《ISEKAI: I was reincarnated as the poorest King in the world.》


 Introduction/Chapter 1: Changing Latin America

    ISEKAI: I was reincarnated as the poorest King in the world.


    Introduction.


    Is it worth being good in a bad world?


    I don''t know, I never knew.


    As a child I always told myself that living by the norms was the perfect path to virtue. I followed the rules of the game, I advanced along the road of life without once failing my moral code.


    And yet, when push came to shove, none of my choices turned out to be adequate.


    I failed many, many times, I fell until I was mired in the mud of failure.


    Why didn''t anything work out the way I wanted it to?


    Why did my choices end in the worst possible outcome?


    I never hurt anyone.


    I always set out to improve myself through training and discipline. I had every safe card in my hand.


    So why...


    Why did it all turn out so badly?


    Was it my environment?


    Or was it me?


    Suddenly, an absurd idea came into my brain during those final seconds.


    What if I could live again?


    Would I really take the same path of righteousness?


    For an instant the thought of becoming a crazy libertine flashed through my brain. Having a life of excess, uncontrolled sex and dark passion to satiate my baser instincts didn''t seem so bad after all.


    I would eat without concern for my health, fornicate until I was drier than a raisin and kill all those who pissed me off. After all...


    "You only live once."


    And yet, despite that moment of weakness my answer remained the same.


    Of course I would live an honorable life.


    For that was my nature and not even a reincarnation could change that.


    Right?


    Chapter 1: Changing Latin America


    The sound of the car driving on the ground gave me a bad feeling.


    I leaned my face out the window to try to shake off this bad feeling that was weighing me down. I knew that coming here was a terrible idea, especially because of the recent criminal conflicts with the local population.


    According to what I was told, these criminal groups were in charge of extorting money from the villagers through violence and threats that they usually carried out.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°We must hurry. ¡°My words reached the driver and he only nodded his head, then stepped on the accelerator and little by little we drove deeper into the rural town. I didn''t see any other cars around, nor pedestrians working the fields.


    ¡°We are almost there, Deputy, are you ready to make your speech? ¡° asked my driver.


    ¡°Of course I am, I am going to propose my new security strategy to get these rats out of here. I cannot allow them to hurt the people who strive every day to get ahead. ¡°My determination did not waver, despite the threats and warnings I received, I was not going to back down.


    My father died at an advanced age when I turned 25 and my mother died in childbirth. I had no romantic partner, no friends, only co-workers who aligned themselves with my ideals of greatness.


    The van entered the town after 10 minutes. Again, the absence of people made me feel uncomfortable, especially because of the time: barely four o''clock in the afternoon.


    The place was no different from the vast majority of Mexican towns to the north, the houses were concrete and brick well erected and the main avenues boasted a new patching that probably won''t last more than six months.


    ¡°We arrived, we should go straight to the dome to prepare for the event, tomorrow we will have a busy day.¡±


    ¡°As you order, Congressman, the truth is that I admire you very much, despite being less than thirty years old you are already recognized in social networks as one of the few honest politicians in this country. If there were more people like you then my children would not be afraid to go out in the street. ¡° The driver, named Hugo, flattered me with his sincere words.


    We had worked together since the beginning of the year and hit it off immediately. We weren''t exactly friends, but at least he knew when to say cool phrases.


    ¡°It''s the right thing to do, I will make sure Mexico is a safe place for the next generations. ¡°We arrived at the central plaza at a good hour, the place was an esplanade covered with a plastic dome that gave a futuristic appearance with some touches of poverty. Finally I saw a few street vendors walking nearby, all of them lying with their stalls held by a three-wheeled bicycle.


    ¡°I still don''t see anyone, sir, should I go look for them at the presidency? ¡°Hugo asked.


    ¡°Yes, you should go and see. I will stay here to start the logistics. Let them know we''re early, they must be eating.¡±


    ¡°Okay, see you later. ¡°Hugo started the van and left the place, leaving me alone in the middle of the esplanade.


    I took a quick look at the site; apparently we''ll have to move a stage in the back for better visibility. As for the sound, I guess two basses and about six speakers distributed by a conductor cable will be enough.


    Interesting, I''ll be sure to give an excellent speech to move the authorities.


    ¡°Oh, it''s about time. ¡°I heard the sound of two white vans approaching from a distance, probably the other deputies and the municipal president.


    Fortunately they didn''t take long, as there was a lot of work to be done before nightfall.


    And all of a sudden my words disappeared.


    Out of the two vans came three men wearing military balaclavas and carrying high caliber weapons, probably illegal. I didn''t need to be a genius to understand their intentions.


    ¡°Holy shit! ¡° I exclaimed, as I took cover behind the iron fountain.


    There were 6 heavily armed attackers with bulletproof vests. They didn''t say a word to me, they simply fired a volley of bullets with every intention of leaving me worse than a Swiss cheese.


    ¡°Help! ¡° I shouted again; from my pocket I pulled out my own handgun to try to defend myself.


    Only an idiot would challenge mobsters while unarmed. Since I was a teenager I asked for training with firearms and hand-to-hand combat, as I was aware that sooner or later I would be in a risky situation.


    Ok, calmly...


    I couldn''t fall victim to panic and terror, I had to keep them away so the cops could come to save me.


    ¡°Kill that asshole! ¡° Shouted one of the hitmen, while he continued firing his bullets in the direction of the statue.


    ¡°Ah!" I faked a scream of pain to make them lower their guard. And indeed, it worked, the shooting stopped and immediately one of the ampons walked with his rifle in my direction; he was planning to give me the coup de grace and finish the execution.


    Big mistake.


    I took the safety off the gun and pointed it to the right.


    The criminal was already relaxed because he thought he would find a dying man, not a guy pointing a gun at him.


    ¡°Pen! ¡° He couldn''t finish his motherfuckin'' lie, because I blew his head off with a shot that not only went through the balaclava, but also scattered his brains around the statue.


    ¡°That son of a bitch fooled us! ¡° exclaimed another hitman, enraged by the recent humiliation.


    It was not every day that the dreaded armed arms were confronted by a mere low-level deputy.


    ¡°Help, I''m under attack! ¡° I kept shouting for reinforcements.


    I was frightened.


    My screams seemed to be insufficient, as not a soul came forward to help me or at least alert the authorities.


    The thugs resumed their shooting once more and this time they retreated to both sides.


    ¡°No, no, no, no..." I whispered, as two silent tears ran down my cheeks.


    I knew very well what they were planning to do: surround me on both sides and shoot me without the protection of the fountain.


    ¡°Die already, pendejo!¡°


    Two attackers were positioned on my right flank and three on my left.


    ¡°Please help! ¡°I almost broke my throat with that desperate cry. The ampons surrounded me and pointed their guns at me, this seemed to be the end.


    I wished with all my heart that a Mexican army car would arrive right now with their machine guns ready to rescue me. I couldn''t die here, not when I was just starting my political career....


    ¡°AHHHH! ¡°I shot one hitman in the head, killing him instantly, but the other four sprayed me with bullets without a chance to dodge them or take cover again.


    Pain.


    Pain.


    Pain.


    This hurt like hell.


    I could feel the steel of the bullets shattering my joints, while my blood spilled all over the floor. I had never felt so much pain and suffering in my life, this must be a nightmare, a horrendous vision of my imagination.


    Wasn''t it?


    Wasn''t it?


    No... This was definitely not a mistake.


    I will indeed be killed.


    No one will know of my ideals or intentions, all my work will be in vain...


    No, no, no...


    I lost my vision and also stopped feeling my limbs. Blood filled my cold lips until I stopped feeling its warmth.


    No, no, no...


    This could not end like this.


    -We already killed this asshole, let''s go to hell.


    Those were the last words I managed to hear.


    The sounds disappeared and in the end only a white darkness enveloped me.


    That was how local deputy Esa¨² S¨¢nchez Moreno, 29 years old, ended his life.


    Bathed in steel and blood, with no one by his side to say his last goodbye.

 Chapter 2: Reincarnation

    Chapter 2: Reincarnation


    "If I could live again, I would do so honorably. I am not wrong."


    "Then prove it."


    The pain of the bullets never returned, instead my eyes widened and the first thing I saw was a stone ceiling very different from the concrete of a hospital.


    ¡°My son! ¡° A woman with black hair and a long brown dress called me *son*, was she confused, my mother passed away when I was born, so her words made no sense. She looked too young to be the mother of a 29-year-old man.


    ¡°Are you okay, how do you feel?¡±


    I didn''t know how to answer.


    I had just been shot.


    Surely I must have a body full of mortal wounds and clotted blood, how could she ask me such a question?


    Wasn''t the answer obvious?


    ¡°Give him time to react, my lady, the child almost died from the fever. ¡°Another slightly younger woman placed her right hand on my *mother''s* shoulder. ¡°Can you hear us?¡±


    ¡°It''s a miracle, the child actually passed away a few seconds ago, he had no more vital signs and I was about to give the news. ¡°The third person in this room was a rickety man with a dark complexion and white robes that looked like the habits of a Catholic priest.


    ¡°My son, my little boy! ¡° the woman continued to cry, with many, many tears streaming down her white cheeks.


    ¡°Your Highness, can you hear us?¡° The other woman had brown hair and a maid''s costume very similar to the ones I used to see in medieval dramas. It covered her entire body, revealing only part of her brown neck and shoulders. ¡°I''m Sora, do you remember me?¡±


    ¡°Do you remember me?¡±


    Did she say highness?


    What the hell was this woman talking about.


    ¡°What''s the matter? ¡° I was almost scared to death.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    No...


    I definitely did.


    T-T-That wasn''t my voice.


    ¡°Your Highness? ¡°Sora brought her right hand straight to my forehead; I could feel the warmth of her hand in contrast to a fever I barely noticed.


    ¡°What happened?¡° I questioned again, in a voice that was definitely not mine. I sounded like a small child.


    ¡°Your Highness.¡° The man stepped forward and also touched my cheeks, then grimaced in surprise and stepped back, "I-Impossible, the fever is almost gone....¡±


    ¡°Your mind must be tired, my son, you fell ill with blue fever, a deadly disease in minors. ¡°The woman who called herself my mother smiled at me very sweetly, I never received this kind of gesture in the past, so I could not help blushing with embarrassment.


    ¡°Blue fever? ¡°I whispered, "I-I don''t know that disease.¡±


    ¡°Take it easy, sonny, you almost died today. ¡°


    ¡°I need a mirror, please get me a mirror.¡° Part of me didn''t want to see reality, this must definitely be a dream.


    There was no other explanation.


    I''m probably rotting in the hospital.


    Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes... It couldn''t be otherwise.


    ¡°As you command, sir. ¡° The man in the robe brought with him a hand mirror big enough to see my entire reflection.


    And it was there that I saw myself.


    Red hair and honey-colored eyes, nothing to do with my real appearance. Also, this skin was too white to be mine, it looked pale in comparison to my natural color. And most surprising of all... This was the body of a skinny, gangly boy.


    As a last resort I pinched myself on my right arm to try to wake up, however, I only felt a prick as real as life itself.


    I see...


    Yes, there was definitely no mistake.


    I was reincarnated in a different world.


    I thought this only happened in Japanese light novels, but I see that we Mexicans could also leave ISEKAI without any problem. Still, this seemed so unreal that no words left my lips.


    ¡°Are you finished?¡° Questioned the maid.


    ¡°Yes," I still found the whole thing strange, in fact I wanted to scream right here and deny this situation with all my might. But my body lay in a daze and my thoughts were not entirely clear. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Ok, take it easy.


    I had to keep my composure or I might arouse suspicion.


    ¡°Do you need anything else?¡° The man in the robe questioned again.


    ¡°Yes, could you remind me your name, please.¡±


    ¡°I am Gonzalo, your highness, your personal tutor and specialized doctor. Are you sure you are feeling well?¡±


    ¡°I feel a little disoriented, could you remind me my name, please, everything is spinning around and I don''t know how things really are. ¡°Technically I wasn''t telling any lies, as my brain was anywhere but here.


    ¡°The blue fever must have hurt your memories, I''m not surprised. Very well, you are King Ulric Leon I, ruling the Kingdom of Etrica since the death of your lord father. You are currently 8 years old.¡±


    ¡°Do I have any brothers or sisters?¡±


    ¡°You have an older half-sister, your highness, her name is Alda.¡° Ok, enough information for the moment.


    ¡°Thank you, Gonzalo, I think I need to rest a little more.¡° Actually I had a lot of doubts about myself, bah, about the whole world. But filling my head with information won''t be useful for now. ¡°Mother, could you let me sleep alone?¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, son? ¡°My mother''s eyes looked calmer, the worst of my illness is over.


    ¡°Yes, I need some time alone to clear my head.¡±


    ¡°Well rest, son. ¡°My mother left the place together with Gonzalo and the maid, leaving me lying on the bed with many questions to answer.


    Why was I reincarnated in this world?


    Was there a purpose behind my arrival or was I just a product of chance?


    I closed my eyes and tried to communicate with a deity or something similar. However, I heard nothing, not even a sign from beyond.


    ¡°And it just happened like that, it seems ridiculous to me. ¡°


    I remembered the final moments of my past life; I was mowed down by a bunch of hitmen a day before my presentation. I had so many ideas and plans to help people....


    Fucking hell.


    Why did they kill me?


    I was so uncomfortable and upset with myself.


    ¡°Bullshit" I whispered, annoyed at how things turned out. I wanted to do the right thing and I failed.


    No.


    It was no time to mourn a lost life.


    If in my past life I was a useless deputy, now I would be a great king. I did not know whether my destiny was to become a good ruler, or to die having achieved nothing. And I did not care!


    I''ve been given a new chance to live and I''m definitely not going to waste it.


    ¡°So Ulric, eh, not a bad name.¡±


    I ignored the doctor''s and my mother''s recommendations as I got out of bed to feel the cold floor with my bare feet.


    ¡°I can''t let myself be defeated! ¡°I exclaimed, as I took the first step with this new body.


    And so, my adventure as a KING in a different world finally began.

 Chapter 3: Big Sister

    Chapter 3: Big Sister


    In my past life I had no siblings, I was raised as an only child and for that very reason I didn''t know what to expect when I met Alda. She was two years older than me and unlike me did not have to deal with the pressure of being king.


    I asked Gonzalo why Alda could not aspire to the throne and his answer left me more surprised than I would have expected: Alda is a natural daughter of the former king, only a legitimate son can inherit the titles.


    However, my mother did not treat her badly, in fact she showed her the same affection as she did me and that again seemed strange to me. Especially in an almost medieval world like this.


    ¡°Brother, brother, let''s go play in the yard, you''ve been studying all morning..." Alda was an energetic girl, with tousled black hair and blue eyes so deep they didn''t seem real. She was wearing wool pants and a brown nightgown, strange clothes for a girl her age.


    ¡°Do you want to play? ¡°I murmured without taking my eyes off the huge book Gonzalo made me read.


    By the way, the letters of this world were very similar to Spanish, if not identical. When I opened a book for the first time I could understand it without any problems, although the writing was different.


    First of all, they used the word "vosotros" a lot and they also used a lot of words in the past perfect tense. For example, "tuve, anduve, conuve, truxe, etc."


    Similarly, the syntax seemed to remind me of medieval Spanish, with sentences such as the following: Los hidalgos son llegados al castillo, instead of los hidalgos han llegado al castillo.


    And many other details that I was too lazy to explain. (Only applies to texts, not speech).


    ¡°Yes, since you healed, we haven''t played a single game. You''ve been reading books like there''s no tomorrow. ¡°Alda puffed out her cheeks in a pout.


    Well, a little break wouldn''t be bad for me, besides, I wanted to see the castle once and for all.


    During the first days of my reincarnation I took care of reading all the necessary information about this kingdom and its surroundings. I also researched its history, customs and other basic information, because I didn''t want to seem like a fish out of water and even less being a future sovereign.


    Due to my age mom was acting as regent and therefore, my decisions will not have real weight until I turn 16.


    ¡°Okay, you win. Let''s go. ¡°I closed the cumbersome book and without further delay I walked with my sister through the castle corridors.


    The place was not very luxurious, the stone walls were decorated with extinguished torches and small paintings every so often. In them we saw religious portraits and also portraits of the ancient kings who lived in these walls.


    Alda would walk around hopping and waving to all the servants she met on her way and they would return her greetings very animatedly. Apparently, my older sister was loved by the servants.


    In my case, on the contrary, they bowed their heads in respect and even seemed nervous about my presence.


    Was it impolite to look a nobleman in the eye, or did they only do it because of my social rank, in any case I did not like such treatment at all.


    ¡°Come on, come on, little brother, I want to play fetch! ¡°


    ¡°I''m coming, I''m coming, don''t run so fast.¡±


    ¡°But if I don''t run fast you''ll beat me, you know I hate to lose! ¡°The little girl stuck her tongue out at me and then smiled again, totally unconcerned. Something normal for a 10 year old girl.


    We walked through two more corridors with different enclosed rooms each. Then, we went down some stone stairs to the lower part of the castle and finally arrived at a natural courtyard, full of green grass and trees full of fruits.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Ahead was a second large hallway leading to the main hall and just outside the place lay a huge parade ground, probably twice the size of this recreational garden.


    ¡°Your Highness, have a good day. ¡°One of the guards greeted me with a polite bow; he wore a well-appointed coat of mail and a heraldic tabard above the armor, on it was a red lion carrying a bleeding sword in its jaws.


    The heraldry of my family, therefore, the guard belonged to the men-at-arms loyal to the King.


    ¡°Likewise," I replied, with the utmost courtesy.


    ¡°Good job, Francisco! ¡°Exclaimed Alda, as she greeted the lancer with a smile from ear to ear. ¡°If you continue like this, perhaps she will speak well of you to Lulu, the florist.¡±


    ¡°I''m counting on you, miss. ¡°The man''s stiff expression relaxed, as did all the servants interacting with my sister.


    <u> Chale.</u>


    Am I going to have to put up with formal dealings for the rest of my life?


    Ugh, the very idea of always keeping up appearances was rather annoying to me.


    ¡°We''re already in the courtyard, do you really want to play tag? ¡°


    ¡°Of course I do, brother, you''ll see how fast I am when you can''t catch me! ¡°Alda took a few steps away from me and then crossed her arms arrogantly. ¡°You bring them first!¡±


    And after saying that, Alda ran 10 meters to the right until she hid behind a lemon tree.


    ¡°We''ll see about that! ¡°My squeaky voice still seemed strange to me, but I was slowly adjusting to the idea of having this tone for a few more years.


    I ran in the direction of my sister with my hands out in front, however, Alda knew when to move and in less than the blink of an eye was already running the other way. I wanted to catch up to her as fast as I could, but these short legs were no help.


    "Ah, damn. I hate being small."


    I was used to my athletic, well-trained build from the past life; having to start forging myself again certainly made me feel a bit down. Apparently, this body wasn''t quite used to the exercise and after a few minutes of running I found myself needing to stop.


    ¡°Y-You''re fast," I whispered, "But you won''t beat me!¡±


    I needed to get used to my new legs soon and the best way to do that without arousing suspicion was to play with Alda. I ran back to the orange tree where she gladly slipped away again with a sprint.


    And so we went for quite a while, I tried to catch her with all possible means, but it was useless, she didn''t let herself be caught and even showed off her athletic skills by dropping to the ground and then getting up with a sprint.


    Humility was definitely not among her qualities.


    ¡°Too slow, little brother, you''ll never catch me!¡±


    ¡°I''ll catch you, that''s for sure. ¡°I certainly didn''t consider myself a sore loser, I really just wanted to improve my physical mastery of the body, but after an hour without any success I began to wish I could win this silly competition.


    ¡°Oh, they are lively today. ¡°Our game was interrupted by Sora, my personal maid. I''m so glad to see you healthy, your highness, come, I have a nice lemonade for you to recharge your energies.


    ¡°Yes, lemonade, I''m dying of thirst. ¡°Alda gulped her drink, then blushed. ¡°Ah, yes, thank you, Sora, you''re very kind.¡±


    ¡°I thank you, Sora. ¡°I sat down on the grass in the courtyard and sipped the lemonade a little at a time, Sora smiled at us again and immediately settled down next to us.


    ¡°They are such polite children. ¡°Sora''s duties, besides cleaning my room and supervising the cooks, were to keep my sister and me company. Her confident and friendly attitude made me feel safe in this new world.


    ¡°Misbehaving is not worthy of a king. ¡°I tried to impress her with an elegant grin; but the sweet maid only gave me a smile and then tousled my hair.


    ¡°You are right about that.¡±


    ¡°Bad girls don''t have dessert," Alda murmured, as she finished licking her lips to savor the lemonade she drank so quickly.


    ¡°By the way, Miss Alda, how are your reading lessons going? ¡°My adorable big sister''s eyes widened, she didn''t look very happy with that question and it certainly gave me an idea.


    ¡°All perfect, you''ll see I''ll master those letters in no time. I don''t know how my brother suddenly became a master reader, it''s not fair!¡±


    ¡°It''s no big deal. You just have to concentrate and that''s all, reading is really easy. ¡°I''m sorry, my sister, but I already knew how to read for years.


    In a way I felt guilty for this unfair progress; my reading skills were due to my higher education in the other world, while here the ability to read was a privilege and not an obligation.


    ¡°I was surprised too, did you always know how to read well, your highness?¡±


    ¡°Of course I did, Sora. ¡°I didn''t really know how the owner of this body got along with reading, so I''ll pretend not to raise suspicions.


    ¡°That explains why you hated the basic lessons Gonzalo gave you, if you already knew everything then repeating the same thing over and over again must be frustrating. ¡°


    ¡°Yes, something like that. ¡° Mega save, I sighed with relief as I managed to dodge a bullet.


    ¡°Okay, kids, I have to go to the kitchen to supervise tonight''s dinner. I''ll see you later. ¡°Sora shook out her dress and finally left the garden at a slow pace.


    Alda also stood up.


    ¡°I''ll go clean up too, brother, I need to be clean for dinner and I really don''t want to hear Lorenza scold me again. See you later!¡±


    It was so quiet.


    I stood looking at the blue sky from this well-kept pasture. At least the clouds and the sun were the same no matter the world.


    Anyway, I also decided to go back to my quarters to finish my reading and, by the way, to investigate a little more about this society that, whether I want to or not, I will reign when I come of age.


    I had already informed myself about how the economy worked and also about the social classes, now I needed to memorize the heraldry of all the noble houses.


    Ugh.


    What a slacker.


    Memorizing images was not exactly my favorite activity.


    Besides, I needed to make an important announcement during dinner....

 Chapter 4: Master-at-Arms

    Chapter 4: Master-at-Arms


    Dinner was served at 8:00 PM, by that time all the candles and torches of the castle were lit to illuminate the rooms and corridors without any problem. To tell the truth, they had nothing to envy to the electric light of my old world.


    At the big table full of chairs and silver goblets, only me, mom, Alda and nobody else were seated. Gonzalo ate with the rest of the intellectuals in a separate room and Sora could only eat when the family members left the picnic area.


    Such were the rules of etiquette and as much as I wanted to eat next to Sora, things could not change.


    "I guess the other chairs are for honored guests?"


    Today''s menu consisted of wild boar meat hunted during yesterday afternoon, pieces of freshly baked bread and white rice grown in the paddy fields located just outside the castle. Everything was locally produced and of the highest quality, with no preservatives or anything modern.


    Even so, it took me a while to get used to the dry and hard taste that food had in these parts.


    Going from thin cuts to old-fashioned cooked pieces of meat was a cultural shock that I will probably never get used to. Oh, how I missed my carnitas asadas.


    ¡°Family, may I have your attention please. ¡°I tapped my spoon on the silver cup that for obvious reasons I couldn''t use yet.


    ¡°Yes? ¡°Both Mom and Alda stopped eating their food and immediately turned their faces in my direction.


    ¡°Now that I have mastered the basics of reading I would like to spend my time doing something productive. Mother, could you get me a master-at-arms, please, I don''t want to depend on my men to save my life and at the same time, a king needs to be a master of combat. ¡°As in my past life I refused to be an easy target to kill; after all this new body needed to be trained from scratch.


    Losing to my sister in the game was definitely not the reason for this request.


    Really, it wasn''t...


    Well, maybe it did help a little.


    ¡°Are you serious, son?! ¡°Mom stood up and almost knocked over the glass of wine that accompanied her food. Alda did the same, but with less effusiveness.


    ¡°Are you serious, brother, you''re finally going to train with me?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡±Thank heavens, you don''t know how happy this news makes me.¡±


    ¡°Is it strange that I want to train? ¡°I questioned, I turned to look at Sora but she just smiled kindly and then I turned my gaze back to mom.


    ¡°On the contrary, it was strange that you didn''t want to train. You always said that a king should have no need to stain his hands with human blood. I won''t lie to you, my son, I seriously feared for your future... We are a martial society and whether we like it or not, the fact that a king or queen of the day is a warrior is an almost indispensable requirement to win the support of the people. After all, who would support a ruler who doesn''t fight alongside his own men?¡±


    My mother''s explanation brought me a new vision of this society.


    That''s how things were then, martiality was an important trait to gain the respect of the vassals and to be able to count on them at the time of war.


    ¡°I understand, mother, that''s why I changed my mind. ¡°I didn''t really understand much, but it was better to give mother peace of mind to take that weight off my shoulders.


    ¡°Besides, I''m afraid we will be at war in a short time. Our kingdom is a protectorate with few freedoms and the current monarch of Apollo is a very warlike man. By contract our men are obliged to march to war whenever he commands it. ¡°That last I also knew.


    Fifty years ago our country lost the Etrica/Apollo Conquest War and as a result we became a puppet state that had to give him almost seventy percent of the feudal production.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    And to top it off, we were forced to fight his wars with our own soldiers.


    A very disadvantageous position.


    ¡°I understand, mother, that''s why I need to become a skilled warrior to lead this country when I turn sixteen. ¡°


    ¡°My brother will be my partner! ¡°Alda exclaimed, oblivious to the conversation we were having. ¡°I''ve been training for a whole year now, and since I can''t inherit anything I want to become a marshal of the army to bring peace to the people of this kingdom. I''ll get it! ¡°


    Alda used her fork as if it were a sword, but Mom just gave it a quick glance and returned it to her plate.


    ¡°To be a great warrior you must eat the whole plate. Less talk and more food.¡±


    ¡°Oh, whatever you say, Mrs. Girasol.¡±


    ¡°As for you, son. You will have the same teacher as Alda, the legendary Sir Marte Hogan, champion of the last great tournament we held 6 years ago and also the last of the knights who had the full confidence of my late husband. Report at 10:00 AM to the parade ground for your lessons.¡±


    ¡°All Right¡±


    Sir Marte Hogan, was his name related to some warrior god?


    In my world, Mars was the Roman God of war, but here I wasn''t very well versed in religion and mythology. Bah, I''ll check it out later.


    We finished dinner after a curious chat with mom, where Alda told her about how we played in the garden and the yummy lemonade Sora made for us. I wanted to chat with her, seeing her standing there silently and not uttering even an approving gesture was making me nervous.


    ¡°That''s it, I''m going back to my room to read a bit and then go to sleep. ¡°


    Becoming a warrior would not be easy at all, especially with a slim and small body like mine.


    Before going to sleep I fixed my face in the huge dressing table mirror: red hair was still very strange to me, I used to have it black and this big change was still hard to accept.


    ¡°I''ll see what to do.¡±


    The next day I showed up after breakfast at the parade ground. I came in a light doublet, black tights and brown boots, the ideal clothes for sports. I would have liked to have tennis shoes and sport shirts, but here I had to make do with this.


    The courtyard was an esplanade larger than our garden, around it was a huge warehouse where the reserve armament was kept in case of siege. Further to the back I could locate a new corridor that led to the royal stables, a place where all the horses of the castle were maintained.


    The floor was flat, without rocks or obstacles, right in the center lay a small dueling arena without bleachers, but delimited with a wooden fence to emulate the distance in an official tournament.


    According to my mother, the wooden bars used during the jousts were kept in the armory and were only placed for cavalry training in the front barracks or here, when the nobility trained in the use of the lance.


    ¡°You arrived first, brother, how determined! ¡°Alda arrived in the same clothes as yesterday, except for a little black cloth cap that decorated her tousled head.


    ¡°And that cap?¡±


    ¡°I wear it for training, because my head gets very sweaty.¡±


    ¡°It makes sense, wouldn''t it be easier to put your hair up?¡±


    ¡°No, I hate to braid my hair, it hurts....¡±


    ¡°Oh, you''re one of those who hates braids. ¡°I guess in this world women could hate braiding their hair too; some things never change no matter what dimension you''re in.


    ¡°Good morning, guys.¡± Finally our master-at-arms arrived.


    ¡°H-H-He''s huge," I whispered.


    And how could I not react like that?


    The guy who was going to train us was 2 meters tall, had short brown hair and a brown skin that reminded me a lot of mine when I was Mexican. This guy''s musculature looked like that of a high-performance athlete.


    He wore a red tabard over a gambeson without any heraldry, also hanging from his leather belt was a sheathed sword that reached just below his ankle. A heavy weapon for such a human gorilla.


    God, I wouldn''t want to fight this man, or even cross swords with him. The mere thought of angering this giant gave me chills.


    ¡°Sir Marte, good morning! ¡°And as if he were a favorite uncle, Alda quickly ran up to the titan with a big friendly smile. Today will you teach me your best sword techniques?


    ¡°You are still very green, little one, today I will teach you how to improve your sword stance. Greetings, your highness, I am glad to have you finally in this parade ground. I will be your teacher in this long, but comforting path of the warrior. ¡°


    ¡°Of course, it will be a pleasure to be under your care, Sir Marte Hogan.¡±


    ¡°Just tell me Sir Marte, your highness, it is shorter and besides a King like you should not show so much cordiality to a simple knight like me.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense," I answered seriously. ¡°I may be the King of these lands, but within the parade ground you are the law. If I want to become really strong, I will have to pass the tests without special treatment. I don''t want to pretend power, I want to be powerful. ¡°My speech threw him off balance, the giant''s smile disappeared for a few moments and then he smiled at me again, but much more naturally than before.


    ¡°I see, I don''t recognize you, your highness... They said that you would only train for a while so as not to embarrass yourself. I guess the rumors were wrong. Very well, I swear by my title of Master-at-Arms and Royal Guard that both of you will be formidable warriors.¡±


    ¡°I am at your command, mentor. ¡°When I said that last word, the bodyguard''s chest swelled with pride.


    To receive words of respect from a King must have been a great honor for a knight like him. For speaking of ranks, mine exceeded his by a wide margin.


    ¡°Isn''t that great, Sir Marte, my brother seems like a really different person.¡±


    Ugh.


    There''s no way Alda would know about this change, no one in this world seems to have any idea what happened to me when I reincarnated. And to be honest, I had no idea either.


    ¡°Let''s train! ¡°I exclaimed, while raising my right arm full of energy.

 Chapter 5: Conditioning

    Chapter 5: Conditioning


    It wasn''t easy to start training.


    For the first few days my mentor asked me to just run around the yard, as I had to have some physical conditioning before I could start with the technical stuff.


    Sir Marte seemed a little nervous on the initial assignments; he probably thought I would refuse to be trained in the traditional way.


    For a whacky, ill-mannered kid, running was a very bad way to start any discipline. Fortunately, I loved running, I had done it many, many times in my past life and in a way, it relaxed me.


    However, this body wouldn''t allow me to run more than 3 laps without stopping. That frustrated me a little, as I used to be able to jog for more than 40 minutes without stopping to walk.


    ¡°You are doing well, your highness.¡± Sir Marte rotated his attention between my sister''s sword strokes and my running around the courtyard.


    I hated the feeling of sticky sweat running down these fine fabrics. How I missed my sporty, specialized moisture wicking jackets; this world was missing so many comforts that I was unfortunately unfamiliar with in terms of fabrication.


    I spent 6 whole weeks of pure jogging without any technique or armament talks.


    Little by little my endurance increased, I didn''t get tired so easily and my pace became steadier. After each practice I returned to my quarters and immersed myself in theoretical or cultural studies with Gonzalo as my tutor.


    I learned more of the history of the kingdom and also memorized the duchies that made up my domains. Each of the dukes owed me loyalty and in case of war, I could call them as standard bearers to march into battle.


    Ah, I hope I never have to fight a war.


    ¡°Mentor, shall I follow the turns today?¡± The tenth week came and at last the giant''s face shook his head.


    ¡°No, today I will teach you the basics of fencing. ¡° The knight handed me a small wooden sword, ideal for children.


    ¡°Oh, is my brother ready for the guard?¡± asked Alda, as he approached me with his own little sword in his hands.


    ¡°That''s right, it was a surprise that he didn''t complain about the circuits. All my other apprentices usually leave my tutelage because they can''t stand too much jogging. ¡°


    ¡°Did you make my sister jog too?¡± I asked out of pure curiosity.


    ¡°Of course I did, there''s no special treatment for anyone here. ¡°


    ¡°Well, mentor, how shall we start?¡±


    ¡°Ok, let''s see... The first thing you have to master to be a great swordsman is the stance; no matter how fast and strong you are, if your base is bad then you won''t be able to chain attacks. I will teach you first to use the sword because it is the weapon of the nobles, but I will also train you in the use of all the armory of the kingdom. A good warrior knows how to use all the weapons and you will see which one to specialize in. ¡°My trainer placed his left leg in front and his right leg behind, bent slightly forward at the waist and held the wooden sword between his strong arms.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    The blade lay facing forward and his oak-strong shoulders did not look at all tense.


    ¡°The standard guard. ¡°Alda imitated Sir Marte''s pose with her own sword. ¡°It is my favorite.¡±


    ¡°Imitate my position, your highness.¡±


    ¡°At your command. ¡°I had no trouble using the standard guard, in fact I had seen it on television many times in my past life.


    ¡°Excellent, now stay like that for a while. Alda, continue with your repetitions of the side cut.¡±


    My sister took a little step forward and then threw a slash into the air that made her weapon sound, then resumed her initial guard and again struck to the same side. This process was repeated 10 times until Sir Marte asked her to change the position of her legs; change of guard, as it was called in the martial arts of my world.


    ¡°Ugh...¡±


    My legs began to ache, as did my arms and shoulders. Staying in this position for 2 minutes straight became a real martyrdom.


    ¡°Do not give up, your highness, it is normal for your muscles to ache at the beginning. You have to stand firm so that your guard does not falter no matter how tired you are, in a fight the carelessness produced by lowering your guard is usually lethal.¡±


    ¡°S-Sure.¡± I whispered, as I screamed inwardly.


    Sir Marte Hogan wasn''t lying, in any martial art the fighting stance and guard were very important to achieve victory. My old gym coach used to tell me the same thing.


    I was alternating the two guards (left and right) for a full hour, then my coach ordered me to run around the yard a bit to loosen up and we finished the class with sit-ups and push-ups.


    Despite having a small body I didn''t feel cramped or short of breath. But I was far, far from the level of endurance I had reached before I died.


    On the other hand, my intellectual lessons also advanced. Gonzalo never ceased to be surprised by my progress in the area of Spanish and reading comprehension. However, there was one subject that was too complicated for me: Economics.


    I came from a capitalist world, where neoliberalism was doing its thing left and right. The feudal economy of this kingdom, however, was a different kettle of fish. There were no banknotes, no free trade, everything was composed of tribute, gold, silver and bronze coins, as well as payments for food, wheat, rice and so on.


    How could I learn all that?


    Contrary to popular belief, simplified economics could become a real headache.


    ¡°Gonzalo, why do we pay tribute in money to the Kingdom of Apollo, in theory a tributary or subjugated state should only give a small contribution, but I have read in the reports that we give up to half of our income. ¡°


    ¡°You seem to be confused, your highness, the tributes are declared at the time of signing the protectorate state treaty. When we lost the war 50 years ago we were forced to give in, for it was either that or be destroyed. The Kingdom of Apollo is very warlike, they worship the God of Conquest with too much fervor. ¡°Another aspect of the culture that was not clear to me was religion.


    Like my original world, there were too many religions in this one, and their followers differed from each other.


    ¡°The predominant religion in Etrica is the Earth God, right?¡±


    ¡°That''s right, your highness, we pray for good crops and favorable weather. But the earth is also powerful, so our warriors are inspired by the hardness of the rocks and the strength of the tremors. Our symbol and your family''s heraldry is a red lion, for the Earth God is represented by that animal.¡±


    ¡°It sounds complicated... But sooner or later I will master it, don''t worry.¡±


    I had no illusions about theology, especially since in my past life I was an agnostic.


    However, whether I wanted to or not, I had to become a public professant of the local religion to avoid unwanted problems. For the time being, though, I was totally indifferent to divine matters.


    ¡°With your intelligence you will master it in no time. I consider it prudent to focus your efforts on the subjects you are least proficient in, so you can catch up and move forward with new lessons. ¡°Gonzalo handed me two religious books and a parchment with the taxes of each duchy.


    I sighed in resignation at the enormous workload.


    How I wished I could go to my room and sleep for a while to get rid of the laziness. But a king could not rest, not when his knowledge of economics was identical to that of a knight.


    Whether it was training in the parade ground, or fighting with the economics books, my conditioning was going great. Sora and Mom always cheered me up and Alda''s carefree smile also offered some peace in my heart.


    Maybe this part of my reincarnation wasn''t so bad after all. Despite the busyness and responsibilities, I had kind people who cared about me.


    A luxury that unfortunately I no longer had in my original life....

 Chapter 6: Acceptance

    Chapter 6: Acceptance


    The training in the parade ground became more intense. I not only stayed in the same posture anymore, I was also forced to hit a straw dummy with the sword to feel the impact of the weapon on my wrists.


    And just as I thought, it hurt.


    My delicate hands were not so used to overwork and as a consequence, I got blisters that had not yet turned to calluses.


    I did not progress as I wanted to.


    The impacts with the sword were driving me crazy and my wrists screamed every time I hit the damn scarecrow.


    Again and again, the pain just wouldn''t go away.


    Sir Marte would tell me it was natural, even Alda had her hands bandaged in her first few months of training. But for me, the pain was something different?


    For when I saw my hands bleed from the burst blisters I could perfectly remember the moment I died.


    How could I forget?


    No, I did not forget.


    For such a death was impossible to forget.


    The feeling of the bullets penetrating my body, the terror of my throat screaming for help that never came. Everything was still so real, so vivid in my memories that not even this medieval world could make me forget that nightmare.


    Yes...


    Until now I had felt no pain in this new world. Everyone was kind to me and offered me special treatment, not only because I was their king, but also because they were good people.


    For that reason there was nothing that made me remember that fateful moment that put an end to my previous life.


    It was then that I understood...


    I hated to feel pain.


    Because it reminded me of the helplessness of having been killed.


    That day I was beating the dummy without flinching from the blood on my palms. I studied quietly without asking questions and kept quiet during dinner.


    Mom and Alda talked about their respective days, I just nodded at them with a blank stare. Well, at this moment my mind was not here, but in Mexico...


    Suddenly, my bedroom door rang.


    ¡°Son, may I come in? ¡° Mom''s voice sounded worried; hell, I needed to regain my composure so as not to give her any more stress. Being the regent on duty was a huge responsibility and Girasol was fulfilling it to the letter.


    ¡°Of course, mother.¡±


    The wooden door opened softly and my mother entered the room slowly. She was already wearing her white nightgown, the typical female pajamas of the nobles.


    ¡°Today I saw you a little distracted during dinner, are you feeling well?¡±


    ¡°Yes, mother, just a little sore hands. It''s normal to have blisters when you''re not used to pain, they''ll go away.¡± I tried to smile at mom to take her mind off her troubles; the last thing she needed was a whiny little boy.


    However, Mom shook her head and walked to my side.


    ¡°I know you well, son, I know something is bothering you, why don''t we sit on the bed?¡±


    ¡°Sora will get mad if she sees us sitting down," I replied, without losing my fake smile.


    ¡°Sora is not with us right now, we can break the rules if it''s just you and me, come on. ¡°


    ¡°Okay, but if she arrives you will explain to her what happened.¡±


    ¡°It''s a deal. ¡°Mom and I sat on the edge of the bed, immediately the woman with black hair and honey eyes like mine took my hand.


    I could feel her delicate fingers caressing my sore blisters.


    ¡°Well, I''m actually frustrated because I''m not making any progress in my fencing lessons. I understand that I can''t become a real swordsman overnight, but at least I want to stop hitting that silly dummy and learn a new technique. ¡°I didn''t lie; I hated that damn scarecrow with all my being; to the point of wanting to kick him.


    ¡°Patience, sonny, it will soon become your daily routine to hit the doll. However, something else is bothering you, isn''t it, I can see it in your eyes, and those sad eyes can''t be from simple frustration, can they?¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°Sad eyes? I don''t know what you''re talking about.¡±


    ¡°That look you have now, so empty and distant, as if you weren''t here. ¡°Mom let go of my hand and then hugged me gently, I could feel her heartbeat thudding in my face and the warm gentle breathing that gave me more peace than I would like to admit. ¡°I love you, Ulric; you are my son and my pride too. You don''t have to hide your pain from me, I want to help you.¡±


    So that''s what a mother''s love felt like.


    My face broke into a brittle smile.


    I returned the embrace by wrapping my frail, aching hands around her.


    Then it happened.


    Mom gently stroked my head with one hand, while the other continued to hold me protectively.


    ¡°I... I...¡±


    I finally cried.


    I let my tears flow free like two huge waterfalls.


    ¡°I couldn''t do anything, I failed at everything, mom, I failed, failed, failed, failed and nothing I do can make it right. I feel like a loser. I tried hard, I really tried hard, why did that have to happen, I didn''t deserve it, I didn''t deserve it, damn it!¡±


    I let it out.


    All my frustrations.


    All my sadness.


    I died murdered on March 15, 2023.


    My dreams and illusions ended up shot in lead.


    Fucking hitmen, fucking organized crime, fucking corruption!


    I died, I died, I died, I died, I died and nobody saved me.


    I had no friends or family, nobody mourned my death. Nobody cared that I died.


    Surely I appeared as just another corpse in the local morgue, they talked about my murder for a few seconds on national news and a post on social networks surely embittered the afternoon of a teenager looking for memes.


    I followed my father''s example; I lived an honest and honorable life. I never stole from anyone, I never did wrong, I wanted to help people just as he did when he was municipal president.


    And how did it all end?


    In a horrendous death.


    Riddled with bullets in broad daylight, without a patrol car or soldiers to rescue me.


    I didn''t deserve it, dammit!


    My dreams.


    My future.


    They stole everything from me.


    I studied political science for 5 years to improve my skills as a politician, I became a congressman at a young age without levers or favors, only with talent and hard work. I had so many plans to make Mexico a better place.


    It was all in vain.


    None of my ideals came true.


    I ended up shot without love or friendship.


    ¡°It''s not fair! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" My crying intensified, the tears soaked my mother''s nightgown and wrinkled it from the amount of water that fell on it. Still, I didn''t stop, I continued crying and unloading my sadness on her, whose embrace didn''t lose a shred of tenderness.


    ¡°My son, this pain you are feeling is not normal. ¡°Mom resumed her caresses to my head gently. ¡°Something happened to you, I am sure of it, sometimes I feel that you are not really here, that your mind is in a faraway place where I will never be able to go.¡±


    I didn''t answer her.


    My eyes could barely focus and my throat already hurt from screaming so much.


    How did she know?


    How could Mom know about my pain?


    I never had motherly love in my past life, so this kind of affection was still foreign to me.


    An old saying used to say that mothers had certain supernatural abilities to detect the pain and suffering of their children, for they were born connected with a bond that sometimes not even death could break.


    I thought it was just nonsense.


    But now I wasn''t so sure.


    Mom understood this pain and decided to embrace it as her own.


    ¡°Still... You don''t have to bear it all, Ulric. ¡°Mom called me by my new name, since I came here she only called me son or sonny, in fact almost nobody called me Ulric. ¡°You have me, your sister Alda who loves you very much, Sora who disguises her affection with professional support and your mentor Sir Marte Hogan. Every one of us is part of your life, you will never be alone again.¡±


    "You will never be alone again."


    How I would have loved to hear those words in my former life.


    I longed for them as I could never have imagined.


    ¡°Yes..." I whispered, as I continued to run a runny nose and cry.


    ¡°I''m sure you saw something while you were dying of blue fever. When you woke up you seemed like a different person; more mature and determined. But you felt distant, as if we didn''t really know each other, Alda didn''t notice because she is so little, but I did, we all noticed your change. ¡°The caresses didn''t stop despite how confused my mom sounded. ¡°Even so, you are my son and I am really very happy to have you with me, I love you, Ulric, I love you and I will always love you. Thank you for being born, thank you for existing, my dear son.¡±


    Yes...


    There was definitely no mistake.


    To love and to be loved were sensations that all humans should feel.


    How could I live without this affection?


    I was so focused on my ideals and goals that I never took the time to appreciate love until it was too late.


    His words made me happy, at the same time a smile formed between my lips, while both eyes still lay filled with tears.


    ¡°Yes, I love you too, Mom.¡±


    I said it.


    The words I had so longed to say from the depths of my heart.


    For the first time I showed an honest smile in this world. I didn''t know if I looked good, but I didn''t even care, I just wanted to enjoy this moment with mom and treasure it with all my might.


    Until now I lived in denial of my own past, tried to adapt to the situation in a cold way and didn''t pay attention to the people around me. This is over, from now on I will value more this second chance that for some reason appeared in front of me.


    ¡°When you feel sad or desolate, don''t hesitate to come with me, sonny, I will always be there for you. No matter if you become a mighty warrior or a legendary monarch, for me you will always be the sweet child I hold in my arms today. I will always protect you...¡±


    Mom''s words did not lie, in them there was no hint of deceit, only pure and beautiful sincerity that could rarely be seen in this life.


    ¡°Thank you...¡±


    It was all I could say.


    I wanted to tell her a million phrases to make up for this love that filled me with life, but nothing else simply came out; the lump in my throat grew sharper and my thoughts piled up until I was speechless.


    Still, for her it was enough.


    I closed my eyes and slowly found myself lulled into her lap. The painful images of my death faded and were replaced by the smiles of my new loved ones.


    Yes... Maybe it''s time to start living.


    It won''t be easy, my memories of the old life will not disappear so easily. Part of them will continue to form my own personality and ideals; however, I decided to give my life a new direction.


    I finally accepted that Esau Sanchez Moreno died and I also mourned his death to close that sad chapter.


    I finally recognized myself as Ulric Le¨®n. From now on I will try to accept the love of my family and love them equally.


    And so, lying on my mother''s lap and with a face full of tears, my life in this new world really began.

 Chapter 7: Fun

    Chapter 7: Fun


    After a few weeks the pain from the blisters subsided.


    My palms filled with thin calluses that slowly made my life easier, I no longer suffered so much when I hit the damn dummy and my wooden sword already had its first splinters. On the other hand, I also resumed my solo boxing training, as I missed the feeling of punching the air and moving my waist.


    Sir Marte was interested in the techniques of my world, especially the hip turn when throwing hooks and curves to the chin.


    In any case, my new attitude change was also reflected in my relationships with people. I no longer limited myself only to reading and learning things, I also indulged myself in accompanying Sora during her rounds in the kitchen: I wanted to meet the people in charge of the area and also make friends with the guards who patrolled the palace.


    I wanted to be like Alda and remove the stigma of superiority I had just because of my rank. Sure, in formal situations etiquette was paramount, but being solemn 24 hours a day did not give me more satisfaction.


    ¡°And that''s how the economy works, do you have any doubt, sir?¡± Again the economics lessons didn''t leave me in peace, no matter how hard I tried to get the hang of it I always came to the same conclusion: boring!


    ¡°The truth is, yes, are you married?¡± My question left the good Gonzalo out of place.


    ¡°Eh, why are you asking me that?¡± he asked, uncomfortable with my questions.


    ¡°We''ve had lessons for months and yet I hardly know you, come on, tell me about yourself, I want to know.¡±


    ¡°Well, unfortunately I''m single, I was never good with the ladies, now can we get back to the lessons?¡±


    ¡°Let''s take a break today, we''ve put in a lot of effort and maybe it''s time to take things slow. Come on, there really isn''t a woman you like?¡±


    ¡°Maybe, but I''m too old for that, I''m 34 years old and I could never get married. That''s why I chose the option of becoming an intellectual, at least books won''t leave me alone.¡± Gonzalo was a very skinny man, with short dark hair and already showing some gray hair on the back of his skull. He certainly wasn''t attractive at all, but sometimes physique didn''t matter at all.


    ¡°Come on, you said you liked a woman, I won''t tell anyone," I insisted, actually I felt like having some fun for a while.


    ¡°There''s a woman in the kitchen who caught my attention the year before last; she''s a maid they picked up from a looted village and it seems she''s a widow. She doesn''t talk much, but she always goes out of her way to do a great job.¡± Gonzalo''s expression became more tense, he didn''t quite know what kind of relationship these two had, but it was better to play it safe.


    ¡°And have you talked to her yet?¡±


    ¡°I-I couldn''t...¡±


    ¡°It''s decided then, let''s go to the kitchen to look for the girl, then you''ll talk to her. It''s about time you forgot those books for a while and woke up the lover in you. ¡°I gave him a playful smile to lighten the mood. ¡°Let''s go!¡±


    ¡°H-H-Huh... H-How you command.¡±


    I was never really a good flirt, I was so busy attending to politics that I was never interested in having a girlfriend during my high school and college days. Still, I liked to read romance novels and also anime of that genre, therefore, my knowledge was practically based on fiction.


    But this my new friends should not know.


    We advanced through the busy corridors of the castle, dozens of servants were going about their daily chores and all bowed their heads as they watched me pass. After a few minutes we finally arrived at the main kitchen, the place was full of cooks moving from one side to the other carrying ingredients and metal pots.


    In the middle of it all, the beautiful Sora was giving orders as if she were a general during a war.


    ¡°Your Highness!¡± exclaimed my personal maid, as she did so, all the cooks left their duties and lined up in front of us. ¡°What a pleasant surprise, do you have a particular craving, we can prepare what you want tomorrow, because we have already started cooking today''s dinner.¡±


    Interesting.


    I wanted to deduce which of all the cooks present here was the girl that my tutor was crazy about. However, Gonzalo refused to blush or look at one of the maids in particular; he always had that steady gaze that made him look like a soldier in times of hunger.


    ¡°Yes, I have a particular craving. I have a craving for a food worthy of the gods, a delicacy from a distant time that will make us love food again... Tomorrow I want to have hamburgers for dinner.¡±


    ¡°Hamburgers?¡± questioned Sora, a little surprised by the unknown request.


    ¡°Yes, it''s a secret recipe from a far away land, Gonzalo says that the formula is hidden in the royal library, but he can''t look for it alone, he needs one of you to memorize the process and at the same time, have a backup of information.¡± My request sounded very coherent, because in a world with little or no reading ability, memorizing recipes was of utmost importance to transmit knowledge to the common people.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Chale, maybe I need to start making a future plan to encourage reading in commoners... But I''ll take care of that later.


    ¡°That makes sense, do you have one of my girls in mind, your highness, I can''t accompany you because I have to supervise this place. ¡°Sora pointed to the 10 ladies working in the kitchen, all of them remained silent and with their eyes down; the rules of etiquette prevented them from showing any kind of informality with their sovereign. A law that little by little I would like to change.


    I gave Gonzalo a glance and he finally blushed.


    A huevo!


    ¡°You choose, Gonzalo," I ordered.


    ¡°Yes, your highness... Miss, could you accompany me to the library, please?¡± The chosen one finally made her presence known.


    My tutor pointed to a woman with tousled, tousled black hair, with a fringe that covered her eyes as if she were the protagonist of a novel H. Even so, her appearance was no more than average: slim and dark-skinned, like any other girl from the peasantry. In fact, her features looked Mexican.


    ¡°As you command.¡± The woman shyly curtsied again and then stepped forward.


    Long live the bride and groom!


    Well, no.


    This was merely an excuse to have them together, I myself gave Gonzalo the recipe on a piece of paper and when the time comes he will give it to her. The objective (apart from donating the recipe to the world) was for the two of them to get to know each other better.


    ¡°Thank you for your time, we are leaving.¡± The maid accompanied us for a few meters, it was there where I realized an important detail... I could not be so close or she would never speak!


    Damn it, being king didn''t allow me to gossip in peace.


    ¡°Gonzalo, come here. ¡°My tutor approached his ear just as I asked him. You won''t be able to interact if I''m close, I''ll hide behind so don''t ruin it.


    ¡°As you ordered," he mumbled, almost reluctantly.


    ¡°I''m coming, it''s time to run errands, I''ll leave you two alone.¡± My disappearance was the lamest in history, I simply turned around and walked until I had some distance, then hid behind a giant chalice-shaped ornament.


    As soon as I left, the maid finally took a deep breath and decided to chat first, either out of politeness or just to get the stress out of her system.


    ¡°My name is Aura, nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°I''m Gonzalo, it''s my pleasure. ¡°The introduction was good.


    ¡°Aura is friendlier than she looks.¡± Suddenly a familiar voice called me from behind. ¡°Do you think they will become friends?¡±


    ¡°Sora, shouldn''t you be in the kitchen?¡± I didn''t think my main assistant was a gossip like me.


    ¡°I left them to their respective activities, I don''t want to miss this for the world. I always wanted to see straight Gonzalo acting like an idiot for a woman.¡±


    ¡°You''re a box full of surprises, Sora.¡±


    ¡°Courage, Gonzalo.¡± Another nosy voice called us from behind.


    ¡°Are you here for the gossip too, Alda?¡± I wasn''t surprised by her arrival, in fact it seemed strange that she hadn''t joined the ruckus before.


    With the group assembled, we followed this potential couple through all the corridors of the castle. They walked along, ignoring the other employees and chatting about irrelevant topics. For example, Gonzalo explained his hobby of reading encyclopedias and how he was trying hard to teach me about economics.


    Aura hardly spoke, but listened with a polite smile. She didn''t look uncomfortable at all; I even saw her smile genuinely on a few occasions.


    Once inside the library, time passed without anything interesting. Typical intellectual and business talk, or so it seemed. Between the lines there was an invisible spark that Alda failed to catch, for after half an hour she looked desperate for a more direct advance. Sora, on the other hand, lay quietly analyzing Aura''s gestures like any good shipper.


    ¡°Do something now," Alda whispered.


    ¡°They''ve done too much.¡± I answered with a discreet murmur, we were hiding behind a pallet of books and we didn''t want to be discovered so easily. Look at Aura''s gestures.


    The woman began to play with her hair little by little and also made her knees point at Gonzalo. These small movements implied a high level of non-verbal communication, I studied them myself during my past life as I conducted human psychology workshops.


    ¡°You are someone observant, your highness. ¡°Sora nodded her head, leaving the innocent Alda speechless.


    ¡°There are a lot of books here, I''ve been working here for a while and I''ve never been to the library before.¡± Aura played with the sleeves of her dress again and arranged her dark hair once more. ¡°I can''t read anyway, it''s a pity, I''m sure these books have a lot to say.¡±


    ¡°Books take you to wonderful worlds and can also offer you unique skills. Not just recipes.¡± When he talked about books, Gonzalo''s look seemed to go beyond imagination, he looked so happy and self-confident that not even Sora could recognize him.


    ¡°Great..." whispered Aura.


    ¡°Do you want to learn to read? My classes with the young king are in the afternoon, but I have the evening free if you would like to come here so I can teach you a few lessons.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Aura grinned from ear to ear, raised her voice and almost got a scolding from the librarian, except that I gave her a furtive glance myself to keep him quiet.


    This was abuse of authority, but I didn''t mind at all.


    They almost made a date!


    ¡°And what time do they kiss?¡± whispered my lovely sister again.


    ¡°Miss Alda, love is not instantaneous, to get to kissing you must first get to know the other person and be sure whether you like them or not.¡± Sora patted her head while patiently explaining the process of romantic love.


    ¡°But in Lily the Princess''s stories there were always kisses and romantic scenes from the beginning.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Alda, the Lily the Princess stories are just that, fantasy stories based on the controversial Lily I. ¡°Again, Sora ruffled her hair.


    Anyway, back to our little couple....


    ¡°Of course, I liked you, Aura, I-I''d like to spend more time with you. ¡°Oh, not bad, Gonzalo, not bad at all....


    Aura blushed and tried to hide her face between her tousled hair.


    ¡°Thank you...¡±


    The task I entrusted them with went into the background, they continued talking about simple things like their favorite foods and hobbies unrelated to work. Even I was surprised to learn that Gonzalo loved raising horses and keeping the carrier pigeons we used during military campaigns.


    The young maid still revealed some interesting facts: She was 25 years old and came from a village sacked by the King of Apollo''s men. Until that moment my face had not stopped smiling, but hearing that piece of information made me a little uncomfortable.


    The Kingdom of Apollo... A country to which we owe our freedom and our resources.


    Hearing her testimony first hand made me realize that there were many other "Auras" like her, helpless orphans who had to survive in a violent world. She actually looked grateful for the offer she was given, for it is not every day that someone shares their time to teach you a difficult discipline.


    ¡°It is decided. ¡°And after a promise, they continued the useless search for the recipe; about 50 more minutes passed until Gonzalo finally took the white note from his pocket, then he slowly placed it inside a thick book that was lying in the corner.


    By "coincidence" my tutor''s hands got hold of the text and after opening by "chance" the specific page, both he and Aura saw my recipe.


    By the way, the paper in this world was indeed totally white, due to the rare trees that bore a blue fruit that did not exist in my home world. And not only the paper, also the furniture and weapons had a slightly lighter color than normal, this only with the ash tree, as the local gardeners used to call it.


    ¡°I think we''re done, would you read the recipe out loud to me a few times, so I can memorize it.¡±


    ¡°Sure, but let''s do it outside, it''s not polite to talk loudly in a library.¡±


    ¡°Right," Aura replied.


    Immediately my band of gossipers ran out of the place; we slipped into the back hallway so as not to be seen and unfortunately we could no longer hear what they were saying.


    ¡°That''s enough for today," I commented, very relaxed about my teacher''s good performance.


    ¡°B-But if nothing happened, they didn''t even hold hands?¡±


    ¡°Alda, you and I are going to have a serious talk about romance, you can''t fast forward things! ¡°Sora exclaimed.


    ¡°But it''s boring to wait, the best romances are the ones that happen instantly and hot!¡± Ugh, what a mentality for a ten year old girl, what the hell was she reading, better not to know.


    ¡°That''s it, that''s it, get the snacks ready because our talk is going to be a long one.¡± Sora smiled mischievously as she pulled my sister''s cheeks. I couldn''t help smiling from ear to ear for this funny scene, what a fun afternoon!


    ¡°Ouch, it hurts... But I want snacks, so I accept, sorry bro, today will be just a girls'' snack.¡±


    ¡°So, I''ll see you later. ¡°I turned around with nothing more to say, since being in the middle of a female discussion was beyond my capacity as a king.


    Anyway.


    Since I decided to live in acceptance of this world, my evenings have become fun. I enjoy the food and the company of my loved ones more; even so, my duty was still to train to be a great monarch. And for that very reason I needed to see my people face to face....

 Chapter 8: Outside the Walls

    Chapter 8: Outside the Walls


    Inside this castle I felt safe, everyone was kind to me and the scenery always sparkled. I could live here all my life and achieve a true level of happiness. However, my duties as king were not limited only to personal training and study, there was an inevitable process: to see my people in person.


    ¡°Mom, I want to walk the streets of the city tomorrow afternoon.¡± My announcement did not go unnoticed by mom, she raised her left eyebrow in surprise, while Alda continued eating as if this was none of her business.


    ¡°Yeah, how''s that?¡±


    ¡°I have been living happily inside these walls, but I understand that this is not the reality of ordinary people. I want to see them in person to better understand my people and look for ways to make their lives easier.¡± Just like my past life, most ordinary people could not afford the luxuries of the ruling class, this medieval world with fantastical overtones was no exception either.


    So far I''ve enjoyed the best pleasures of the realm: hot food, a feather bed, and upper classes. But this was definitely not how commoners lived.


    ¡°Well, if you wish it is fine, I''ll order the Royal Guard to prepare to ride with you to the city and I''ll also ask for a detachment of Men-at-Arms.¡± Mom sighed resignedly, she was not encouraged by the idea of going out and out of pure curiosity I decided to ask her.


    ¡°I don''t see you very motivated, is something going on with the town?¡±


    ¡°Hm, it''s hard to explain. It would be better for you to see it in person tomorrow. Don''t worry, I''ll go with you, I also need to see how the capital is to order the use of the funds.¡±


    ¡°It''s true, mom, as regent you fulfill the role of sovereign, right?¡°


    ¡°I do not have total control of the vassals, nor can I order a levy recruitment. My functions are limited to the collection of taxes and revision of laws. The rest is a joint work with the court until you turn 16. ¡°Mom sighed again with a certain tiredness, to tell the truth I rarely saw her walking around the castle and she always spent her afternoons in the throne room with the rest of the court.


    ¡°I''m sorry if I ask this, but I really need to see the people.¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry, son, your point is true. A king needs to meet his people.¡±


    ¡°I''ll wait for you here," Alda commented, "I''ve already been out several times and the truth is... You''d better see for yourself, brother. ¡°After saying that, my sister didn''t comment anything else, she continued eating in silence, very uncomfortable about the subject of the departure and finally she left the table with a polite bow.


    Did the people hate us?


    I wanted to ask again, but Mom''s uncomfortable face told me otherwise.


    The next afternoon the preparations were complete.


    Mom and I climbed into a fine wooden carriage, it had gilded edges and the color of the vehicle was dark with decorations alluding to the red lion. It was pulled by 4 white steeds driven by a member of the Royal Guard.


    In fact, it was the first time I had seen them together.


    ¡°All ready, your highness?¡± I had no words to describe Sir Marte Hogan with his armor on.


    If he was already imposing in his normal clothes, seeing him armored from head to toe certainly left me intimidated.


    The entire Royal Guard wore silver plate armor, the helmet had a visor that could be opened and closed at the knight''s will and right on the breastplate lay the face of a red lion embroidered with rubies.


    Two meters of pure steel.


    ¡°That''s right, Sir Marte. ¡°My personal guard was riding huge armored destriers with metal bars; it was the first time I had seen them in action, for inside the stables they were kept as light as possible.


    ¡°Excellent, we will leave when you order it. ¡°The destrier that my mentor rode was the largest of the 10 royal knights. It took a large animal to carry such a giant.


    ¡°We can leave.¡±


    The huge doors of the castle were being pulled apart with the movement of the pulleys. To tell the truth, it was also the first time I had seen them open so closely.


    At last I will know the world without the blindfold of comfort I have had since I was reincarnated.


    The Royal Guard settled around the carriage and further to the front, the men-at-arms formed a protective fence both in front and on the sides. Unlike my knights, they wore a brown plate brigandine, with no heraldry or advertisements in sight; they carried an oak shield and a long spear in their hands. On their leather belts I caught a glimpse of a falchion, probably for close combat.


    We advanced past the huge stone bridge that gave entrance to the castle; the surroundings looked very well kept with the green grass in full bloom and the blue sky giving us an almost poetic view of the site. Of course, the surroundings of a castle always gave a good image.


    But as we descended, little by little we saw how the grass was deteriorating: we went from tidy bushes to undergrowth everywhere, in the distance I spotted many houses made of wood, stone and adobe. The architecture reminded me of medieval England, but I also noticed curious details that did not exist in my previous world.


    First of all, the houses had thatched roofs or lay covered with bricks and stone; I found no concrete anywhere, except on some of the castle walls and the upper citadel.


    Could it be some local law, I will ask Gonzalo later.


    Another important detail was the absence of churches or giant cathedrals, very common in my home world.


    ¡°What about churches?¡° I questioned mom.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Have you already forgotten, there is only one temple for the God of the Earth and it is located in the duchy of Chiapa.¡°


    Chiapa?


    Like the Chiapas of my world?


    What a coincidence.


    ¡°Duchy of Chiapa, does that mean water under the hill?¡±


    ¡°Right, I see you''ve been studying, my son.¡± I didn''t know if this was a bad joke, or just a rather strange coincidence, because in the language of the extinct Chiapanecas (in my world), Chiapas or Chiapa, depending on who you ask, also meant water under the hill.


    ¡°According to the master tablet, when the God of the Earth created the first mountain he decided to give it a companion so that it would not be alone, so he also created a lake that passes just below it. The priests of our religion indicate that this is a representation of human creation, the mountain being a man and the water, a woman.¡°


    ¡°Oh, interesting, mom, I''ll read about it later.¡±


    We finished riding through the brush and finally entered the city.


    My first impression was not favorable at all, the men-at-arms were politely pushing passersby out of the way and they just bowed their heads as we passed.


    There was something strange about these people.


    The living conditions were unhealthy, the putrid and foul smell hit me full in the nose and almost made me dizzy. I already knew that the life of commoners was hard, but this was beyond the medieval poverty I expected to encounter.


    The stone paths were cracked and the dirt made it very difficult for equines to move forward. I turned my face to get a better look at the larger buildings; houses of lesser nobles who lived alongside the common peasantry and not inside the castle, other places that caught my eye were the tall concrete houses belonging to the local guilds: blacksmiths, seamstresses and cooks, the three largest industries in the capital.


    As we moved on, the scenery became more depressing, the men looked tired and unwilling to do anything, dressed in dirty and smelly rags and even had an entourage of flies around them. The starving or sick children were also intimidated by the presence of the Royal Guard and the soldiers escorting me.


    The women didn''t lift my spirits either, many wore dresses that probably belonged to their great-grandmothers, maybe more. They walked down the street dirty and a disturbing majority didn''t even bother to look up after giving the protocol bow.


    I didn''t say anything, we just continued to walk the streets.


    ¡°Why is there no concrete in the street?¡±


    ¡°Because the King of Apollo 2 generations ago forbade us to have concrete in the streets of our cities. He said it was an appropriate punishment for us. ¡°Mom looked very depressed every time she remembered Apollo''s sanctions, as they used to say in the main court.


    ¡°I see, too bad.....¡±


    The reality was harsher than I thought, seeing these villagers walking so discouraged was a blow to my morale.


    ¡°Now we will pass through the merchants'' quarter.¡± The cobblestone streets lay more flattened and groomed, almost all the houses and stores in this area were made of fine wood and stone.


    I saw a huge bakery, clothing stores, blacksmith shops and even an armory for commoners, where they sold swords, armor, crossbows and arrows; I did not find any bows among the goods.


    Still, the mood did not improve.


    People kept bowing to me as I passed and nothing more. Not a cry of anger or joyful exclamation.


    Nothing, this place looked like a ghost town.


    As if everyone had resigned themselves to live in depression and loneliness. The mood of this town lay deader than the seriousness on a meme page.


    ¡°This is sad, why does everyone look so glum? ¡° I took mom''s hand to feel accompanied, seeing this sad situation head on made me understand Alda''s words: "You''ll see for yourself."


    And indeed, I did see it.


    What a gray and unfriendly scenario.


    ¡°The tributes we pay to the Kingdom of Apollo are too much, besides, they plunder our border and to top it all, this city is attacked from within by a criminal network known as: The Grey Fist, a bunch of thieves, human traffickers and extortionists who attack rich and poor alike. ¡°


    Oh...


    Organized Crime.


    If there was a shred of joy in my heart, it disappeared when I heard that concept I hated so much.


    ¡°Why don''t we do something?¡±


    ¡°People won''t let us," Mom replied, "They''re afraid of retaliation.¡±


    Just as we were talking about it, the wagon came to a sudden stop. Sir Marte rode a few yards forward and then came back to us, while the men-at-arms held their position.


    Were they going to attack us?


    No, no one raised their weapons.


    ¡°There''s a corpse up ahead," my mentor commented. ¡°Give us a few minutes while we clear the area, you shouldn''t see this at such a young age.¡±


    ¡°No," I replied. ¡°I want to see it.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, son?¡± Mom took my hand again and then wrapped a warm hug around my body. ¡°You don''t need to see it.¡±


    ¡°No, Mom, I do. You can wait in the carriage if you like.¡±


    ¡°I''ll come with you, Sir Marte, please lead the way. ¡°


    We got out of the carriage guarded by the Royal Guard and a handful of armed men. The ride took no more than two minutes, it was enough for us to simply walk a few meters in front of the first bodyguards to see the famous corpse halfway down the road.


    How should I feel about that?


    Mom put her right hand to her mouth, trying to hold back the vomit of shock. She had never seen a corpse and its presence made her feel dizzy, yet she didn''t back down and with her other hand she held me to comfort me.


    However, the only thing I felt when I saw him was sadness.


    He was a middle-aged man, with old rags that barely covered his stained flesh. He had an axe in his back and a stab wound in the back of his neck; his blood was still running fresh and the post-death spasms had barely stopped.


    My eyes did not leave the deceased.


    This was not right.


    ¡°Who did this?¡± I asked aloud, as several curious onlookers approached to see me. Obviously my guard kept them away, but I shook my head and turned back to the people. ¡°Who did it?¡±


    ¡°It was the Grey Fist. ¡°A fearful voice could be heard in the crowd of passersby; he probably didn''t want to reveal his identity out of fear.


    There was definitely no mistake, this poor man was killed by organized crime because he no longer had the money to pay for the famous "protection", the typical crime against common people.


    I frowned very angrily; this made me furious, very, very furious. I died murdered by the damned criminals, to see a poor wretch suffer the same fate a few meters away from my men made me feel worse than I already was on this visit.


    ¡°Are you all right, your highness?¡± asked Sir Marte, very surprised by the hateful countenance I showed.


    ¡°No, Sir Marte, I am not well. None of this is good, a man has just been killed a few yards away from us, how can I be well?¡± I didn''t want to scold him or take it out on him, but the terrible frustration I felt was not easy to forget.


    ¡°My most sincere apologies, your highness....¡±


    ¡°No, it was not your fault, I am sorry.¡± I bowed respectfully to my mentor, a gesture that mother and the rest of the peasantry did not expect.


    Was it unusual for a king to show humility for his mistakes?


    I didn''t know, and truth be told, at this point it mattered little to me.


    ¡°We should get back to the carriage, son, let your soldiers bury the man so he can rest in peace. ¡°Mom''s voice brought me right back to the planet, and I nodded and with her we returned to the carriage.


    ¡°Yes, let''s go. ¡°


    I did not vomit or stand paralyzed in front of the blood, perhaps because of the violent death I had died, nothing surprised me anymore.


    Whether in Mexico or the Kingdom of Etrica, people lived in fear of external and internal enemies. However, no more.


    ¡°There are nobles living in these streets, aren''t there? ¡°I questioned my mother again, whose pale face was barely recovering from the shock.


    ¡°Yes, son. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Are they bothered by the Gray Fist too?¡±


    ¡°Hardly, they only attack merchants, traders and poor people. The nobility consider them a minor pest, mere thieves who hang if they catch them in the act, but they don''t bother to destroy them. ¡°Mom''s explanation almost made me jump back down from the carriage and scream in frustration.


    Damn it.


    Why wouldn''t they stop these murderers?


    How blind were the nobility really?


    ¡°I understand. ¡°I didn''t show my annoyance in public; one skill I gained from my former political career was to not show my emotions so openly. Maybe I wasn''t so good at it, given my expressive personality, but sometimes I succeeded, especially when I felt as furious as I did now. ¡°Let''s go back to the castle, I''ve seen what I should have seen.¡±


    Without further delay we turned around and rode slowly home.


    A city beaten by tributes and criminals.


    An apathetic and frightened population.


    My task as ruler had just begun...

 Chapter 9: Reunion

    Chapter 9: Reunion


    The month after my visit I asked Mom to go with her to the monthly royal court meeting. As regent on duty it was she who led the meetings where they discussed important issues for the kingdom, such as tributes, the state of the streets and other matters. Sora stood beside me silently, in case I asked for any refreshments or drinks for the guests.


    Due to peacetime the presence of the Warmaster and the Marshal was not required; both were outside the capital doing training work with the rest of the army (local levies and men-at-arms). The capital''s security lay in the hands of the captain of the local guard.


    "Good morning, let''s start the meeting." My mother came dressed in an elegant red dress that highlighted the silver jewels that hung on her neck, her honey eyes as clear as mine rested on the other 3 members of the council.


    "Good morning, I see your Highness will be with us today, but what a diligent child." The first member of the council was the seneschal of the kingdom, charged with dispensing justice and keeping the laws in order. He was an elderly man, with a bald head and graying beard, a stocky build and a tiny hump. He called himself Lozano.


    "Good morning, Your Highness and Madam Regent." The presence of the second member didn''t surprise me either. It is a pleasure to have you here.


    Unlike the old seneschal, Chancellor Nuno exuded youth and energy; He was a relatively young man, only a few years older than Mom. He had blond hair without gray hair and wore a brown gambeson with yellow leggings.


    "It''s a pleasure to see you, Chancellor." Mom bowed her head in respect. The functions of the chancellor consisted of managing the international affairs of the kingdom, maintaining friendly relations with the dukes and mediating territorial disputes between lords. All a titanic work, but extremely important.


    Finally, the Royal Treasurer greeted us as well.


    His presence seemed too imposing to me, the guy suffered from a morbid obesity that even in my home world I could not witness. He couldn''t walk alone, he had three servants carrying him on a small golden throne, almost as good as mine.


    I barely made out his brown hair drowned in grease, his cloth doublet lay stretched out to its full capacity. Fuck, this guy was an ode to gluttony.


    In a world where the vast majority suffered from severe malnutrition, seeing a person like that gave me a tremendous bad feeling.


    "Your Highness, let''s get this over with quickly, I have business to attend to." The Treasurer Enrique spoke as if he had the right to speak, his lack of respect was perhaps due to my young age or to the presence of my mother as the local regent.


    ¡°Mr. Enrique, we are going to discuss some things that my son wishes to express. Others present, please pay attention; Every word King Ulric says has been approved by me, the Regent.¡± My mother bowed politely to give me the floor, as she did so, the other two council members nodded and waited for my statement.


    "They may think I''m too young for these things, but they''re wrong. My tutor is excellent and thanks to his lessons I have mastered certain aspects of economics. If you pay attention, the tributes to the Kingdom of Apollo are destroying us from the inside, we have to give them a large part of the production that our people can hardly fill. However, when it comes to gold, things are not on the right track either, we give them part of the taxes and these are charged per head.¡° I paused to take a breath, for that moment the look of the others present was of total disbelief.


    How could an 8 year old say these complicated words?


    I could see Mom''s proud smile looking at me from a distance. Ah, how good this felt; he looked like a kid making his first presentation in a mothers and sons class.


    "G-Great observation, sir." Enrique''s gaze did not look comfortable at all, the rest remained silent and absorbed by disbelief.


    "Exactly, Enrique." I rested my hands on the table, tilting my face toward the overweight courtier. Checking the numbers, I saw that the amounts were sometimes more than those established by the tribute, that means that someone was getting money right under my nose. And there are few coins ...


    ¡°I-I haven''t stolen anything, you can check my accounts and everything will be in order.¡±


    "I checked them, don''t worry." I took a quick look into his eyes and just like I thought, the guy was actually sweating like a pig and looked both ways to avoid eye contact. ¡°His earnings were slightly larger than they should be, and that capital did not go to the kingdom''s coffers, but to yours. Curious, huh?¡±


    ¡°Maybe it''s an accounting error, if you count again you will see that that small margin will disappear. It may even be a mistake.¡±


    ¡°No, it''s not a mistake, Enrique, because the same pattern repeats itself every time. There is always a smaller chunk of profit. Do you have something to say?¡±


    "No, Your Highness, I am an honorable man with a firm belief in helping others. His accusations are baseless ...¡±


    ¡°Really? Bring it on!¡± The meeting door was thrown open, later 2 men-at-arms entered next to me carrying a small black bag with silver coins and a few gold coins ¡°We found this in your room, very curious, very curious, too ...¡±


    "T-It''s just my spending money, because of my position I can''t carry large amounts." The excuses seemed pathetic to me, to the point of wanting to laugh in his face. Nuno and Lozano looked at each other without being able to believe anything that was happening here.


    "Sure, we''d believe you if it weren''t for what''s inside." Mom grabbed the bag and without further delay scattered the coins on the table. Everything seemed in order until a gray stone appeared rolling close to the gold. When Enrique saw the amulet he almost fainted. ¡°All of the Gray Fist extortionists use a stone of the same color to pass the money they steal from local businesses. Where did you get it from?¡° Mom''s sweet gaze disappeared completely, instead there was only hatred towards the pig that sweated seas from its pores.


    Nuno covered his face, very disappointed in his fellow council member.


    Lozano, on the other hand, simply sighed resigned to the fate of the swindling pig.


    ¡°They are only peasants, Your Highness!¡± Enrique exclaimed. ¡°What''s wrong with taking a little money from them? We should raise taxes to improve our economic situation! Okay, to keep the peace in the cities I colluded with the local guard to turn a blind eye. He only asked a small compensation of 6% to the Gray Fist so as not to report them to the guard and thus let them operate at will. This way he earned extra income and the thugs mostly avoided the nobles of the kingdom. I did it to protect the peace!¡±


    What a stupid excuse.


    I couldn''t help it and laughed.


    My soft, childlike voice was really out of tune with the contempt in my laugh. Mama, on the other hand, was silent and sentenced the treasurer with her eyes.


    ¡°Are they just peasants? Are you an idiot? Of course they matter! They are our people! All the money they steal with extortion, assaults and looting is subtracted from our coffers and if we add taxes to that of taxes that the Kingdom of Apollo puts on us¡­ You can imagine our losses. How the hell did you get to the job if you had no notions of economics?¡± The men-at-arms grabbed the fat man by both shoulders and then yanked him out of his seat.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Ah, please, Your Highness, have mercy on me." His entire body shook worse than freshly beaten jelly.


    "I have two options for you, you can lose your head right now ... Or tell me the location of the Gray Fist bases and thus spend the rest of your days in prison, but alive. You have five seconds to decide.¡±


    "But Your Highness."


    ¡°One¡­¡±


    ¡°No, Highness!¡±


    "Two¡­ Three¡­ Four¡­" The men-at-arms drew their swords and quickly placed them near the greasy neck.


    ¡°Okay, okay !, I''ll tell you what you want. The main base of operations is in the merchant quarter, it is an abandoned tavern that has a secret door in the back room, there is a tunnel where the leader of the organization hides. Near the north wall is the second base. I swear, I swear, but don''t kill me.¡± What a miserable sight, his will did not resist two swords near his greasy neck.


    "Well, from now on you are relieved of your post and condemned to spend the rest of your days in the dungeon. Your family will suffer a considerable financial fine, thank me that nothing was seized from them. "I didn''t want to make enemies either, a big fine should be enough to heal a little bit of the kingdom''s finances and teach all the nobles of the place a lesson. ¡°Guards, take him to his cell and never show him to me again.¡±


    "Yes, Your Highness." "My soldiers took the greasy one out of sight; I could see his crying and twisting in fury until her gasps ended in silence. Subsequently, Sir Marte Hogan entered the meeting room and stood next to Sora, whose face was still stoic despite the great controversy that took place nothing ago.


    ¡°Something to say?¡± I turned my face to the other two council members, wanting to know their opinions on this.


    "A display of wisdom, Your Highness." Lozano tilted his face in respect.


    "He deserved it for being corrupt," Nuno replied, without mincing words. ¡°I never liked him.¡±


    "Mom, can I proceed?"


    "Yes, son, go on." Despite my status, the word and moderation of the meeting was still Mom''s, therefore, it was she who said who could or could not take the direction of the debate.


    "Well, Sir Mars Hogan, step forward."


    "As you say, Your Highness." My strongest mentor and knight heeded the order, then knelt in front of me as per protocol.


    "I want you to gather your best sworn knights and attack the base of the Gray Fist. You will do it during noon tomorrow, in full view of the whole town, because I am going to give a clear message: Criminals have no place here.¡± This little speech left the two remaining members of the council speechless, they tried to tell me something, but their mouths made no sound. Nobody wanted to give their opinion, either for lack of arguments, or for fear of making me angry.


    Mom, instead, just nodded and my weapons master bowed again to accept the job.


    ¡°So it will be done.¡° And after saying that, Sir Marte withdrew from the place to look for the knights who will accompany him on the mission.


    "You will use the knights of the kingdom and your own captain of the Kingsguard; more than a message is a strategy, right?" The Chancellor discovered my plan as quickly as he heard it, apparently he was a smart guy.


    "The criminals have bought the local guard, but not the knights. The nobility do not bother to catch them, so seeing a lot of armored warriors march down the street will be common for all. They will not expect to be hit by such adversaries.¡±


    ¡°Are you really a child?¡± The question everyone wanted to ask me finally came up; Nuno''s eyes rested on me like those of an eagle during a hunt.


    "Yes, I am," I replied, with a mocking smile that really did sound like that of an ordinary infant. ¡°I have very good mentors.¡±


    "I supposed it."


    ¡°Senescal Lozano, to prevent all this from happening again I have devised a new law, I would like you to listen to it.¡± The older man just shook his head up and down, giving me the green light to start arguing. ¡°Organized crime will never disappear, but we have to make its appearance more difficult, therefore I suggest applying a law that punishes very severely all those who have alliances or benefits with criminal associations.¡±


    ¡°And what punishments are you thinking of?¡± Lozano asked.


    ¡°For merchants and commoners in general, fines of up to 100 silver coins at best and mutilation of both arms at worst. For knights, the fine will be 10 years in the dungeon and the confiscation of their weapons and armor. Lords, Barons and Counts could face administrative fines of up to 200 gold coins; or if they don''t want to pay them ... They will lose a finger of their dominant hand, that way everyone will think twice before making deals with gangsters.¡±


    "I-It''s¡­ Okay, is there an objection?" The Lozano Seneschal glanced at those present, even fixed his gaze on Sora, whose face could not believe what was happening here.


    "I''m not against it," Mom said. ¡°It is a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Me neither.¡± Nuno also approved my idea; The truth is I did not expect to be accepted so easily, but this law was so 21st century (except for the mutilations) that for a primitive and medieval environment it sounded out of the ordinary.


    "Well, announce the new law as soon as possible."


    "It will be done, Your Highness." Lozano bowed politely and then fell silent.


    The meeting continued as usual and with no further surprises on my part. I kept quiet to watch Mom commenting on simple but relevant matters, like the state of the unpaved streets and she also named some candidates for the treasurer position.


    I quickly noticed that these things were not given to her, she frequently looked at the notes that she herself copied the night before to take the course of the event. Being a regent implied the responsibility of managing the kingdom as there was no king available to rule.


    Sure, a part of me wanted to reveal my true abilities to ease his workload; however, that would hurt Mom more. She really went out of her way to give me a happy childhood without so much stress from future responsibilities.


    The most respectful thing you could do for her was accept her good wishes and learn as much as possible before she was 16 years old.


    ¡°And with this we end the meeting, we will see you next week.¡± Mom stood up and lowered her face in thanks. They already have their instructions, we will see how everything unfolds in the course of the week.


    ¡°Nice job.¡± I decided to imitate my mother''s gesture, because I didn''t want to look like a mini boss who just gave orders without being grateful. Some may think that a king should not be humble, but in itself it is something that I could not avoid due to my old life as a civil servant.


    "Thank you, Your Highness, we are withdrawing." Both Lozano and Nuno left the meeting room. Mom did the same, but not before patting my head and then smiling at me.


    "You were magnificent, son, we talked over dinner."


    ¡°Thanks Mom.¡± I smiled back and then turned my face to Sora. ¡°Let''s go, I have to get to the playing field with Alda or she''ll be mad.¡±


    I left the room with my personal maid, on the way we were greeted by the employees who swept the surrounding corridors. I wanted to greet them, but they just bowed their heads and were absolutely silent with my presence.


    Ouch.


    I don''t know if I can get used to this.


    "Your Highness, can I tell you something?"


    "Yes, what is it, Sora?"


    "The display of power and intelligence you displayed earlier is not normal, Your Highness. Everyone thought about it, but I''m sure no one said anything about it for fear of their reaction. An 8-year-old should worry only about food, playtime, and lessons; Even if you are a genius child, it takes emotional maturity to bear seeing a corpse and then enacting a law. During the meeting I saw the eyes of a man, not a boy. ¡°Sora was a very perceptive person¡­ No, maybe Mom noticed it too and didn''t say anything because of how proud she was, or because she didn''t want to understand the reason for such a miracle.


    "A man''s eyes, is that how you see me, Sora?" I stopped my steps in the middle of the hall, I was not annoyed or confused by his words. In fact, I assumed that a conversation like this would end up happening sooner or later.


    ¡°That''s how it is. Sometimes I see him play with Miss Alda in the afternoons like a normal child, but then I see you studying such complicated books and having serious conversations with the council members. This is beyond genius, Your Highness, what is really going on with you? I mean, if I may know.¡±


    ¡°I woke up a certain intelligence after my illness, it''s true. I don''t know how to explain what happened to me that day¡­ But in a way I appreciate you mentioning it, Sora¡­ ¡±I closed my eyes with some relief over my consciousness, at least she was aware of the situation.


    "Yes, you got the maturity of a man, but there is also the other side of the coin."


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I questioned, surprised by his statement.


    "I said you looked like a man before, but playing with Alda and training you look like a normal child; Before, nothing happened, you spent it locked in your room and only went out to eat or take lessons that never amounted to anything. You did not seem to enjoy life, now I see you more alive than ever. ¡°Sora stroked my head with her slim hands, ran over my left cheek, then smiled warmly at me again.


    I couldn''t help blushing.


    Sora was a beautiful and well-groomed woman, besides, her age almost coincided with the mine before my death.


    If I had appeared in this world with my real age, maybe I would have fallen in love with her instantly ...


    She was attentive, observant, responsible and very kind.


    Too bad that in this life nothing will happen between us, everything will remain like a childish crush that will soon be forgotten as time goes by.


    ¡°It''s true, almost dying made me appreciate what I have in front of me.¡° This last was not a lie, when I reincarnated I could understand that not everything in life was dreams and ideals. Sometimes the little moments of happiness with my family and friends were the ones that really paid off.


    Dying alone and drowning in your own blood was a mistake that I did not intend to make again.


    "Oh, how cute you are, Your Highness." Sora ruffled my hair again as she smiled.


    "W-When we''re alone or with Alda I wouldn''t mind if you tell me by name. Sometimes I forget that my name is Ulric, could you please?¡± Again I told the truth; in my past life everyone called me by my last name since I never managed to have a close relationship with anyone. Only dad referred to me by my name.


    "Of course I do, Master Ulric."


    ¡°Can''t we avoid the master?¡±


    "No," Sora replied, as he rolled her right eye at me. ¡°Come on, Miss Alda must be impatient.¡±


    "You''re right, let''s go."

 Chapter 10: Distant emotions

    Chapter 10: Distant emotions


    The afternoon of the next day was different from the others, I had no training in the parade ground and my sister, bored, started reading novels with Sora in the library. They loved to watch romances and stories of knights saving maidens.


    Alda always said she would live her own love story, although I was not very excited about my future romances. I would probably end up in a sad marriage of convenience. Anyway; I would have liked to go with Alda and Sora, but my court duties had to be attended to first.


    And it was certainly an awkward affair, for that reason I asked Sora to keep my poor sister company. I''ll join them later.


    ¡°Are you ready, son?¡° Mom called out to me from the main hallway leading to the throne room. She wore an elegant red dress that highlighted the silver jewelry hanging around her neck, she also carried a golden scepter to give instructions and whose presence accredited her rank as regent.


    ¡°Yes, let''s go. ¡° We entered the throne room before the eyes of knights, courtiers and the remaining members of the council. They opened a corridor for us until we reached the enormous golden chair that was located right in the center of the room.


    I sat down on the throne with mother''s help, as my legs still could not reach the huge metal chair by themselves. Afterwards, my mother stood to my right and nodded to the rest of those present, beginning the formalities.


    ¡°We welcome the great Sir Marte Hogan.¡± Mother''s solemn words filled the other courtiers with joy. Immediately, the giant knight entered the throne room with his immaculate armor and without any dent. Did he change his attire to come here?


    Or did the criminals really not touch him?


    The answer made me very curious.


    Sir Marte walked to the stairs leading to the dais, knelt before us and then raised his countenance without getting up from the floor.


    ¡°I have murdered the leader of the Grey Fist" my mentor said. ¡°Here is the proof.¡±


    A squire of about 14 years of age came running up with a wooden box in his hands. He greeted us with a silent bow and then handed his package to the knight. Heck, I already had an idea of what was inside, so I prepared my countenance so as not to be surprised.


    The Royal Guard opened the box with a single movement and there we observed a well-preserved head: it had an unkempt brown beard, as well as pale skin due to decomposition, and his hair had also been cut until it was bald. A few drops of blood were still dripping from the severed neck, but nothing the maids couldn''t clean up.


    Okay, thanks to my preparation I didn''t throw up.


    But this wasn''t exactly a pretty sight.


    ¡°That''s him, all right.¡± Mom clapped her hands twice, unfazed by the decapitated head just inches away. You have done well, noble knight.


    Was no one disgusted by having a guillotined head in sight?


    Very well, I suppose I shall have to adapt to such violence sooner or later.


    ¡°We killed everyone we saw inside the base, also the gangsters operating near the walls and in the slum. Their heads are now nailed to communal pikes right at the entrance to the city, so the smugglers will know that corruption is no longer tolerated here. ¡°


    Huh?


    Did the entrance to my capital city used to be littered with impaled heads?


    UGH.


    What a horrifying, but necessary, sight.


    I felt no empathy for the extortionist rats or violent criminals. Their deaths were just and necessary, still, the mere thought of a bunch of crows devouring eyeballs left and right definitely turned my stomach. UGH, gross.


    ¡°Excellent work, Sir Marte.¡± I congratulated him too, after all it was common sense to compliment a good job.


    ¡°What should I do with my head, do you want to keep it?¡±


    ¡°No," I replied. ¡°Throw the head into the slums and let the commoners have their fun with it. Let it be their revenge for all the pain it caused them.¡±


    ¡°Well, I''ll send the Home Guard to deliver the head to the people.¡±


    The Royal Guard took the head with him and without more to say walked to the door of the hall, gave a final bow and left the place with his squire behind. The other courtiers were stunned, their clean robes and extravagant perfumes still looked very uncomfortable to me.Stolen novel; please report.


    Even so, I raised my right hand to end the meeting.


    Gradually the guests left the place, leaving only Mom and me together on the dais, even the honor guards left the room and resumed their posts just at the entrance of the room. Thus giving us some privacy.


    Was my reaction too extravagant?


    I couldn''t tell, but the surprise on their faces gave a lot to talk about.


    ¡°God, you will be an excellent king, you have already surpassed me in terms of administration. ¡°Mom patted me on the head and then smiled. ¡°You are a genius.¡±


    ¡°I''m still green, mom, I still have a long way to go to become like you. I still don''t know important laws and I also need to know my vassals; there is a long way to go and for that I am grateful for your work. When I turn 16 you will be able to retire in peace.¡±


    ¡°Intelligence, humility, empathy and affection for the commoners, you have the potential to become the most important king in our young history. To tell you the truth I didn''t do anything about it before because I was unaware of the old treasurer''s corruption, there were many flaws in front of me and I couldn''t solve them alone.¡°


    ¡°Don''t worry, I don''t really like criminals. I did this more as an act of personal revenge, isn''t it normal for knights to attack like this, right?¡±


    ¡°That''s right, the ones in charge of defeating criminal networks are usually local guards and militiamen. The knights rarely try to defeat them; on this occasion it was a direct order from the king, that''s why they acted so quickly and efficiently. ¡°


    ¡°I see, I''ll keep that in mind. ¡° I stood up from the throne with a jump, then stretched my joints to unwind. This room looked bigger empty than full, curiously there was no chair to sit on.


    According to tradition, only the king may be seated in this place, the rest must remain standing until further notice. I did not like the custom, but I had to respect it like the rest of the nobles.


    ¡°Son, can I talk to you for a moment?¡±


    ¡°Of course, Mom, you don''t have to ask my permission to talk to me.¡±


    ¡°You''ve put a lot of effort into your studies and martial training. You don''t know how proud I am of your performance... ¡°Mom sat down on one of the steps of the platform, I did the same to be next to her so I could see her face to face. No titles or formalities, just a mother/son chat.


    ¡°Thank you, I have had good mentors and your support. ¡°In this I was not being modest, Gonzalo and Sir Marte were high level teachers, besides, mom''s support and Alda''s energy gave me a mental health so great that it even surpassed my past life, where I had to fend for myself since I entered high school far from home.


    I had lived alone for so long that I no longer remembered how nice it was to live with family, surrounded by love and warm smiles every day.


    ¡°You deserve only the best..." Girasol paused suddenly and stroked my cheeks softly, she seemed worried about something. ¡°Would you hate me if I failed you?¡±


    ¡°I would never hate you, Mom. Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°Yes, something happened last night. I don''t know if I should tell you now that you''ve done a great deed, it would sully the memories of your first triumph as king....¡±


    ¡°I''ll have to find out sooner or later, so you tell me. ¡°I smiled to minimize the impact, to tell the truth I felt nervous about the news; mother was not exactly someone easy to make uncomfortable, her serene face before a decapitated head and the strength she showed when we saw the corpse in the village were fervent proof of her mettle as a person.


    For this reason, seeing her with her eyes shining and on the verge of tears worried me a lot.


    ¡°I received a letter from the King of Apollo, he has told us that he has your fianc¨¦e ready for betrothal. He plans to marry you to the natural daughter of his younger brother. We cannot refuse his commands and if we do, he will attack our people again..." Mom sounded very upset by everything that happened, she frowned and then sighed to calm down. ¡°The court doesn''t know about this yet, when they find out they will burst with rage; marrying our king to an illegitimate daughter is an insult of great magnitude. He is giving us to understand that we are worth very little to him.¡±


    ¡°But I''m 8 years old, I''ll only be 9 in a few months.¡±


    ¡°Many marriages are decided by betrothal since childhood. They will be engaged for years and when they come of age they can consummate the pact.¡±


    ¡°You mean 16 years old, right?¡±


    ¡°That''s right," Mom replied, very embarrassed at having to reveal this news to me.


    ¡°Y-Yet," I whispered. ¡°This girl is my age, isn''t she?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, son, you and the king''s niece are the same age. ¡°


    UGH.


    The thought of getting engaged to an 8-year-old girl was repulsive to me.


    Mentally I was a grown man and therefore, it would be impossible for me to be attracted to little girls. The very idea seemed horrendous, disgusting and in very poor taste.


    ¡°Can I wait until I''m 18 to get married?¡± My question was out of place, Mom raised her left eyebrow and looked at me with some confusion.


    This was a whim of mine, nothing more, nothing less.


    In Mexico, all citizens 18 years of age and older were considered adults in the eyes of the law. Different from the Kingdom of Etrica, where the legal age was reached at 16.


    ¡°Why wait 2 years?¡±


    ¡°Because at 16 I will be crowned and I suppose there will be a formal ceremony. It is bad luck to celebrate two events at the same time and the kingdom''s finances will need to rest after a very big holiday. I want both festivities to be memorable and thus show the kingdom how good our administration is. ¡°This was a very bad excuse, actually it was just a whim of mine so I wouldn''t feel guilty for marrying an underage girl.


    ¡°It''s true, well, betrothal is for life so there is no strict law that forces to formalize a marriage. We''ll see about that in due course.¡±


    ¡°I understand it''s my duty, Mom, don''t worry, I won''t blame you for anything that happens. That''s the way I''ve had to live. ¡°Romantic love was never given to me anyway.


    In my past life I closed the doors of romance to focus on my career and personal goals, now it will be my turn to do the same for the sake of the kingdom.


    To be honest, I felt a little bad for not being able to live a romantic story of my own, but that''s what soap operas and gossip were for. If I''ve already survived a life without falling in love, I''ll be able to do it again for the good of the people.


    ¡°I''m glad you understand, it will be hard, but you will always have your family to support you. Whatever happens, Alda and I will be with you. ¡°After one last pat on the head, Mom finally sat back down. I''ll make the announcement next week.


    ¡°I''ll be watching. ¡°After telling me the news, my mother left the room with her eyes downcast.


    I sighed resignedly and finally left the place heading for the library, as I wanted to spend some time with Sora and Alda.