Handwaving works for me, especially since they share a floor.

Can't blame Flint for wanting to keep the pirate part secret. Ronan might put it together after a while but having secrets of his own, he might choose not to call him out and just stick to jokes. We'll see. But he does like Terrifying Intensity in people (he has it himself).

Ronan's best friend was obsessed with this other guy to the point that he kept a journal and bugged Ronan to translate stuff plus they found his body. So he probably would know stuff about other kings. If Flint finds a way to read up on that guy though, Ronan would talk a lot.

I'll try to find some kind of classical thing he would like. I'm sure there's something out there. His father was from Ireland and really big on telling those stories to him. I might be able to dig up something related. He basically failed high school so he wouldn't really go for the standard Must Reads in English class. We've got some time before the game opens anyway.