《The Wounded King》


 The Beginning

    ARC I: The Betrayal


    All it takes for someone to betray you is a second, believe me, I know. And it''s not about the time it takes, but the person who stabs you.


    For me, it was my friend, a friend who I held as dear as my life.


    As a king, the privilege of friendship is limited to a few. Unfortunately, I chose wrong. As I now wound up on the streets of hell.


    A hell that I had built.


    <hr>


    As I strove on the streets of Zoria, I saw a man near starvation approach me. I flinched as my mind filled with disgust as I was in the presence of a horrible, vile peasant. With a silent drought voice he asked, " Sir if you may, could you please give me some water?" I moved forward ignoring the peasant. By the 5th step, the peasant grabbed my leg begging, "Sir just one glass of water. Not for me but for my dying daughter." I kicked the man away violently as I yelled, "Move you wretched swine!" I understand as a king this was not the right thing to do, but now I was no longer the king I once was. The rules of this world had now seeped into me. I had to act as a noble to prevent the hostility of the crowd.


    As a king, I never once was in the presence of a crowd. I inherited my father''s throne with no obstacles in my way. Even towards the end of my rule, as my so called ''friend'' kicked me out of my kingdom, I faced no disputes nor was I reprimanded for my actions. For I was king. The one and only true ruler. I never had the will to show my face in public and so I had nobles deal with the tedious ordeals.No one recognised me because of this reason. This now proved useful as the people had seen me walking out of the palace doors.


    In a world where the king reigns supreme, only nobles had the rights to walk free. Looking at my clothes, none doubted that I was a noble. Thus, I walked as a free man. But now the question arised, what I was going to do? A king who had it all, did nothing for himself and nothing for his kingdom. I required nothing in life, yet now, circumstances brought me to a situation where I now have nothing. The only things I had now were the royal clothes I was wearing, the 5 gemstones embroidered on them and a ring valued in the thousands. Thus, I decided to walk in the nearest gem store, 7 kilometres away.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    As I was walking in the store, I realised that my clothing was drenched in sweat. From my instinctive behaviour, I immediately demanded a fan. The storekeeper complied by bring a variety of exquisite fans to my table. I refused to buy the fan with the excuse that they weren''t matching with my glamorous clothing. The storekeeper was a pompous yet tall man with black hair, short but neatly combed. He had a diamond ring in each finger and each ring was worth in the hundreds. Considering his attire, I decided to sell my ring to him in judgement of his wealth. He set the price equivalent to two thousand and I roared, "Two thousand! For two thousand I could have your head chopped!" I could tell he was displeased by this comment but was now more hospitable, "Surely sir. The price I was offering was merely a jest. How about ten thousand?" The actual price of the ring was fifteen thousand, but I could argue no further as I had no power backing my name anymore. I agreed with the price of ten thousand (which was enough to buy a mansion next to the palace). With this large amount of money, I then walked tirelessly to a merchant nearby to buy a few items.


    The merchant was bulky with barbaric muscles and scars ranging over his body yet he wore the clothes of nobles. Astonished at the merchants sight I asked, "Aren''t you a bit too strong to be a merchant?" He laughed with a deep voice, "I was a warrior when I was young. Now at the age of 50, I decided to settle down." Yet again I felt surprised to hear of the merchant''s good health. He didn''t look a day over 30. "I see. I am currently planning an expedition, so I was looking for a horse. Do you mind showing a few of your finest?" The old merchant replied, "Of course young man, I''ll walk you right over to the stable beside the shop."


    We walked into the stable and I noticed 12 horses, all well maintained and sturdy. "As a hobby, I ensure to take these horses on a ride so I assure you they are all well and fine", said the merchant. I quickly picked a dazzling white horse which was known to be calm yet fast as proclaimed by the merchant. "A fine choice by a fine man." As the merchant said these words, I headed out on the horse with a thank you in 50 gold coins to the merchant. With a ride and a bag of gold coins, I set out to rest in an inn as the first day of my journey to re achieving the throne had come to an end.

 The Prisoner

    It was eight o''clock in the evening. I decided to end the day there and sleep through the night. I reached a 4 star hotel on my horse which I manoeuvred perfectly thanks to the training I had received as a prince. I was being careful to avoid any high end resorts to prevent being spotted as a noble or targeted by a large crowd. This way I wouldn''t need to use my family name. Family names essentially help people recognise your noble status. From the lowest to the highest, the ranks are distributed as Barons/Baroness , Viscount/Viscountess , Earl/Countess and Duke/Duchess. The highest of all nobility, of course being the King or the Queen. The right to second names (surnames) was only shared by people of noble blood. However, if any man was to falsely speak taking a noble family''s name, death wouldn''t be the worst that would happen. Thus, I moved on to the Charlot Inn, prestigious for harbouring adventurers.


    I parked my horse outside of the large lobby for the valet to bring it to the stable and walked in the hotel meeting the receptionist. As I stood in front of her table, the receptionist spoke as she did with all commoners who stood before her, "Hello sir. How may I help you?" The receptionist had long blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles across her beautiful face. She had a slender body with a voluptuous bosom. As I blushed I spoke, "Ahem. I would like a single room and dinner served in my chambers." She replied saying, "Is there anything you would prefer for dinner?" I controlled myself from acting vulgar and said, "You....Would you please bring a medium rare steak and a bottle of red wine, the finest that you have." She covered her chin with her hand and said, "My. My. Surely sir. That would be 12 gold and 5 silvers." At the time I only had a bundle of gold coins and thus replied, "You make take 13 gold for the time being as I may require more of your service in the future." She blushed and complied with my words (words she assumed to be of a nobleman).  I walked upstairs to the room I was allotted by the receptionist and waited for my meal to arrive. I ate the meagre (in taste) yet appetising steak and went to sleep. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The next day as I woke up, I decided to take a stroll to make notice of the latest news. As I walked into the lobby at six in the morning, I saw a ''wanted'' poster freshly prepared. On a closer inspection I saw a man perfectly drawn with a full beard, fierce black eyes and long brown hair. "Alas! The doomsday has come! My own subjects have now truly denounced my name!" I went on to read the information below the drawing. It was written, ''Wanted Dead. An escaped prisoner. 5000000 gold coins.'' I laughed, fuelled with anger as I understood this gesture. This was a coup against my rule. I assumed that this was all done to overthrow me as king and make my long lost friend (in terms of friendship and endeavours) the king. By killing me, a king who had never showed his face to the public, they would be able to use my name to their will. My ''friend'' would be able to use my name and have a kingdom at his disposal. But to do so, it was necessary to kill me outside of the palace to avoid any suspicions of the proceedings and to begin the making of a fake king.


    I laughed at the joke I was seeing in front of me, for two peaceful minutes. The joke, that was on me.

 Escape

    I immediately went up to my room and shaved my beard to avoid any direct resemblance to the wanted poster. I then went to the hotel''s stable and rode my horse to the merchant''s shop which was thankfully open at the time.


    "So you came again lad! What can I do for you?", asked the old merchant. I was under the thought that he was unaware of the reward on my name (face to be precise). "I require a sharp dagger and a steady sword. Preferably a B class sword and a C class dagger."


    Each weapon is divided into 7 classes. Namely, from that of the lowest quality to the best, F class, E class, D class and all the way up to A class. There is one grade even above that of an A class weapon. It is listed as a national treasure and is rarely found. As you can expect, as the quality increases, the price of the weapons also increases. Thus it is rare for anyone to have a weapon above B class.


    "Luckily, I have a B class sword present with me. Though it is a bit worn, it is still far superior to a C class sword.", said the merchant.


    "How much?" I asked.


    "Well, since this is slightly worn out, I would sell this for 1000." said the merchant.


    At the moment the price was not what I was concerned with. I had to leave as soon as possible and as far away as possible within the day.                            "And what about the dagger?" I asked.


    Unfortunately, the old merchant did not have a dagger. Thus I departed from the shop with a thousand and one gold coins less. Where did I spend the other gold coin? On hay and grass(horse food). This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Now I rode on my horse once again. Where was I going? To the dungeon city, Wazar. In a country habituated by nobles and royals, adventurers were commonly seen. Thus the only way to start as an adventurer was to fight in dungeons or forests. Why was I trying to be an adventurer? It''s simple really. It was never in my wishes to work hard. I had no intention of doing this out of joy. In fact, I hated it. Even as a king, I never really spent time working for my kingdom. I lead to many internal conflicts and lead my nation to the brink of collapse, but anyways that''s a story for another time.


    My current destination was Wazar, a city in the neighbouring country called Sar. It was specifically built for adventurers to travel and earn experience as warriors. Dungeons fabricated monsters which became hard to deal with. Thus over the years, adventurers began resisting and formed guilds. These guilds better focused at the problems at hand in unity and now, the people leisurely go to dungeons to earn more experience.


    It had been a day since I had departed from the country. Since, our countries had no borders, I had no problems reaching the country of Sar. I was tired from all the riding and decided to stop at a rendezvous point commonly used by travelling merchants and adventurers. I slept in an uncomfortable bed at an average looking inn, in a town called Sere and fed my horse. I continued my journey and reached the glorious city of Wazar.


    People were lively and the merchants had spread wide and far with items from dungeons and weapons. I didn''t concern myself with the items and first found a place to stay.


    I looked through the best places in town and saw one of the best mansions across the city. Soon after I decided to buy one specific mansion 4 kilometres away form the dungeon. It had a fountain, a grand gate, and all the amenities available within the house. It was a house previously owned by a Duke who recently discarded this mansion due to his travels across the kingdom.


    I settled in the mansion and slept like a dog without having any food as I was extremely tired. As I went of to bed, I decided on buying some slaves to serve me on the next day.

 Slave Market, Part 1

    I spent the first day in Wazar in peace. Now I had to secure a stable source of income for the future. I hadn''t thought much about revenge as I was busy thinking about securing my current needs. The first thing that came to my mind was to buy some slaves.


    Slaves are people who spent over 9 months in debt. Any amount of money owed to anyone results in you becoming a slave under the law. However, there is another method through which people are made into slaves. In a situation where a family has drowned in poverty, they can sell a member of their family as a slave. This way, not only are the people saved from their poor standards, but they also have less mouths to feed. This business was initially turned into a crude practice and many slaves were mistreated. Some were decapitated just for fun. Many children fell under slavery and it ruined their lives. Ever since, they created a law prohibiting the slavery of children under 18 years of age. Yet children were still being sold under the law in black markets. Many bought these young children to prevent them from facing horrendous situations but the opposite happened and the economy of the black market was on the rise.


    I had no intention of buying incapable slave children out of pity. And breaking the law in my position, was similar to attracting attention to myself which I had to avoid by any means possible.


    I took a deep breath and got out of bed. I walked into my bathroom a metre away from the large bedroom. There were two sinks in the bathroom, a grand bath tub. A set of curtains were present in front of the shower and two lavatories 10 feet away from the sink. I took a bath and wore my same old clothes. It was then I realised I should buy more sets of clothing as well.


    I left the mansion and entered the garden where my horse was busy grazing grass. I rode on my horse and decided to make the first stop at a clothing shop nearby. I spent 30 minutes riding across town in circles asking people where the nearest clothing store was and I finally found it a 100 blocks across the street. I parked my horse in the corner and walked in the hypnotically amazing store. I walked in and met the old feeble manager standing across a table.


    I asked, "Do you by any chance make custom clothing?"The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The old man replied, "Yes sir we do. What is it that you require?"


    I had never seen a man as old as him neither had I seen a man as humble. But I shook this thought off my mind and started ranting the types of clothes I was to wear.


    "I would like 7 full sleeved royal blue vests with an intricate pattern woven in the colour gold ranging across the sleeves. I would also require 2 leather chest plates that cover the torso entirely. Other than that, 12 black coloured loose dresses with a red cape similar to the king would be fine." (The king of Sar)


    The old man wrote my request on a piece of paper with a feather he dipped in ink. The man was shivering as he spoke, "In how many days to do want this delivered?"


    "You may take as long as it takes, but I want them delivered fast."


    I then gave him my address and ordered the man to bring the set of clothing directly to my mansion. The merchant complied.


    I looked across the store to find clothing to wear for the time being. I had no intention to wear a nobles clothes as I faced no hostility from the people of the city nor did I have any reason to, as none of them were even aware of me. I looked through the tunics and bought one in every colour (five in total). I then bought 15 full length loose linen leggings which were ready made.  Along with this, I bought a huge leather bag to carry the clothes. The total price amounted to a meagre 25 gold. I left the place and walked in the shoe shop next door which caught my eye as I was coming to the clothing store.


    I didn''t pay much attention to the average looking store manager and bought 3 leather shoes for another gold coin.


    I mounted my horse and left the area with a huge leather bag stuffed with clothing. I returned to my mansion and placed all my belongings in one of the 7 rooms I was not using at the moment. I wore a red tunic and a black hose* I had bought. I held the sword in my hand with the sheath covering it.


    I now decided to go to the slave market to buy some servants. Slaves were essentially expensive and were only ever taken by nobles to do menial tasks. Owning a huge mansion, I had to buy two slaves to clean the house, one slave to take care of the horse and the garden, and a calm, loyal, warrior to fight in the dungeons along with me.


    Reaching the slave market wasn''t hard due to it being large and profound. I had left the mansion on foot as the slave market was only 2 kilometres away. I reached the slave market to see men setting tents across a wide area with slaves encaged in large metal cages. Then, amongst all the commotion, a slave caught my eye. A man was seated in a cage calm as the wind. I could tell he was strong but not aggressive. I decided on buying this man as my first servant.

 Slave Market, Part 2

    All slaves have the freedom of speaking against their masters. That is what the law states. However, not many slaves are allowed to come forth and speak freely by their masters orders. This is in a way against the law, but still commonly practised.


    I however, do not abide by these circumstances. I always think of the best method to stay lazy and have less of a burden to deal with. The optimal way of doing so would be to treat the slaves fairly. By doing this, when I would tell them to do my work, I''d face no oppositions. After all, if you give a prisoner his freedom, you become their hero.


    I advanced towards one of the many slave merchants and asked the price of the slave I was set on buying.


    "This man here was once a native of our neighbouring kingdom, Zoria. He was a warrior back in the days. The situation got the best of him. It would be a great choice to buy him. I was planning on selling him for 900 but instead I''ll be kind and sell him off at 750."


    I had money to no bounds. A mere 750 wasn''t going to prevent me from making my choices. All I needed was a man to handle a steady source of income to secure the future. Buying this man was more like an investment.


    I once again glanced at the man. He had black hair with golden eyes that were rather exquisite looking. He had strong muscles, and was malnourished. His skin tone was pale and by his calmness I could tell he was astray. This spoke a lot about his stability.


    Nonetheless, I bought him. The slave trader was excited to see a large sum of money and took the man out of the cage. He was then about to place a slave brand* on the man''s back but I prevented him from doing so.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    I then catechised, " What is your name?"


    The slave did not reply.


    I continued, "Very well. Then I shall call you Arthur."


    I proceeded examined other slaves as I tread around the slave market. Arthur followed my lead. Along the pathway, I saw a crowd encircling one of the cages. I looked and saw a beautiful woman with lustrous black hair, a tan hue and beautiful light brown eyes. As people were bidding in the thousands, I interrupted them. You know the rest.


    I now had just over 4 grand and I had only bought 2 slaves. I was now prepared to leave with my poor decisions (my slaves). As I reached home with two new members, I sat at the couch in the living room. The slaves stood in front of me.


    "Arthur. From now on, you will serve me by fighting beside me during dungeon expeditions. As a warrior I assume you are already well acquainted with what you have to do. First thing in the morning, we will go to the guild to register."


    Arthur complied by a simple nod and continued to stand in front of me. I noticed the girl''s dress which was torn across several places.


    "What is your name?", I asked the girl.


    She replied, "It is Alexandria, master."


    "I see. So for today Alexandria, you may rest in any room you like besides mine. I will buy some clothing for you tomorrow. Your job in this household would be that of a maid. Maintaining the condition of the house and the garden will be your top priority."


    I looked towards Arthur and continued, "For now, we will leave the mansion and travel to a restaurant. Remind me to bring food for Alexandria in case I forget."


    "As for you Alexandria, you will rest and wait for our arrival in your room. In the meantime, if you wish to take a bath, you may do so."


    Alexandria replied as she put her hand on her chest and lowered her head, "Yes master. Your wish is my command."

 The Restaurant

    I decided to walk as I had only one horse at the moment. Arthur accompanied me. We walked across the block and asked several people about the location of a nearby restaurant. We soon found one located 900 metres away.


    The gate of the restaurant was grandiose, large and covered with red fabrics used as banners all across the wooden decoration. A man was standing ahead of the gate as the receptionist. He had a well groomed white suit similar to that of a chef. As we approached him he asked, "Good evening customer. What can I do for you?"


    I replied, "Prepare a table for two."


    The receptionist judged Arthur''s torn clothes and moved inside the restaurant to show us our table. After doing so, he walked back to the front of the gate. I ordered three chickre* legs and a whole sharen* cooked in basil leaves.


    In world of dungeons and monsters, monster meat was a common delicacy. The price often depended upon which monster it was. Similar to weapons, these monsters also had ranks to make it easier to distinguish between them. They had three ranks, namely, from the lowest to the highest, bronze, silver and gold. However, once every decade, a monster comes about far superior in ranking. We called these abominable devastators as the jade rank.


    The aforementioned chickre and sharen however, were mere bronze monsters and thus their price wasn''t too high.


    As we were served, Arthur began to eat. Just as he was about to eat more, one of the waiters stopped him. He started calling the receptionist to the table.


    As the receptionist arrived he said, "Sir! I''m sorry, but we do not serve slaves!"


    He continued, "Since you have brought this slave in our restaurant, you must pay for the damages that you have caused to our reputation."


    I could tell with one look that the receptionist was trying to rip us off. I furiously looked towards the receptionist and roared, "YOU DARE!"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    The receptionist was startled on hearing this. He did not expect a man such as me to argue with him.


    I continued, "Referring to my friend here as a slave! He is not marked as one nor do I believe he looks like one. However, you, you dared to oppose your own customers from eating! What sort of service is this! You yourself have damaged the image of your restaurant! You dare blame me for your imprudence!"


    The receptionist argued, "I will accept your wordings sir, but I must see whether or not the man sitting beside you is branded."


    I allowed the receptionist to examine Arthur. After finding no marks on Arthur''s body, the receptionist was in complete disbelief. He didn''t expect such a situation to arise.


    I stood up and looked down on the short receptionist. "You have mocked my friend and treated him as a slave. Be prepared for the consequences. For now, I will have you skimmed down to the bone."


    As I reprimanded the receptionist, the manager walked through his chambers to observe the situation. After learning in detail about the incident that had occurred, he scolded the receptionist.


    The manager then said, "I am truly sorry for my careless receptionist. As a token of my apology, you may eat the food here for free."


    I laid back and brought my knuckles under my chin to show an overpowering aura. "I see meaning to your apology.  However I do not find that adequate. In return, I wish for you to bring three bottled of white wine and parcel a days worth of food supply."


    The manager complied with my demands. As we once again began eating, Arthur smiled as he looked down. I offered a bottle of wine to Arthur and he gladly accepted. We drank till late in the night yet spoke nothing.


    I refused to speak to show my power as a master, and Arthur stayed quiet due to the sorrow he was long since engulfed in.


    I ordered Arthur to carry the parcel* and reached home carrying half a bottle of wine. As we entered through the door, we found the mansion to be exquisitely cleaned. Not a speck of dust was to be seen. I kept the wine bottle on the living room table.


    As I walked into my room, I saw Alexandria cleaning the floor with a large piece of cloth from her already torn dress. I lightly hit my head with my hand and sighed, "Alexandria, I had allowed you to rest for the day, why are you working now at this hour?!"


    Alexandria got up from the floor, and shyly replied, "I.... I simply thought that serving master would be the right thing to do."


    I could tell that she was trying hard to create a good impression of herself.


    But was she doing this because she thought of me as a lecherous bastard?


    I was angry yet understanding enough to see her protect her integrity.