dear, it does go that fat back,” Reginleif interrupted, “your father would never shut up about him back when they were brothers in arms.” She laid down 5 plates on the spherical table in the middle of the couches.

“How far are we talking, exactly?” Jimothan asked.

“They were friends ever before we got married, so based on that, at least 500 BT,” she answered as she set down a cushion-like wicker basket with a fancy napkin on the bottom. Inside the basket was the loaf of bread Johnathan and Kristine bought on their way. It was sliced up and heated to turn slightly brown to achieve the perfect amount of crispiness without losing the softness of bread fresh out of the furnace.

“Does this mean your friendship with Bobathan is just as archaic, Kristine?” 

“Depends on what you consider archaic. I personally don’t think so.”

“She may not look the part, but she’s a grown woman,” Reginleif said. She put down appetizers in cups on the table. “Their friendship’s first century is only so far away.”

“Mom, you make me feel old! Stop it!!”

Reginleif smiled and tittered Kristine’s hair. She was in the kitchen when Kristine defeated the shyness that washed over her and corrected, “Our first century anniversary is in the past now, mom… About a decade ago, almost.”

“Goodness…” Reginleif gasped. “But I could have sworn it was right around the corner…”

“How did you two meet him?” Kristine asked thereinafter a gruff silence. 

“Well, you know our identity… I don’t think there’s a problem telling you the story.”

Johnathan told her in great detail one of their escapades of yore before Lyfingeswe became Hjelmstad, but after the Palace of the Heavens had earned its title.

It was Jimothan’s idea to sneak out of the city by jumping off the walls. He planned to coerce a knight into abiding by their behest without the Empress being informed distantly, which had worked the way Jimothan wanted it to, somehow.

They knew the capital well; they had spent their entire lives there. Navigating its streets, they did so efficiently and restlessly. Before long, they arrived at one of the giant medieval doors that separated the city from the great pit it was surrounded by. 

They used their titles as the High Prince and the Little Prince, thereafter not being questioned of the sudden visit royalty has decided to bestow upon them lowly soldiers.

The argument with the knight stationed at the wall was quite one-sided. The knight practically begged Jimothan to not give this burden to him because he knew he would have to talk, but Jimothan refused to leave him alone and accused him of treason. At some point, the guard felt obligated to comply.

The guard took them to one of the storage rooms inside the wall. They took a thick, sturdy rope originally used to tie cargo and hied to the top of the walls, settling on a spot beside the entrance of the watchtower.

The knight dangled the rope downward. Jimothan and Johnathan climbed down from the rope as Jimothan kept cursing over and over, angry at the fact that a princess is allowed to order whatever she likes from around the world, but when it’s him who made a meagre request, they refused it forthwith. It was unacceptable.

As they descended, the surface of the water down the pit became more visible. The water’s surface was pellucid, therefore, it was not clear what was underneath. Bubbles started fizzing on the surface, and as they descended lower, the bubbles had increased in quantity as well.

Alas, a ginger-haired Demon arose from the water. He held his bucket hat, which had a 4-leaf clover strapped on it, in place by applying pressure from above with his hand. He took a deep breath.

He attempted to stay on top. However, he could not swim because he hadn’t let go of his hat. He sank, pushed himself up with his feet, got tired and started struggling again, then he managed to not drown and the cycle repeated.

When he saw the rope, he desperately clanged onto the rope. It allowed him to stabilise himself because he had hugged the rope with his arm.

He took off his hat, and a frog was seen on top of his head. The frog tried to jump away, but he immediately grabbed him and put him in his hat. His hand had disappeared once he stuck it inside of his hat.

The two princes saw his lips move, although they could not hear what he said. Shortly thereafter, he pulled an egg out of it. He threw the egg in the air, and before gravity could affect it, it hatched while airborne.

A glorious bird hatched out and grew in size ceremoniously. It was like a raven, but it was bit enough that the young Demon grabbed its rear and climbed on it.

Johnathan concluded his tale by saying that it was their first meeting. Despite later discovering that he’s usually quite the airhead, he had left a remarkable first impression on them. Jimothan denied this, however.

Johnathan quickly explained that over time, they grew more comfortable with each other and he helped them sneak out more and more often and they would hang out whenever their life at the palace became too dull.

“So you two may be closer than I am to him, after all.” Kristine nodded, tracing his chin in a pondering way.

“We should test out. With a reunion, or something.”

“Oh, come on,” Jimothan protested snobbily, “We haven’t seen him pull anything other than his frog out of his hat since! He lost all his buzz long ago!”

“That may be how you see it, Jim, but I still suspect he has tricks up his sleeve we are yet to learn about,” Johnathan refuted calmly.

“Sounds like the Bobathan, I know, too. Now you made me curious as well.” Kristine confirmed.