《The Black Sheep Prince(complete)》


 Prologue

    Prologue


    In a world where magic exists, in a small continent in a gigantic world, different races coexist among each others, not a peaceful coexistence, but coexistence anyway


    Human Elf, dwarves, demons, beast men and the enemy of all, monsters


    Thanks to an existence called mana veins that can be found on the earth all around the world, mana exist all around the world generating all kind of monsters and threats


    And in a world like this, humans should be in great danger, but thanks to magic, society and technology


    Their society is similar to medieval, from earth with kingdoms all around but with an advanced technology thanks to research in mana and their uses


    But besides tools and kingdoms, Humans have the ability to use mana directly


    Sadly, not everyone can use it and there are two ways to use it. You can use the mana all around you to change to your will, or if the person can generate mana inside their body, they can use it to increase their ficical abilitis


    A person that can manipulate the mana around them, are usually called magician or users of outer mana. They can change the mana at will, but are dependant of the density of mana around them, and can only change it to something specific. Some can make fire, some can make ice, some can heal, and some can even change the mana to 2 or 3 different things


    As for people that can generate mana inside their body, they are usually called warriors or inner mana users. The amount of mana they can generate and the efficiency increase with training


    And it''s thanks to all this that humanity can stand in a world full of dangers and threats


    Griffon Empire - Capital


    In a world where magic exists, in a big Palace in a great country lived a prince. This prince wasn''t stupid, wasn''t bad looking or talentless, and you could even say he was above average


    But even though he had the qualities to make a decent king, there was a tiny little problem


    From the start, all his family was full of monsters


    From the king and queen to his two brothers and two sisters. Their ability''s were borderline insane, with him being the only exception.


    The problem was he wasn''t outstanding


    Not only was he unable to use magic in any way, but all his abilities were considered average.


    To be honest, for a noble, and even for a prince, he wasn''t bad


    He was smart, he was fit and even among nobles and royalty that usually had a high density of magic in their bloodline, the descendants usually had a 50% chance of being able to generate mana in their body or use ambient mana(10% for both)


    As for commoners, it was usually 10% to had the possibility to use one of them and 2% for both.


    Of course, not been able to use mana didn''t mean he could take the throne since strength didn''t matter to a ruler, it was just a convenience


    Sadly, he wasn''t better than his family in anything else. Every single one of his brothers and sisters absorbed information like a sponge, made everyone around them respect them and wanted to follow them, were incredible cunning and master tacticians


    Her own little sister surpassed him on his studies when he was 6 while she was 5


    What would you do in that kind of situation? keep struggling to surpass your brothers and their indomitable wall called talent?


    Realising he had no chance of beating them in anything they do, he chose to start studying something they wouldn''t, alchemy


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    And at the beginning, he was really focused at it (even though he really sucked)


    But after an explosion that almost killed him and left him in bed for a week, he realized that he could get away from his monster family, studies and all kind of annoying stuff while recovering


    So instead of fighting an impossible fight for the throne against that monster of a family,he kept studying alchemy without giving up but with the purpose of getting into a lot "accidents" over the years, and making injuries that look worse than they were.


    But instead of trying to be better than his family in at least one thing, he did it with the purpose of getting into a lot "accidents" over the years, and making injuries that look worse than they were.


    Of course his family  tried to make him give up for his own sake, but with the excuse that if he gave up, he would keep being bad at everything, he manage to get away with it.


    He wasn''t dumb, he knew that talent wasn''t everything, but when you compete with multiple people that makes an incredible amount of effort, have infinite resources AND have and unbelievable amount of talent, what choice do would you have?


    He understood that since the rest of the family were extremely talented and he wasn''t great at anything, he became last in the line to the throne and the rest of the family, nobles and population give up on him, but he didn''t care


    The thing is, the prince was ok with it. Since it was impossible for him to become king, even if he worked hard for the rest of his life, he decided to take it easy and enjoy been rich without obligations and responsibilities.


    He even thought that for how smart all his family was, they were all fools. They chose a life full of hard work and hardship when they had the money and resources to live a comfortable life


    This is the story of the trash of the royal family that is suddenly entrusted with the responsibility of ruling his kingdom and how he tries his best to get away from it.


    Kings palace, The capital ¨C Saturday, the 9th of June 7352. 03:09 PM.


    A 15 years old youth was resting on his bed. He had black hair, black eyes, and an ok face, he wouldn''t get the looks of the lady''s as he walked or get the envy of other men, but at least he wouldn''t be shot on sight because of his face, probably.


    Thanks to an accident the day before he had a strange color in his face, but he was actually happy for it. It was his newest latest "accident" that have been happening in the last few years, and he was pretty happy because of it


    Not only was he able to avoid his family for a couple of days, it was the perfect excuse to miss that annoying event that has the rest of the family busy.


    The prince was happy reading some of the novels he bought in one of his escapes to town while eating some snack when he heard a lot of noises everywhere


    Annoyingly, he decided to get out of his room and see why was so much noise outside


    "what is going on?" (prince) ask the first person he found.


    "PRINCE there was a BIG explosion at the royal event with no survivors....."(maid) panicking like the rest.


    "Wait a minute, if there are no survivors, what happened to my family, where all there?"(prince) confused.


    "sir, the whole royal family was there"(maid)


    "Wait wait wait wait wait! if everyone was there, who will take care of the kingdom!?"(prince)


    "well, I guess you sir"(maid) said reluctantly


    "...... f*ck"

 Chapter 1: Is it real?

    1/2 hour after the explosion - The palace


    No way no way no way no way(prince)


    The prince got really pale and started to panic, he couldn''t process how that monsters he called family may be dead. Even worst, he of all people was responsible for something so serious like ruling the kingdom. It made absolutely no sense


    He even started to have a small panic attack. Who wouldn''t start to panic if you were relaxing in your room when someone suddenly shown up and say, "hey, you are the king now, don''t screw up"


    It was like on of those nightmares where you are suddenly making a speech and it turned out you were naked.


    Luckily, after some breathing exercises and auto suggestions he learned from years and years of dealing with the royalty annoying stuff(speeches, events, concerts, etc)he calmed down


    But even though he calmed down, he still needed to see what to do next. He had multiple options like go and ask around too see what happened, or go and hide in case it was an invasion or something like that, but he chose to go to the explosion site and confirm what the maid said. Maybe he should have been more worried about his well-being, but he wasn''t in a right state of mind to think clearly


    So he went to the stables to get a horse. In his way came across many people confuse or in panic, but even when they gave him a confused look and tried to say something, he keep going at full speed and as soon as he got to the stables, he mounted his horse and went at fast as he could without stopping for anything or anyone.


    He got out of the palace easy enough, taking advantage that everyone was in panic thanks to the news and went directly to the temple. The distance from the palace to the temple wasn''t far, so getting there wouldn''t be too hard


    Sadly, when he got close the explosion sight, he could see a sea of people around what used to be the holy temple of the sun-god, confirming his worst nightmare. He almost fell off his horse when he saw nothing in the place where it should have been the temple.


    Still, he refused to believe that those monsters were be dead. It was more unbelievable that those guys were dead than the explosion itself


    So after dismounting, he went to the soldiers guarding the site and showing his royal ring


    " I am prince Julian, let me pass"(prince)


    Of course this brought confusion to the soldiers but even though they were in shock for a moment, they still moved to the side when they realized who he was. Meanwhile, a lot of whispers could be heard from behind but the prince ignore them


    " you two with me"(prince)


    Said the prince while pointing at some soldiers and started to go up the stairs that reached the holy temple


    2 hours after the explosion - Near a big hole in the ground


    After a LONG set of stairs, the prince finally reached the top and watched a big hole on the ground, confirming his worst fears. The worst part was that this temple had  protections for  invasions, meaning that the explosion  was big enough to break them.


    "you, tell me everything that happen since you started your post until I came"(prince


    "yes sir, I started my shift at the bottom of the stairs.We were ordered to stop anyone unrelated to pass. The high priest and priestess were already waiting in the temple to give his blessing like every year when the royal family arrived in their carriage.  Everything proceeded normally until half an hour later when the explosion happened. A purple light blind us all with an explosion sound and when we got to our senses, the temple was gone. Our captain went up the stairs to see what happen. when he returned, he was as white as a sheet and told us to stay in place while he went to the palace to tell what happened"(guard)


    ......... f-ck(prince)


    The prince nodded at the report and started to think. This was an attempt to destroy the royal family for reasons yet unknown, it could be an invasion, a coup from the nobles or populace, or even an attempt from someone in his family to get rid of the competition


    For now, all he could do was return to the palace and prepare for whatever happened next


    "excuse me, prince..."(guard)


    "yes?"(prince)


    "why are you blue??"(prince)


    With the shock, the prince forgot about his alchemy accident......


    2 hours after the explosion - Running away


    After becoming purple(mix of red and blue), thanks to the embarrassment, the prince tried to cover his face and return to the palace as fast as he could and hope people forget about his blue face


    When he was reaching the palace another crowd of people was gathering around the gate and demanded some answer to the guards


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    "look, its prince Julian"(random citizen a)


    sh-t(prince)


    "prince, what happen to the royal family"(random citizen b,c,d,e,f)


    "please tell me the angel is ok, please!!!!!"(creepy guy a,b,c)


    "prince, why are you blue??"(curious citizen a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,,k,l,m,n......)


    and here goes all my hope of going unnoticed and forgotten(prince)


    Luckily, the prince has been properly educated in the ancient art of talking a lot and saying nothing(noble survival guide 101)


    "People please calm down, right now we aren''t sure what happen but as soon as we know, we will tell the public"(prince)


    The prince went through the crowd repeating this line over and over while ignoring all questions(especially the blue one) until he reached the gate and asked the guards to let him pass


    3 hours after the explosion - The palace


    When he reached the palace, the prince was ready to go to his room and bury under the bed until it was all over, or at least he wanted until a servant stopped him


    "please sir, come this way"(servant)


    "why?"(prince)


    "please"(servant)


    If it was anybody else, he would probably say "screw you" and go to his room and start screaming like a 10 years old, sadly this guy was the head butler of the palace and one of the most trusted personal there. Reluctantly, the prince follows the servant into a room and inside he found the general, archmage and grand duke of the kingdom


    <i>Great, the representative of the army, magic and noble factions</i>(prince)


    "prince Julian, it''s great that you could join us"(the duke)


    "what''s going on?"(prince)


    "As you know, the royal family was in the temple when the explosion happened, and since none of them show up yet, they are either missing, kidnaped or dead"(archmage)


    Of course, the prince realizing where this conversation was going, making him turn a little pale but chose to play dumb(he had years of experience)


    "yes, I went to the temple to confirm, so?"(prince)


    "Son, we are at war with an unknown enemy, and we need you to start giving orders and take control of this chaos"(general)


    "but... I am the failure, everyone knows it, you can''t expect me to just go and rule the kingdom just like that"(prince)


    "of course of course, that''s why we will help you in every way we can, right?"(the duke)


    "right"(general)


    "right"(archmage)


    Righttttt, and you get a puppet king in the process(prince)


    " -sight- so what now?"(prince)


    "First we must put the army on high alert and increase the security in all the important locations"(general)


    "and then?"(prince)


    "we should investigate the temple and see what happened"(archmage)


    "ok, anything else?" (prince)


    "We should tell the nobles and the public to stay call and until further notice, you are in charge"


    the prince really didn''t like the last one but....


    "Ok, I leave it to the three of you, I am sure you are the best qualified for it, and if you don''t mind I want to be alone for a while"(prince)


    "yes of course"(the three answer with a smile)


    After they left, the prince chose to go to his room before anything else happens but the same servant from before stopped him again


    not you again!!!!!(prince)


    "sir, your little niece just arrived, and wants to know what happen to his father"(servant)


    noooooooooooooooo(prince)

 Chapter 2: Before the explosion

    30 hours before the explosion - The palace


    Like every morning, the prince woke up by a nook at his door and stayed in bed for half an hour. After grabbing some clothes, he washed his face and headed to the dinner for breakfast


    Getting there took a while since it was a f-cking palace, and sadly he had to go or he wouldn''t get breakfast. The prince would love that someone send his breakfast to bed and save himself the hassle of going all the way to the dinner, but sadly his father had the policy of eating at the dinner, so they could see each others face at least one time a day


    Reluctantly, he headed to the dinner. He hated having to walk there, but what he hated even more was meeting with his beloved monster of a family


    Actually, the prince almost always try to avoid his family in any way possible, so he rarely comes to breakfast, but since he has to go to have an "accident" in the evening, he needed to at least get some good points with the monsters


    And like he expected, 3 of the 6 monsters were already eating. He seriously doubted that the other 3 would join since one party a lot, one woke up at sunrise and the other didn''t sleep. As for the three sitting on the table, they were his father, mother and "beloved" sister


    His father the king was known as the wise emperor. When he ascended to the throne, the kingdom was in complete ruin and in only 10 years, he  stabilized everything and after 30, it reached a level of prosperity never archived before. This level of achievement  killed his free time and the only time he interacted with his family was to celebrate accomplishments, events or when they gather to eat(and only sometimes), so there were times where the prince talked to him like 10 times in a year. It had been said that his looks could charm any woman and he had a low of marriage proposals before he chose Julius mother


    His mother was known as the witch of the south or the Ice queen, and she got the nickname thanks to her rustles. While the king managed the front of the kingdom problems, the queen took care of all the behind the scene stuff, like assassinations, secret deals, etc, making them a perfect match for each other and the kingdom. This made her extremely busy, so the prince got to speak with her even less since she got a pretty cold personality and didn''t talk much. In her younger days, she was regard as a cold beauty, with hundreds of suitors, but the king won against  all and, believe it or not, they have been a happily married couple since then. By the way, both of them had black hair and black eyes so all their children also have it.


    And as for her 14 years old little sister, she was the royal family angel. Not only was she completely gorgeous, but she had an aura of innocence and benevolence that captivated anyone who watches it. Knights prostrated at her feet, nobles and princes gave her all kind of presents just to see her smile, when she gave public speeches, the crowd went mad, and not even the same sex was safe from her bewitched smile.


    Well, her charm worked with almost everyone since the prince seriously believe that it was all calculated and she was rotten to the core


    He never got any proof, but the way she acted sometimes was so perfect that unless it was an act, she had a serious brain injury, and since she was perfect in everything she did and all her teachers praise  her brains and abilities, he seriously doubt it.


    "good morning father, mother,..... Alice"(prince)greeted while sitting on a chair


    old fool, old witch and bitch (prince)


    "good morning big brother"(Alice)Gave him a marvelous smile


    "good morning son"(king)also gave him a smile


    "good morning"(queen) kept her poker face


    After the greetings, the prince waited until a maid brought him breakfast.


    "in tomorrow event I expect you to be on your best behavior"(queen)giving the prince a glare


    "come on dear, they do this every year, I am sure they know the drill already"(king)kept smiling


    "I am really excited to receive our dear sun god blessing, may his protection and guidance help us for another year" acted excited like she couldn''t wait


    Righhhhht (prince)


    "don''t worry mother, I will be on my best behavior" in my room(prince)


    A maid brought coffee and some creeps for the prince and he started to devour them while the queen ask Alice what  her plans for today were.


    "I was offer to cut the ribbon for the new hospital near the slums, after I was going to a tea party with some of my classmates and then go early to bed since we got such an important day tomorrow"(princess)while counting with her fingers


    "and you son?"(king)smiled at the prince


    "oh, I plan to do some reading and maybe some alchemy experiment like always"(prince) return the smile


    "I hope it''s not dangerous"(queen)kept on glaring at him


    "of course not"unless you consider been blue for 24 hours dangerous(prince)


    "good, I am still not sure that the priest was right about you not been cursed, I don''t know how you manage to provoke all kind of different reactions from the most simple alchemy formula"(queen)


    with a lot of reading and careful preparation(prince)


    "don''t worry, it''s a simple colorant receipt I have experimented before, I am sure nothing bad will happen"(prince)lied


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    after that, the prince finished his breakfast and went to his room to make sure he had everything ready for this evening "accident".


    28 hours before the explosion - the palace


    After breakfast, in the way to his room the prince found out one of the monsters pass out in the hallway.


    Prince Jorge was like princess Alice since both were quite talented in manipulating people. But while the princess makes everyone fall for her and wants to cuddle and protect her, Jorge was extremely charming and impossible to hate(there was a rumor that he ones charmed a female dragon and stop it from eating him).  He also was the nobles prime candidate for the throne, while Alice was the people''s choice.


    If it was anyone else in his family, the prince would probably ignore him, but since even the prince couldn''t hate the guy, he chose to give him a hand.


    "Jorge, wake up, you are sleeping in the hallway"(prince)shaking his brother elbow


    "Uh?where did the two blonds go?"(Jorge)barely opening his two eye and looking around him


    "come on, get up, I will take you to them"(prince)Graving one of his arms and helping him get up


    To be honest, the prince wasn''t sure they were in his room, but he would probably pass out as soon as he lay in his bed and it was easier to play along than to explain


    "oh, little bro, I almost didn''t recognize you, did you also came to the party?"(Jorge)waking up a bit


    "We are in the palace, and its morning, so no"(prince)


    "ah, right...... how did I get here?"(Jorge)


    "I have no idea"(prince)shrug


    "come little bro, cheer up, tomorrow it''s a big day, it''s time to celebrate and be happy"(Jorge)with a happy tone


    "yeah yeah, here it''s your room, take care Jorge"(prince)opening his brother room and finding it occupied


    so he had two girls, but I think one has brown hair(prince)


    "Take care little bro, unless you wanna have some fun ;-)"(Jorge)went to the bed and fell off on the girls


    "naa, they look too wasted to be fun, see ya later"(prince)with a sad smile


    The prince actually hesitated for a second but if his fianc¨¦ found out, she would kill him. She already scream at


    him and couldn''t stand him thanks to his lay back attitude and his lack of ambition, if he also cheated on her.....


    Besides, she is extremely strong and well connected, so she could get away with half killing him.


    My motto is taking and easy and pleasant life, no point in taking chances(prince)


    The prince, a little sad, return to his room and started the preparations for this afternoon experiments


    20 hours before the explosion - Prince room


    After reading all the books and notes he needed and took all the necessary materials for the "accident", the prince left his room and went to the alchemy room near the mana vein.


    As soon as he arrived, he came across the last 2 of the 6 monsters, his brother Paul and her sister Rebecca training their mana like always.


    His brother paul was 23 years old with a 5 years old daughter and a dead wife. he had the support of the military faction and the reason was simple, he was the strongest warrior in the country. Since he was little, he was extremely talented in  developing his inner mana, and he was excellent at using spells of outer mana. With the help of talented teachers and one of the best mana veins in the country, he reached the top and won the annual tournament at the age of 12. He was even banned for participating and can only be challenged by a winner of the tournament(or multiples, like it happened in the 200 years anniversary of the coliseum, that he also won).


    His sister Rebecca was 19 years old and the twin sister of Jorge. Besides him, she was the only one in the family that couldn''t use inner mana, but unlike the prince, she was the best magician in the history of the kingdom. Unlike the warriors that use their inner mana to become stronger, faster and tougher, the magicians use the mana around them to do all kind of spells. usually the magician specialized in one type of spells, like ice fire healing, etc, and they were considered talented if the can use 2, experts with 3 but Rebecca not only can she use all the types and mixes, she even developed new kind of spells. Of course, the mage faction fully supported her as the next successor.


    While the two of them were busy training, the prince took the opportunity to slip by and started to do his experiments. In theory and with the right mix, a dyer should generate some fumes capable of knocking him out for the next 12 hours, or at least that was the plan until the chemicals exploded in his face and he knock out sooner  than expected.


    6 hours before the explosion - Prince room


    The prince woke up in his room and after checking that he had no wounds or bandages, he felt glad he survived another "accident" and that he could skip that annoying event. It wasn''t the first time he made a mistake trying to cause an accident, but at least he got what he was looking for, and as long as he could live a carefree life, he was ok.


    I am sure I am gonna get yelled later, but what''s the worst that can happen(prince)

 Extra: Mana veins

    All around the world, there are mana veins in the ground. They come in different sizes and density, giving the area around them a hight measure of mana.


    This mana veins are highly sought by all kind of living creatures, since it gives all kind of benefits but the main reason is one can become stronger a lot faster near a mana vein. The reason is simple, since a mana vein has hight quantities of mana, the inner mana gets restore  faster,making training faster, and spells of outer mana get a lot stronger, making it easier to understand how to make them.Its posible to survive only with mana if its dense enough, and some type of monsters and plants can only live in those places.


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    For these reasons and many others, mana veins are highly seeks and fought over, both in land, caves or at sea, and better quality the vein has, the stronger one must be to defend it. For these reasons, a city is build in a mana vein or near one, and usually  the bigger the vein, the bigger the city

 Chapter 3: Time to lie

    5 hour after the explosion - The palace


    When the old servant took the prince to his niece, he found her hugging a maid leg while looking at the prince with crying eyes. The maid w as the nanny that took care of her since she was a baby, and over the years she had grown really attached to her, especially with a father that usually ignored her


    "where is my daddy?"(niece)


    why me..(prince)


    "we don''t know"(prince)Tried to dodge the question


    "Where is my daddy?"(niece)asked again


    "like I said, we don''t know"(prince)dodge again


    "WHERE IS MY DADDY?"(niece)Yelled


    "we don.."(prince) But before he could finish, his niece started crying non-stop


    And then the prince started to panic. He really didn''t know what to do in a situation like this since he wasn''t used to dealing with kids, but after putting his hand in her head to try to calm her, he chose to do a sh*ty thing in a sh*ty situation, he lied


    "Lina, I am not sure about the rest of the family, but if someone could survive an explosion, that''s your father, and you know how strong is your father, right?"(prince)


    "-sniff- right"(lina)


    "and you know that something so weak like a bomb isn''t strong enough to kill him, right?"(prince)


    "right"(lina)


    "then I am sure that the only reason your father didn''t show up yet is because he flew to the other side of the country with the explosion"(prince) Lied to save his a*s


    "you sure?"(Lina) with hopeful eyes


    "I am sure, so be a good girl and go back to your room, it is dangerous to be outside right now"(prince)


    Lina gave him a nod while the nani made a quick bow and the two of them left


    Well, could have gone worst(prince)


    Finally, the prince was left alone, so after checking the servant wasn''t near him, he went as fast as he could to his room so he could rest.At least, that was the idea, but as soon as he enters his room, he found his fianc¨¦ reading one of his books while sitting on a chair


    "Good evening prince"(fianc¨¦) with a tonne in the end


    "ehh, hi Elena..."(prince)putting a hand behind his neck and laughing awkwardly


    Years of knowing Elena told him that she wasn''t in a particularly good mood, so for now he would try to be on the defensive while trying to do damage control(if possible)


    "so good to see you, how are you doing?"(prince)


    "Ohh, just peachy, I found out that all the royal was missing and probably dead after an explosion, and while I am worried sick, wondering if you are dead or alive, I found out that not only did you survive one of the most important events of the royal family for laziness, but that you went all over town WITH YOUR FACE ALL BLUE AND YOU DONT EVEN BOTHER TO TELL ME YOU WERE OK"(Elena) went from "calm" to really angry


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    "well, yu."(prince)tried to defend himself


    "don''t try to make excuses, it''s already embarrassing enough to be engaged to the disappointment of the royal family, I don''t want to be lied too"(Elena)


    "sorr."(prince)failed to apologise


    "don''t bother, I am used to it so there is no point in apologising. Since I already confirmed that you are fine and said what I wanted to say I am leaving, goodbye"(Elena) Started walking to the door


    "good-by..."(prince)


    And before he could finish, Elena was already slamming the door


    seriously, at least let me say something(prince)


    Completely drained after everything that happened that day, the prince fell asleep the moment he laid on his bed


    1 day after the explosion - Prince room


    The prince woke up the next day and realised he was completely famished. He washed his face and noticed that his face wasn''t as blue as yesterday. In theory, it should have been gone by now, but at least it was going away so silver lining.


    So he got dressed and headed to the dinner to eat breakfast.The prince pulled a chair and sat on it like always but it was after looking around the table that it hit him, his family was gone and he was the only one left...


    "prince, are you okay?"(maid)said after seen his face


    "yeah, please bring me something to eat"(prince)


    "no problem prince"(maid)


    The maid made a quick bow and left the dinner and soon after the maid came back with breakfast. The prince finished it without even knowing how it tasted like and return to his room.


    The problem was that the prince didn''t know what to do now. When he was younger he wished to become the king and tried really hard to become one, but after realising there was no way for him to beat any of his brothers and sisters no matter how much he tried, he accepted being normal and even enjoy it, since he was rich and free of any responsibility.


    No, instead of fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming king, now he wanted to enjoy a carefree life without worry. Why, after years and years of being look down by his family, nobles and commoners for not being a monster like the rest of his family, should just go and become the king.


    The prince made a choice, for now he would play along, but at the same time he would use all his resources to find the rest of his family. The six of them  were monsters with all kind of different talents, even if the attack manage to kill one or two of them, it was impossible that all 6 are dead. And if all six were dead, well, he could always <span style="background-color: #fecebf;">take</span> a lot of gold from the treasury and run away.


    Screw them all, it''s too late to change my way of life(prince)


    So first things first, he would go to the Magic university to see what he could learn about the explosion, and maybe a clue to finding his replacement.

 Chapter 4: Found one?

    1 day after the explosion - The Palace


    As soon as he made up his mind, the prince decided to go to the magic university with the hope of finding more about the incident (and maybe a solution about his blue face)


    So the prince got up from his extremely comfortable bed, got out of his room and was on his way to the stables when he was suddenly stopped by a maid. He got kinda annoyed since he lost the momentum, but then he realized that she was Lina''s Nani


    "prince, I have something important that I need to discuss with you"(Nani)


    And he believed her. She had met her a couple of times, since he had taken care of Lina over the years, and she was always there, but this was the first time he saw her with a serious tone


    "no problem, go ahead"(prince)


    "well, as you know, after he married your brother Jorge went to live with his wife at a Manor near the palace and kept on living there with Lina even after his wife died"(p maid)


    Prince remembered how devastated his brother was at the time. Even though he was a muscle head, he really cared for his wife,  and the only way he could cope with everything was training even harder than before. Their father even asked if he wanted to go back and live with them at the palace, but he refused since he didn''t want to forget her


    "So?"(prince)


    "She is only five, and it''s already hard for her without a mother and with a father that had serious problems in expressing himself and was away in training most of the time"


    Well, my brother always trained all day and since he had a serious expression all day similar to mother, I am not surprised that happen(Prince)


    "I am afraid for her mental health if she keep staying alone in that Manor, so I want to move her to the palace and that you look after her until her father comes back, like <em>you</em> said he would"(p maid


    hey, I tried to cheer her up, don''t put the blame on me(prince)


    The prince found really annoying the implications of that. With all the s*ht going on he didn''t want to also babysit a 5-year-old, but on the other hand, he would feel awful if he didn''t do something for his niece, especially when she needed his help


    "look, I can''t promise I can look out for her since I have to manage the kingdom until someone replace me" <em>which it could be his family, some noble, an angry riot or an invasion, and I really hope it''s not the last two" </em>but if she wants, she can take Alice room" (prince)


    "I understand, thank you"(P maid)


    And after giving a small bow, the personal maid left, leaving the prince wondering what to do now.


    What was I doing? a yes, the magic university(prince)


    And with that, the prince headed to the stables, or that was the ideaAs soon as he reached the stables he was suddenly stopped by the palaces guards.


    As soon as he reached the stables he was suddenly stopped by the palaces guards.


    "Stop prince, where are you going?"(guard A)


    "I am trying to get a horse"(prince)


    "sorry sir, but by orders of the duke, you can''t leave the palace without an escort"(guard A)


    For a second, the prince found this level of control really annoying, but since an attack has been made to his whole family  yesterday and he survived by pure dumb luck, it makes sense.


    "Fine, I will take a carriage, follow me"(prince)


    And with that, the prince boarded a carriage with five guards and asked guard/driver to take him to the magic university. The prince realise that actually it was a really good idea to take the carriage instead of simply riding a horse since he still was blue, and that would attract all kind of unwanted attention to himself, again....


    "excuse sir"(guard A)


    "uh, yes?"(prince)


    "There is something that everyone in the palace is wondering"(guard A)


    "yes?"(prince)


    "Why does your face look blue?"(guard A)


    Not what happen to the royal family, not why I am alive or if I know something of what happen bu why I am blue, seriously????????????(prince)


    "Look, I do a lot of alchemy research, and like everyone in the kingdom knows, I constantly screw them up and end up in some kind of catastrophic accident, and of course, this is the result of my last attempt, ok!?"(prince answer kinda annoyed)


    "yes sir"(Guards A, B, C answer with a look of pity in their eyes)


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    So the rest of the way the prince look out of the window and tried to ignore the guards


    When the carriage arrives at the university, the prince orders the guards to wait for him in the carriage since he was safe enough with the university guards. The Guards happily agreed to "wait" for him, and as soon as he left, they started to laze around.


    Really, the pride of the country, not like I am one to talk(Prince)


    The prince went inside the building and as soon  as he found the reception desk


    "Excuse me, I want to see the archmage please"(Prince)


    "No problem prince, wait a moment while I contact him"(receptionist)


    he was about to ask how she knew he was the prince, and for a second, he thought he may be more famous than he thought until he realized that all the country must know by now that the prince has a blue face. Was his trademark his blue face by now? maybe he would be called the blue prince from now on


    "The archmage wasn''t expecting you so soon, but he already has information and is waiting for you in his office"(receptionist)


    Luckily, the receptionist interruption helped him forget his "happy thoughts"


    "can you tell me how to get there?"(prince)


    "Follow me please"(receptionist)


    It was the first time he came here since he didn''t have any business with mana related stuff, but he was really impressed with the facility. The magic university was enormous with everything looked spotless and brand new(probably magic had a hand in that). It was no surprise that this university was considering the best in the country, and getting accepted was extremely difficult.


    After walking around a bit and watching all kind of weird stuff happening in the background, they arrived at the archmage office so the receptionist said goodbye and left while the prince opens the door and went inside


    "excuse me"(prince)


    "oh, hello prince, I wasn''t expecting you so soon"(archmage)


    "yes, the receptionist told me"(prince)


    The archmage was sitting behind a desk, and with his hand offered the prince a chair for him to sit and some snacks. Of course he gladly took both of them


    "I image you came for the explosion analysis"(archmage)


    "That and to see if you can fix my blue problem"(prince)


    "yes, I can imagine that"(Archmage)


    Then, the archmage started looking for something in his desk until he found a stack of paper and started to read


    "Well to the report from the expert that researched the explosion, this was no accident, and it was probably an inside job. It looks like someone made the mana vein inside the church amplify its power until it broke and exploded. It''s possible to do it far away, but most likely someone inside made it happened"(archmage)


    "Do we know who was inside the church?"(prince)


    "Yes, as far as we know it, inside was the high priest, the high priestess and all six of the missing royal family"(archmage)


    "Any idea of who the culprit was?"(prince)


    "no, not yet at least"(archmage)


    Not really surprising for the prince. When has something be easy in his life? He would be even scared if something started to go right whit his "great luck"


    "Anything else you can tell me?"(prince)


    "Actually, yes..."(archmage)


    ........................................


    Prince waited, but it looked like the archmage was reluctant to go on


    "sooooo?(prince)


    "Well, I was forbidden to tell anyone about this, but I believe you deserve to know. Follow me please"(archmage)


    The prince wonder who would have the authority to silence the archmage, but since he looked really nervous, he abstained of any comment and chose to follow him.


    They went down to the basement were mana vain was, and after finding a metal door that said staff only, they went inside and found out a person practicing spells inside


    The spells were amazing, but the shocking part was that the person practicing was the person doing them her big sister Rebecca


    Her big sister Rebecca


    Yes!!!!!!!!!!! I don''t have to be the king anymore(prince)


    The prince really believed he was finally relieved of his duties

 Extra chapter - Fiance

    10 years before the explosion - the palace


    Robert Freben was waiting for a servant to bring his daughter back. He just have another successful meeting with the king and he was quite pleased with himself. This partnership with the crown has been mutually beneficial for both of them over the years, he provides money and they offer protection.


    suddenly he found some extra weight on his leg and while looking down he found a little girl hugging him


    "daddy daddy, i was playing with prince julian just now"(little girl)


    "Yeah?how was it?"(Robert)


    "It was really fun, he told me all about his family, how amazing they were and his plan to surpass even them, do you think he can do it?"(little girl)


    "Who knows, everything is possible, nothing is absolute"(Robert)


    9 years before the explosion - The palace


    Again Robert was waiting for his daughter to arrive,but instead of her usual cheerfulness, he found her really depressed


    " Are you ok? Why the long face?" (Robert)


    "Julian is really depressed, not only did he found he has no talent for magic, compared to his brothers, he is a slow learner. Even his little sister surpassed him in the general studys today"(little girl)


    "Yes,it''s a pity, it seems that unlike the rest if his family, he is only average"(Robert)


    " Do you think he can become a great king like he said he would?"(little girl)


    "Like I always say,everything is possible"(Robert)


    He may belive everything is possible,but he also knew that it wasn''t likely that he would get the crown, no matter how hard he tried. But he wouldn''t tell her that, a child should dream,no matter how unlikely it was


    8 years before the explosion - The palace


    Robert was in a meeting with the king when he suddenly heard an explosion and was ask by the guards to stay in the room with the king until they found out what was going on


    10 minutes later they were ask to follow them,it seems their children were in an accident


    Robert found the prince julian unconscious in bed while his little girl was crying beside him


    " are you ok? What happen?"(Robert)


    "Be bere -snif- preying with some cjemicals when sudenly and something went wrong and and"(little girl)


    The girl started to cry again before she could finish the story


    "Don''t worry,let it all out, are you hurt?"(Robert)


    "No, he cover me with his body before it exploded, you think he ok?"(little girl)


    "I am sure he will"robert said while petting her head


    6 years before the explosion - Roberts Mansion


    " Father,I am worried, ever since that accident two years ago the prince change, instead of study and train in his free time like before, he is either reading some novel,lazing around or training some alchemy experiment that blow up on his face, why did he change so much?"(little girl)


    "I am sure its just a face, maybe he is taking a break, been a prince is really stressful"(Robert)


    Robert lied to his daughter,he could guess that the reason the prince change,the prince knew that he wold never be king,so he gave up.


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    4 years before the explosion - The palace


    This meeting was a little different from the usual,but it was a success. He was afraid that since he wasn''t noble born, it would be harder, but when he made the proposition, not only did the king and queen agreed but even the duke general and arch mage. It seems that the prince infamy was useful for something.


    " Father,did you finish the meeting?"(little girl)


    " Yes,it was a great success, congratulations Elena, you are engage to prince julian"(Robert)


    "What?why did you do that? I don''t want to be engaged to such disappointment"(Elena)


    "Do you want me to cancel the engament?there is still time"(Robert)


    "And make you lose face? Never, I will make sure to properly train that sloppy attitude of his"(Elena)


    Robert really tought that she should be more honest with herself, she has only been talking about the prince since she was a little girl


    2 years before the explosion - Roberts mansion


    Robert was eating dinner with his family when he found his daughter taking her frustration with the meat


    "Elena,what''s wrong, are you afraid that the cow is still alive?"


    He knew what was wrong,since it was always the same story but Robert liked to ask anyway


    " I am not in the mood for jokes father"(Elena)


    "I could tell by how you are treating your food,what''s wrong?"


    " no matter how hard I try, the prince never changes, he still tries to do his best in doing nothing all day"(Elena)


    Robert actually was impressed with the prince and his daughter tenacity. No matter how hard she tried, the prince never give up in doing whatever he wanted,and no matter how many times she failed, her daughter never gave up. And no matter how angry she acted, he knew that she really care for the prince


    1 hour after the explosion - Roberts mansion


    As soon as Robert found out that the royal family was involved in an explosion and probably dead, he went to his house to check on her daughter. She was crying all over the bed but as soon as she saw him, she hug him and started crying all over his shirt(not like he care as long as it help her)


    " He is dead, all we did was fight all day and now he is dead"(Lina)


    "Come on, don''t be like that, we dont know that he is dead"(Robert)


    "but"(Elena)


    "Excuse sir, madam i have good news"(guard)


    "What!!!"(Robert/Elena)


    "it seems prince julian was seen all over town with his face all blue, nobody knows why"(guard)


    Robert was really glad for his daughter and the prince, at least until he saw her face, then he started praying for him


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 Chapter 5: Refusal

    1 day after the explosion - Magic university


    After seeing his sister, the prince went for a hug with tears in his eyes. He was glad that Rebecca was alive, but more importantly, he was finally free of his royal responsibilities, or so he hoped.


    "BIG SI.."(prince)


    "Freeze"(Rebecca)


    Before he could hug her or even finish his sentence, the prince got completely frozen by a spell.


    "James, i thought i told you not to bring anyone, so what is Julian doing here?"(Rebecca)


    The arch mage turn a little pale but still answer


    "I know what you said, but i believe that the prince should know you are still alive. Besides, only you can properly explain what happened inside the church"(arch mage)


    "..... fine"(Rebecca)


    "but before that, you really should unfrozen him first"(arch mage)


    "yeah yeah"(Rebecca)


    With an annoyed look, Rebecca cast a heating spell and when all the ice was gone, she also cast a dry spell for the prince cloths.


    "As cold as ever big sis"(prince)


    "be thankful I didn''t teleport you to the other side of the planet"(Rebecca)


    The prince shiver at the thought, he knew not only she has the ability, she would do it if she want it. The worst part was that she smiled a little when he shivered just now.


    You really are an S big sis(prince)


    "Well, since you are alive, you can take over the kingdom, I don''t mind"(prince)


    i REALLY don''t mind(prince)


    "nope"(Rebecca)


    "what do you mean nope???"(prince)


    "I mean nope"(Rebecca)


    WHAAAAAT!!!!!(prince)


    "come on, pretty please"(prince)


    "no"(Rebecca)


    "pretty please with sugar on top"(prince)


    "sorry"(Rebecca smiling)


    "Come on, I am actually on my knees begging you, please please please become to take over"(Prince)


    "man, I didn''t know you hate it that much, but the answers is still no"(Rebecca)


    "why not!!!!"(prince)


    "because I don''t want to"(Rebecca)


    "........................... seriously!!!!!!"(prince)


    "yep"(Rebecca)


    "why??"(prince)


    "Because it''s a pain ya know, I rather do other stuff with my time"(Rebecca)


    I know, why do you think i am trying so hard...."(prince)


    Rebecca gave him a smile and look like saying she knew what he was thinking, and she probably could.


    "-ahem- come on big sis, you are way more capable than me, and even if you only had the support of the magic faction


    before, nobody would complain if you take the throne"(prince)


    "It doesn''t matter, i never wanted the throne and now that i am "dead" i can do whatever i want. And besides, as long as i keep making new spells and formulas, the magic university are perfectly happy in providing me whatever i want, right James?"(Rebecca)


    "Right"(arch mage)


    Oh yeah, i forgot you were here (prince)


    "Wait a sec, arch mage if you are happy as long as she make new spells, why did you try to make her queen"(Prince)


    "Money of course, depending on who won, a lot of resources would go to "help" those that supported them. If prince Paul won, the military would get the money, with Jorge the nobles and with Alice the people"(arch mage)


    "yeah, i get that, but now that there are no competition, if you press for Rebecca for queen, she can easily get the throne and you get your "help" as you said"(prince)


    "nonononono, you got it wrong, it''s not like we wanted Rebecca to be queen since we really don''t really need more funding. We wouldn''t complain if we got more money, yes, but we were more afraid that the other princes would cut our resources in favor of their faction. Besides, now that you know that your sister is in our care, you wouldn''t leave us with out help, right?"(arch mage)


    So that''s why you introduce me to my sister, now  you get a genius in magic and a the crown prince to owe you. Cunning little b*stard (prince)


    "And why shouldn''t i tell everyone you are alive big sis? as long as people know that you are alive, i am free of responsibility since everyone in the country would press for you to become queen"(Prince)


    "simple, if you do that, i WILL teleport you to the other side of the planet"(Rebecca)


    When she gave him an evil smile while saying that, the prince and even the arch mage got white as paper.


    "and besides, as long as you promise that you wont cut the university fundings, i am sure they will help you in any way they can"(Rebecca)


    "right"(arch mage)


    f*ck(prince)


    "Fine, what happens now?"(prince)


    "now you go back to the palace and pretend this conversation never happen"(Rebecca)


    Yeah yeah, don''t think i am giving up that easily, doesn''t matter how many time i have to get frozen, i wont let it go until you agree to rule the kingdom instead of me(prince thought while glaring at her)


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    "Wait, you forgot to tell him about the explosion"(Arch mage)


    "oh right, the rest of the family should be alive"(Rebecca)


    uh?(prince)


    "what do you mean?"(prince)


    "Like its sound, none of them should have died in the explosion. Both our parents were the body doubles, Paul wouldn''t die with that level of explosion, Jorge was taken away by the priestess at the time and Alice have enough artifacts on herself that she never was in any real danger. The only reason i survived was because I could feel a dangerous distortion in the mana and teleported away just in time before the temple exploded"(Rebecca)


    The prince was shock, he didn''t know if he was surprise, glad, angry or scared. probably a mix of all of them at the same time.


    "wait, are you sure? none of them have show up yet"(prince)"


    "i don''t know why none of them have show up yet, but i am sure. From the start, i knew that mom and dad were fakes, but since they do it a lot i wasn''t surprised"(prince)


    "they do it a lot? i didn''t know"


    "I am not surprised, there are a lot of things you don''t know little brother"(Rebecca said smiling)


    "haha, really funny"(prince)


    "well, teasing aside, if you wanna know, they are really expensive dolls that as long as you give them mana, you can either control them remotely or put them in autopilot with an 80% accuracy for 12 hours. They have some short comings like they can''t eat or its possible to know if they are fake if you really pay attention to the mana around them, but they are perfect for events like this"(Rebecca)


    "eh miss Rebecca, i think that beside you, nobody else should be able to tell the difference by the mana"(arch mage)


    monster....(prince)


    "really? well whatever,my point being they were definitely fake, and the rest of them should be alive, or at least survived the explosion"(Rebecca)


    "Well, at list that some good news, i was really worried for their safety"(Prince)


    and my freedom(prince)


    "And your freedom"(Rebecca said with a smile)


    "like you are one to talk"(prince also gave her a smile)


    After a moment of looking at each other in the eyes


    "so any clues to where they are or how to find them?"(prince)


    "The king and queen, no idea, they are too crafty to be found. Paul should be at the other side of the continent thanks to the explosion. Jorge should be with the priestess or at least the priestess should have some information if you find her and Alice could be anywhere depending of what kind of artifacts she was wearing"(Rebecca)


    "hmmm, i think i have a couple of ideas on how to find them, thanks for the info sis"(prince)


    "yeah yeah, can you leave now please, i was in the middle of something"(Rebecca)


    "No problem, the sooner i start, the more chances are that we found them, see ya soon big sis"(prince)


    With that, the prince quickly left the room, follow by the arch mage


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH SEE YA SOON"(shouted Rebecca)


    I am still not giving up on handing the throne to you ya know(prince)


    And the prince happily left the university(after thanking the arch mage for his "help") since at least now he knew all his brothers and sisters were alive and his freedom was a sure thing.


    His guards were happily eating and chatting when he arrive at the carriage


    as professional as ever I see(prince)


    "guards, who among you can give the best description of all the missing persons in the explosion"(prince)


    "Me and him sir"(guard a)


    "Ok, you go to the adventures guild and offer a reward of 5000 gold for any of the involved in the incident alive, and 1000 dead, and include a description of each one in the request, making sure they are posted all around the country"(prince)


    "And you go to the police and ask them to also look for them all around the country and give them a description of each one, including the priess and priestess"(prince)


    "yes sir"(Guard a,b)


    "The rest of you, let me get something to eat and then let''s go back to the palace"(prince)


    1 day after the explosion - The Palace


    The prince exit the carriage and went inside the palace and to his room in hope of finally getting some alone time but he was stop by a servant


    "Follow me please, someone important wants to see you"(servant)


    I really should fire this guy(prince)


    "fine, let''s go"(prince)


    The prince follow the servant to the courtyard, and he found there a blond girl around 15/16 with heavy armor and a sword on her back


    "You are prince Julian right?the blue face gave it away"(armor girl)


    S-th, I forgot to ask for a fix in the university(prince)


    "yes, do you need something?"(prince)


    The girl draw her sword and while pointing it at him


    "prince, I demand a duel"(armor girl)


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 Note

    Sorry, no chapter today(reason explain later), so instead i am going to answer some of the request in the comments


    1)Chapter length: at the beginning my idea was to make short chapters and realise at least one a day with the possibility of multiple releases(similar to "the zombie knight") but since there were a lot of request for longer chapter, i am going to make them long and still try to make daily realises.


    2)Grammar: english is my second language, so i cant promise the same level of grammar of a native speaker, but i am gonna try my best


    3)Harem: my original plan was to make 1 heroine(tsundere fianc¨¦) but since the first comment I reed recommended harem, i am going to include 2 more romantic interest, the blond girl from last chapter and 1 more. Problem is, with blond girl, i have all I need except back story(reason of delay) and with the other only have back story. Tomorrow i am probably realizing 2 chapters again, 1 side story with the blond girl and the duel from both points of views. The other girl, i got nothing, all i have is that she is a noble girl who fell in love with the prince but couldn''t approach him because of his father opposition, but now that he is crown prince......(any contribution like personality or how to fith the story would be welcome)


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    4)prince:-SPOILER-<del> there are a lot fo request about the prince so if you are wondering if the prince will ever become op, the answer is no. He will be a character that use the strength of the weak</del>-SPOILER-


    5)plot: i have a rought idea of the story from beggining to end, and even a part 2, but i do take note of coments like how the story should go(harem idea for example) or what do you wanna see, etc.

 Extra chapter 2 - Female Knight

    10 years before the explosion - The Coliseum


    A little girl was watching the yearly tournament with her father with extreme excitement


    After a rumor of an undisputable prodigy that won last year tournament, all the warriors and battle mage around the world came to challenge him,making it one of the best tournaments ever in the history of the Coliseum.


    But even with all those fighters of all kind of age and sizes, prince paul won fight after fight and now he was in his final fight against the sss adventure and 10 tournaments champion.


    The fight within the two legendary fighters was engrave in the minds of all spectators and this final showdown was the fuel that would feed the fire of this little girl for years to come.


    " Father, how can I be that strong?"(girl)


    "If you have talent in inner mana, train your hardest every day without rest and have proper teachers,you may be able to at least put a fight against them"(father)


    "Wow, is it that hard?"(girl)


    "Of course, it''s not easy to be the best of the best"(father)


    1 day after the explosion - The palace


    A blond girl was walking around the palace after being summon by his father. After asking the servants were to find him, she was lead to the courtyard and found her father resting on a chair and drinking some tea


    "Oh Aria, I am glad that you could come"(father)


    "Hello father, why did you ask me to come to the palace?i was in the middle of training"(aria)


    After taking a sip from his cup the father signaled a chair with his hand but aria refused


    "Well, I need you to do something for me. I want you to become prince julian bodyguard"(Father)


    "That slob, why?"(aria)


    Aria didn''t have a good impression of the prince, since he was a lazy bum that only leach of the royal family money. He was the brother of his idol paul, yes, but that only make it worst, how could someone have such an amazing brother and be such a disappointment.


    She knew how amazing Paul is, since she trained all her life and have talent in inner mana but still couldn''t hold a candle to his power, but to just give up, like the prince did, was unacceptable. Since the day aria saw prince Paul fight in the coliseum, she has trained harder than anyone and not only did she defeated men of the same age, but even men 10 or 20 years older and even her instructors. And for her to become the bodyguard of such a person.......


    "you know that we use to support Prince Paul for the king position right? but now that all the royal family is gone and the only one left is Prince julian, every one is going to try to get on his good side"(father)


    " Why should we try? I am sure that Paul wouldnt day on an explosion of that level, and besides why getting on the prince good side got to do with me been his bodyguard"(Aria)


    "We don''t know if Paul or anyone else in the royal family is alive and getting on the prince good side wouldn''t hurt. And the reason of you becoming his bodyguard is simple, as the general of this kingdom is my duty to protect the royal family, and since the prince life if in danger now i must make sure that the prince has the best protection available, and that protection is you"(General)


    Aria felt a little proud that her father the general gave her such high standards, but she didn''t realize that the general was actually hoping to honey trap the prince with the excuse of protecting him.


    But no matter how proud she felt about her father words, she really didn''t want to waste her valuable training time  in someone who didn''t deserved. Even if right now he was the crown prince, she was sure that paul should come back sooner or later so getting in his good side was pointless.


    The problem was, she didn''t want to directly refuse her father ask so...


    "Thank you father for having such a high opinion of my abilities, but shouldnt someone older and with more experience be a better bodyguard?i am sure there should be at least a few better candidates"(Aria)


    "Nonsense, after Prince Paul, you are the strongest person I know and besides we don''t know who we can''t trust since we don''t know who did it, making you my best option"(General)


    Aria had to admit that it was a good point,with all the conspiracy theories out there, it was hard to know who to trust and who was more trust worthy than his own daughter. So instead of trying to convince his father to look for someone else, she chose to make the prince chose someone else


    "Ok father, I am going to try, but i cant promise that the prince will agree to take me as his personal bodyguard"(Aria)


    "I am sure there wont be any problems, who in his right mind would refuse you as his bodyguard"(General)


    i will make sure he refuse, and since he is famous for his quirks, i am sure father wont be surprised if he does(Aria)


    1 day after the explosion - The courtyard


    While waiting for the prince to arrive, Aria was thinking for the best way to make sure the prince didn''t take her as her bodyguard. The best she could come up with was to ask for a duel against him to show her abilities and then beat him senseless.


    She was thinking of other options when aria saw two persons approach her, one was a 50 years or butler with a monocle in his eye, and the other was a black-haired 15 years old boy with a blue face.


    So the rumors are true, he really HAS his face all blue"(aria)


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement."You are prince Julian right?the blue face gave it away"(armor girl)


    "yes, do you need something?"(prince)


    Aria draw her sword and while pointing it at him


    "prince, I demand a duel"(armor girl)


    The prince gave her a confused look for a second and then ask


    "why?"(prince)


    "so you can see my abilities as your bodyguard of course"(aria)


    "wait a minute, why do i need to test your abilities as my bodyguard"(prince)


    "because my father general Rawson ask me to become your bodyguard since your safety is a priority to the country now and its hard to find people you can trust to such an important duty"(aria)


    That actually make the prince think for a second. Maybe Aria shouldnt have made such a strong argument if she wanted to avoid been a bodyguard, but since she spend most of the time training, she lacked manipulation skills.


    "ok, it makes sence to put a trustworthy bodyguard near me since all my family was in an explosions and still missing, but is it really necessary for you and me to duel?"(prince)


    She actually prepared for this question, since it made sence to refuse under the circumstance, so with determination and a face that wouldn''t take no for an answer


    "Yes, how else can you see my abilities as a bodyguard if you don''t test it first hand"(Aria)


    The prince tried to said something else, but after seen that she wouldn''t stop until he said yes, with a sigh


    "fine, but under one condition, you can''t use your inner mana and we use edgeless metal swords, since I wouldn''t survive 5 seconds if you go full force"(prince)


    "no problem"(aria)


    She was actually happy that her plan worked so far and the only part left was to beat him senseless so he would refuse her as a bodyguard. She had trained for years on how to use her inner mana all the time, but she was sure that against the prince, even if she gave him that level of handicap, she could still beat the cra* out of him


    "Ok, l need time to get ready, so go grab two metal edgeless sword from the army and meet me here"(prince)


    After saying that the prince left, so Aria asked a maid where the armory was and went there to ask for the swords


    When she returned with the sword a small crow gathered around the courtyard and the prince was in the middle of it dressed in a fancy leather armor and a utility belt


    "Are you ready?(aria)


    "ready, remember that you can''t use your inner mana"(prince)


    "no problem"(aria)


    Aria was confident in her victory, so she handed him a sword, and with the other she put a stance and stop using her inner mana.


    The prince also put a stand and pointed his sword at her. A servant got with them and with a hand signal


    "readyyyyy go"(servant)


    The moment they parried, Aria realised that she had been overconfident. Since she couldn''t relay in her inner mana increase in strength, moving a heavy armor and a metal sword was difficult, even with her muscle training.She also relied in the mana for endurance and reflex, making the fight more taxing. To make it worst, since she used inner mana as a reflex now, it was difficult to stop doing it and she needed to concentrate, diminishing her reaction speed. Finally, the prince wasnt a novice with the sword like she expected, making it harder to beat him senseless


    So even with all the skills and training she had done over the years, the prince was leisurely blocking all her attacks without effort no matter how hard she striked and getting more tired every second.


    After 5 minutes of endless strikes from Aria, she tried to catch her breath for a second, but in that moment the prince took the opportunity and while locking his sword with hers, he pushed her with his full body, making her fall on her ass and pointed his sword at her.


    "my win"(prince)


    Watching him smile in an obnoxious way after beating her in such a umiliating way made her completely mad in rage, she instantly activated her inner mana, and with a boost in speed she went under the prince sword and punch him in the guts, sending him flying 15 meters.


    The prince got up after that with a pained face and a hand in his stomach, but without caring that he could have killed him with that punch or what would happen if she hit him again and again and again in the face, she started to approach him.


    But just before she could punch him in the face(and send his head flying 15 meters) the prince face look absolutly shocked and pointing behind her


    "oh no, a red dragon"(prince)


    and Aria panic and looked behind her but all she could see was a girl with red hair


    "wha..?(aria)


    but before she could finish, some green powder was blown all over her face and she instantly fell sleep


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 Chapter 6: Duel

    1 day after the explosion ¨C The courtyard


    ¡°prince, I demand a duel¡±(armor girl)


    The prince gave her a confused look for a second and then ask


    ¡°why?¡±(prince)


    ¡°so you can see my abilities as your bodyguard of course¡±(aria)


    ¡°wait a minute, why do i need to test your abilities as my bodyguard¡±(prince)


    ¡°because my father general Rawson ask me to become your bodyguard since your safety is a


    priority to the country now and its hard to find people you can trust to such an important duty¡±(aria)


    That made the prince pause for a second. It was clearly a honey trap (even if the girl didn''t seems to catch it) but the argument made sense. After trying to kill or at least harm the royal family, he as the only known survivor need a powerful and trust worthy escort, and even he knew knight Aria reputation.


    every one knew that her admiration for his brother Paul made her work hard every day until she become one of the strongest knight in the kingdom. She even survived 15 seconds against Paul in a sparring match, when the average is 0.5.


    ¡°ok, it makes sense to put a trustworthy bodyguard near me since all my family was in an explosions and still missing, but is it really necessary for you and me to duel?¡±(prince)


    The prince notice that she already had answer ready, meaning she really wanted a duel against him


    ¡°Yes, how else can you see my abilities as a bodyguard if you don¡¯t test it first hand¡±(Aria)


    The prince thought of arguing, since it didn''t make much sense actually, but after seen that she wouldn¡¯t stop until he said yes, with a sigh


    ¡°fine, but under one condition, you can¡¯t use your inner mana and we use edgeless metal swords, since I wouldn¡¯t survive 5 seconds if you go full force¡±(prince)


    ¡°no problem¡±(aria)


    At least she fell for that one(prince)


    It wasn''t the first time he was ask for a duel since a lot of people look down on him, and over the years he learned a few tricks. First, he practice blocking with his sword a lot and increased his stamina to last a while then it was simple. When fighting a person with inner mana, he would ask then not to use it seems he was really weak and wouldn''t be fair, making them fight in a way they weren''t use to, slowing them down and making it easy to defend. For people without inner mana, since there wasn''t a point to reach professional level since they wouldn''t be able to defeat a person with inner mana no matter how hard they trained, usually were inferior to him in skills, since they almost never practice. After that all he had to do was defend, and when they got tired, fake an injury and surrender. At that point they accept they "victory" to save face and didn''t try to challenge him again


    ¡°Ok, l need time to get ready, so go grab two metal edgeless sword from the army and meet me here¡±(prince)


    After saying that the prince left for his room. The firsts thing he took was his dragon leather armor(he didn''t know if it was actually dragon, but it sounded cooler), a present from his brother Paul, since he didn''t need it. It was as strength as a heavy armor with the weight and flexibility of a letter armor, so it was really useful for him. He also grabbed his utility belt that he usually carry to town, full of all kind of alchemy stuff that he researched or brought over the years.


    When he returned a small crow gathered around the courtyard, including his fiance and his niece. He gave them a small node and waited for aria to return.


    His plan was actually quite simple. Since she had to fight with a heavy armor and a metal sword


    without inner mana, no matter how strong the girl was, she should only be able to use 10% of her strength. All he had to do was make her tired and then push her to the ground. After beaten her he would say that her skill weren''t on par with what he was expecting and he would choose his own bodyguards.


    After waiting a few minutes, aria appear with 2 swords


    ¡°Are you ready?(aria)


    ¡°ready, remember that you can¡¯t use your inner mana¡±(prince)


    ¡°no problem¡±(aria)


    The prince could see that Aria was confident in her victory, so he grabbed a sword from her and put a stance


    Aria also put a stand and pointed his sword at him. A servant got with them and with a hand signal


    ¡°readyyyyy go¡±(servant)


    The moment they parried, the prince got a little worried. Even with all the handicap she gave him, he could see that she could manage the sword peaty well and if his concentration waved even for a second, she would overwhelm him. Still, he put a carefree expression and while defending he waited for his chance.


    After 5 minutes of endless strikes from Aria, she tried to catch her breath for a second, but in that moment the prince took the opportunity and while locking his sword with hers, he pushed her with his full body, making her fall on her ass and pointed his sword at her.


    ¡°my win¡±(prince)


    Making an obnoxious smile after beating aria in such a humiliating way made her completely mad in rage, she instantly activated her inner mana, and with a boost in speed she went under the prince sword and punch him in the guts, sending him flying 15 meters.


    Luckily the prince manage to react on time and made a small jump backwards, reducing the damage of the impact. But even with all that and his special armor, he could feel at least 2 broken ribs just from 1 punch.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.seriously, inner mana is such a cheat ability(prince)


    The prince got up after that with a pained face and a hand in his stomach,he thought for a second that she would be satisfied with that punch, but after seeing a murderous aura from her(he had a lot of experience with that kind of aura from his fiance)


    so he needed a plan fast. He managed to see his fiance red hair behind aria, and that give him an idea


    Just before she could punch him in the face(and send his head flying 15 meters) the prince face look absolutely shocked and pointing behind her


    ¡°oh no, a red dragon¡±(prince)


    and Aria panic and looked behind her but all she could see was a girl with red hair


    ¡°wha..?(aria)


    but before she could finish, the prince already had sleeping powder in his hand and he blown it all over her face making her instantly fall sleep.


    He waited for a second to see if she got up and then he finally relaxed. When he looked around he found out all the observers completely shocked in disbelief of what just happened(even his fiance) and his niece crying and running to him.


    She huged his leg and the prince, while giving her a smile and petting her head


    "whats wrong lina"(prince)


    "I thought you would die too and i would be left alone again..."(Lina)


    "Don''t worry, didn''t you know that every one in the kingdom consider me a cockroach? and cockroach are the hardest thing to kill in the planet"(prince)


    "really?"(lina)


    "really, just ask anyone in the kingdom and they will confirm it, right elena?"(prince)


    but before elena anwser, she punch him in the nose


    "Ouch, what was that for?"(prince)


    "so i am a red dragon now?"(Elena)


    "I was desperate you know and your presence give me a great inspiration"(prince)


    And she punch him again the nose


    "stop it, my rib just, i don''t want to also feel pain in my body"(prince)


    "What do you want me to do when you said to my face that when you see me you think of me as a red dragon"(Elena)


    "But i was trying to complement you, without you i would be dead now"(prince)


    this time elena actually punch the prince in his stomach making him drop on his knees, and left with a red face.


    "Uncle, are you alright?"(lina)


    "didn''t i said i was a cockroach? something of that level wont kill me, besides, i am use to it by now"(prince)


    said the prince with a pained face. He then signal some of the palace staff


    "you 2, carry her to the palace doctor"(prince)


    "And you sir"(servant)


    "I am also going so he can check my ribs and see if i have internal bleeding"(prince)


    And with his nice, her maid, alice and 2 more, he went to the doctor. The doctor first checked the girl, and after making sure she was only sleeping and there were no side effect of the drug, he checked the prince. After casting a healing spell, he told him to be careful with his ribs for a couple of days since it takes a while to mend bone, and to come back in a week to see if there was any discomfort.


    He told the doctor to let her sleep until the general came looking for her and then he went to eat dinner with lina and the personal maid.


    "please sir, i can''t eat in the same table as the prince"(P maid)


    "I insist, you are also lina''s guardian so it would be rude to leat you eat elsewhere, and i also want lina to feel comfortable here"(prince)


    "Yes please"(lina)


    After looking at the pleading eyes of the little girl, the maid didn''t have the heart to refuse her


    "fine, but i think its improper"(P maid)


    "don''t worry, I never care for stuff like that"(prince)


    "You should, you know"(p maid)


    The prince ignored that, and keep started eating.


    After chatting with both, they finish eating and took lina to her room(alice ex room). The prince then went to sleep early and thought of bothering his big sister tomorrow about his blue face. Who knows, maybe he gets lucky


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 Chapter 7: Found One!

    2 days after the explosion - magic university


    "And then,just when I thought I have won,she goes and punch me in the gut with all her strength. I almost die there"(prince)


    " as much as I enjoy hearing how you got your ass kicked, WHY ARE YOU HERE?"(Rebbeca ask annoyed)


    "Can''t your little bro visit his big sis?"(prince)


    "Right,because you love spending time with the family"(Rebbeca)


    With that kind of attitude,can you blame me?(prince)


    "Come on,you make it sound like I don''t care about my family"(prince)


    "Do you?"


    "I care a lot you know"(prince)


    Specially if my freedom depends on them(prince)


    "So? You still haven''t told me why are you here"(Rebbeca)


    "Fine,can you fix my blue face?"(prince)


    "Yep"(Rebbeca)


    "Then why didn''t you do it before!!!!!!"(prince)


    " it was really funny you know, and still is"(Rebbeca)


    "You really are an S sis"(prince)


    "I am not that bad,mom said to leave it like that to teach you a lesson"(rebbeca)


    "Seriously?"(prince)


    "Yep!, but I still would have left it like that,it was hilarious"(Rebbeca)


    "Fine,so?"(prince)


    "So what?"(Rebbeca)


    "Fix it!!"(prince)


    "Why?"(Rebbeca)


    "What do you mean why?"(Prince)


    "Why should I help you?"(Rebbeca)


    "Because I am your brother and you love me?"(prince)


    "Hahahhahhaahahaha, you really know how to tell a joke bro"(Rebbeca)


    The prince hopped that at least the laugh was sarcastic or fake,but it looked real


    "Come on,please???"(Rebbeca)


    "But it''s really funny you know,it would be such a waste. The world of comedy would suffer a huge lost"(Rebbeca)


    "Pretty please with sugar on top?"(prince)


    "That line again? Begging won''t work on me you know, at least make it worth my time"(Rebbeca)


    "Fine,what do you want?"(prince)


    "The research material in my room, I would go myself but its a pain, so you do it"(Rebbeca)


    The prince was really tired of all the comments  he got this last two days, so bringing some papers wasn''t really a problem.


    "Fine, but fix my face first, knowing you, you would play dumb just for the laugh"(prince)


    "Do you really think I would be that evil?"(Rebbeca said trying to put an angelic face)


    "of course not"(prince smiled)


    I consider you even more evil(prince)


    "Fine "dispel" done"(rebecca)


    "YOU COULD FIX IT THAT FAST!!!!!"(prince)


    "Of course, who do you think i am"(Rebbeca)


    "Then why it took you so long!!!!"(prince)


    But instead of answering, she gave him a smile


    Right, you f*cking S(prince)


    "Well, here is the key to my room, make sure to bring all the papers and note books. I also need all the artifacts and materials just in case I need them later. Now go before i teleport you there myself"(Rebbeca)


    "Fine, see ya later sis"(prince)


    "just bring the stuff and go away, i am busy you know"(Rebbeca)


    No way, i am still not giving up in handing you the throne(prince)


    Besides trying to get his face fixed, the prince still wanted to convince Rebbeca to be queen. He knew that his chances were slim, but until he find some else from the royal family, his sister was the best bet and as long as there was a chance, he would keep trying.


    When he came near the carriage where the guards were waiting


    "stop,what do you want?"(guard a)


    "uh? to get to my carriage obviously"(prince)


    "your carriage?"(guard a)


    The soldier took a closer look at the prince and was shock for a second


    "Sorry prince, i didn''t recognise you!!"(guard a)


    When he said that, all the guards, passersby and even a cat were also shocked. It seems that his blue face had become the prince trademark


    ...................(prince)


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    "well, let''s go back to the palace, or did you fall in love with this beautiful face"(prince)


    All the guards, passersby and the cat looked the other way embarrassed. The prince decided to ride the carriage back but before he could get inside, a soldier stop him


    "wait, before we return to the palace, the police chief have important information about one of the missing persons. It looks like they found a person with your description and they send and officer in the morning to find you, but you were already gone to the magic university"(guard a)


    That made the prince extremely happy, he finally catch a break in all this misfortune. Maybe if he was lucky, he would find one of his brothers and they could finally take the throne from him.


    "what are you waiting for?lets go"(prince)


    After demanding to go as fast as humanly possible to the police HQ, he sit on the carriage with the rest of the soldiers and prayed the gods that he would get good news.


    When the carriage got there, he asked the guards to wait inside and he went alone to the reception desk.


    "Hi, i am prince Julian, they told me that the police chief has information about the missing royals"(prince)


    the receptionist looked at his face before answering


    "impersonating a prince is a crime you know, even if it''s that prince"(receptionist)


    "But i am prince Julian, look at my ring!!!"(prince)


    "every one knows prince Julian looks blue and the ring can be fake you know"(receptionist)


    "I have it fixed already, and the ring has wards for falsifications"(prince)


    "fine, its your funeral, go to the second flor, the chief should be in his office"(receptionist)


    the prince left the reception quite angry


    is it possible that my blue face is the way people identify me? and what did she meant when she said THAT PRINCE!!!!!(prince)


    All his good mood was gone when he reached the office, but he still could keep up a calm face (years of royal practice make you quite good at that) when he approached the police chief


    "Are you the police chief?i was told you have information about the missing royals"(prince)


    "And you are?"(P chief)


    "Prince Julian of course, here is my ring to probe it"(prince)


    The police chief inspected his face first and then the ring


    "I heard that your face was blue, did u have it fixed?"(P chief)


    "yeah...."prince answer annoyed that people keep asking about his face


    "Fine, follow me"(p chief)


    the prince confused, follow the police chief. He came thinking that they have information or clues, but after thinking for a second he realised that they may have actually found someone.


    And he was right, kinda, since the prince brought the prince to the morgue. That made the prince panic, since it meant that someone of the royal family was dead.


    "I am about to show you a dead body, so brace yourself please"(p chief)


    The prince tried to calm himself and prepare for the impact, but when the police chief actually open box where the body was store, the only reaction he got was confusion. All he found inside was the body of a 20 years old girl he didn''t know


    "who is she?"(prince)


    "The priestess of course you even send her information"(p chief)


    oh right, i forgot about her and the priest, well at least it wasn''t someone from my family(prince)


    glad that it wasn''t someone from his family, and a little sad for his indifference about the priestess dead, the prince calmed himself and tried to get more information about how and where she died


    "where did you find her?"(prince)


    "we found her dead in a hotel with a piercing wound in her heart. The strike was skillful quick and painless, so it was probably made while she was sleep by an expert"(p chief)


    "did you question the staff?"


    "yes, they told us that she rented a room for two in the evening and asked to be woken up at sunrise. When they knocked the door the next day nobody responded so they open the door and found her dead on the bed. They call us soon after. She have no ID on her wore normal cloth and only have money on her, so she was treated as a jona doe and send to police morgue until they found more from the investigation. After you send the request to the police for the missing persons and we checked the morgue to be sure, we found out that she was a perfect match so we send an officer to tell you"(P chief)


    "anything else you can tell me?"(prince)


    "We tried to find out if she was alone in the room, since it was a room for two, but they didn''t see anybody else with her"(p chief)


    According to rebbeca, she was with our brother jorge before the explosion, so she may have rented a room with himand i know he has a lot of practice in sneaking in and out of a room with out notice but that only bring more questions. was he there, did he kill her, is he in trouble, was he kidnapped? All we know is that he probably survived the explosion since she is also alive, and that she was the last person to see him alive(prince)


    "Thank you for your help, if you find anything more about her murder or any of the missing persons, please contact me as soon as possible"(prince)


    "No problem prince"(p chief)


    so after saying good bye to the police chief, the prince returned to his carriage and went back to the palace more confused than before.


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 Chapter 8: Mad dog on a leash?

    2 days after the explosion - The royal palace


    When he returned to the palace he found the servant waiting for him at the door.


    Should I make a run for it?


    The prince consider to run away before this guy make him do something annoying again, but since it would provably get worst if he avoid it.....


    "Follow me please"(servant)


    "Yeah yeah,can you at least tell me why this time"(prince)


    " Knight Aria and the general Rawson wants to speak with you"(servant)


    Great,they are going to either apologise for yesterday or demand again for her to be my bodyguard,or both


    Waiting in the courtyard he found the general and Aria sitting on a chair


    "Here is prince Julian"(servant)


    "Where?" (Aria)


    "Here"said prince with an annoying look


    "Oh,I didn''t recognise you with out your blue face"(Aria)


    You and everybody else (prince)


    It was kind of depressing for the prince that he was more famous for his blue face that for being a prince


    "Aria,apologise to the prince"(general)


    "Sorry for not recognise you"(Aria)


    Is it sad that you are the first person to apologise for that?(the prince wondered)


    "That''s nice, but that is not what I meant"(general)


    "Fine,sorry for punching you in the stomach"(Aria)


    "And?"(general)


    "And using my mana"(Aria)


    "And?" (General)


    "And please allow me to be your bodyguard"(aria)


    the prince shrug at that


    "Doesn''t look like you mean it ya know"(prince)


    That actually made Aria a little angry


    "i am trying to apologise here, you don''t need to be such a d-ck about it"


    "See, no sincerity, i have no interest in empty words"(prince)


    "What do you expect? you cheated in an honorable duel, there is no way i can lose to someone like you"(Aria)


    "what do you mean someone like me!!!!!"(prince)


    "a slob that leaches from the royal family money and status"(Aria)


    He smiled at that, since he really has been a leach this last few years and he really was trying his hardest to return to his leach state.


    "Like it or not, you lost to this leach twice even when you cheated the second time"(prince)


    "It doesn''t count as a lost if you cheat and since you were cheating of course I wouldn''t hold back"(Aria)


    "I didn''t cheat, it''s not my fault that you suck without your mana or that you are so easy to trick"(prince)


    The blond girl went red with rage and was about to try to send the prince head to the moon again but his father, knowing her personality, manage to made an elbow lock before she rampage.


    "Stop it Aria, if you keep trying to kill the prince even i can''t stop the guards for punishing you. That little rampage yerterday cause me enough problems already!!"(General)


    If he wanted, the prince could lock her up or even send her for execution, but he knew that it would cause problems with the military if he did that, and the possibility of a coup(specially in the state the kingdom was) wasn''t worth the problem for a little revenge against a muscle head. Besides he was use to be look down and have dead treats from young women''s


    "you really are a muscle head, you should think more or people are going to take advantage of you"(Prince)


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    You could see vapor coming out of her body from the anger and the general could barely hold her back even with the arm lock and being a full growth out soldier with years of training


    "please stop making her more angry prince, i cant barely hold her and i don''t think you can survive 5 seconds if she breaks free"(General)


    "fine"(prince)


    the prince took some of the green powder he always carried around in case of emergency and throw it to her face, making her instantly fall sleep.


    "So that''s how you beat her the first time?i must say that sleeping powder is quite effective"(general)


    "I know right?i discover it by accident and fell in a coma for a week. They really thought I wouldn''t wake up that time, good times"(prince)


    "Sleeping for a weak is good times?"(general)


    "Of course, best week ever, i was in a beach full of beautifully women''s that did whatever i wanted, i think i hold out 2 extra days in dream world because of that"(prince)


    "I remember now, the queen almost put you for eternal sleep because of that"(general)


    "Really? good thing I woke up when i did then"(prince)


    "right, well coming back to the subject of your protection, i still want knight Aria as your body guard"(general)


    "Are you serious? she tried to kill me twice already, if she wasn''t your daughter she would be in a dungeon by now, even if it was me she was trying to kill"(Prince)


    "I know, that''s why i want her to be your body guard, I am worry that if she doesn''t learn to control herself, one of this days she will do something i can''t save her from"(general)


    "You have it thought for the looks of it"(prince)


    "yeah, so can you please take it as your bodyguard? if she learn not to kill you i wont have to worry about her temper anymore"(general)


    "The way you put it wasn''t really pleasant you know, it puts my life in danger, and i really want to keep my head attached to my body. Besides did you think i wouldn''t notice the honey trap you tried to pull?"(prince)


    "I wont deny that I really hoped for you and my daughter to get along, but you really need a body guard since your life is in danger right now. And even if she keeps trying to kill you, her motives are quite simple, unlike whatever was behind the explosion"(General)


    "I understand that, but I prefer a body guard that I know his intentions AND doesn''t try to kill me"(prince)


    He enjoyed making her angry, but it wasn''t worth it if it meant putting his life in constant danger


    "Even so I insist, I would worry about her future if I don''t find a solution to her anger problems and you are my best bet. Besides, I am sure that me owing you a favor or two can be quite beneficial in the future"(general)


    The general owing the prince was quite tempting, but he really was afraid for his life with her as his escort. Thinking a way to keep her as a body guard without risking his life seems quite difficult,or it was until he came with a great idea that not only gave him absolute safety, it also work as revenge for his a temp on his life


    "mmm, it''s possible for her to become my body guard under one condition, but you are not going to like it"(prince)


    "Go ahead, as long as its reasonable I wont oppose"(general)


    "Slave collar would be perfect for this situation right? she can''t hurt me since the receive a shock every time she tries, its a perfect punishment for her attempt in my life and when my life its no longer in danger, we can easily remove it"(prince)


    The general was shocked by the idea. The idea actually made sense, since the only way to train a mad dog would be with a training collar, but making her daughter a slave, even if it was for her own benefit, wasn''t something he wanted to do as a father. He knew it was the only way the prince would accept and after every thing she tried to do she did deserve a punishment, even if it meant the humiliation of being a slave.


    "Fine, lets do it fast before i change my mind or she wakes up"(general looking 10 years older)


    There were diferent kinds of slaves collars according to the slavers needs. In this case they use a collar that fed on the users magic and acted every time its disobeyed an order or tried to do something against the user of the slave ring.


    The prince was quite pleased with himself, not only did he got revenge from the knight for trying to kill him, the general nows own him a favor. Well at least he was until his fiance found out later......


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 chapter 9: IT’S A TRAP! not

    2 days after the explosion - the palace


    After making sure the collar worked properly, the prince woke up Aria with a strong stimulant he also carried around for cases like this(when he knock someone unconscious after his life is in danger and yes, it''s not the first time).The blond knight slowly open her eyes and looked around in confusion but  as soon as he saw the prince, she recalled what happen and charged like a board in prince direction. It''s imposible to know if she was going to tackle, kick, shake, punch or dismember the prince, probably all and maybe more, but before she could reach him, an intense electric shock went all over her body, effectively paralysing her and stopping her movements.


    Good thing we put the collar in her, i panic for a second there(prince)


    "you never learn, do you?"(prince)


    "wha.. what happened?"(Aria)


    "Look at this ring and check your neck, i am sure you can figure it out"(prince)


    Aria tried to check her neck but found an unknown something that felt like a collar there and then carefully examined the ring. First, she felt confusion, then came the doubt and the fear ending with an absolute panic state and a face completely white.


    "no way, no way no way no way no way...."(Aria)


    That panic made the prince smile and the general frown. Teach a lesson to that mad dog was something that made the prince happy, but of course his father felt really bitter about that, even if it was for her own good.


    "so, you figure it out"(prince)


    Aria looked at the prince, making fell even worst but then she realized that her father was there, giving her some hope that maybe it wasn''t what  its look like


    "fffather whats going on?"(Aria)


    "You will be working as a body guard for the prince until we know Prince julian life isn''t in imminent danger"(General)


    "Oh, for a minute I tought I became a slave"(Aria relaxed)


    "You are a slave"(prince)


    "but my father just said i was a body guard"(aria white again)


    "If you were just a body guard, you wouldn''t need the collar, right?"(prince)


    "Father...?"(Aria)


    You could see a look of hope and pleading in her eyes, thinking that her father would give her a perfect and reasonable answer to this nightmare or more like part of her was still in denial of the facts right in front of her face.


    "Sorry dear,what the prince says its true. You will be a body guard but you will also have to wear that collar while you do it"


    "what do you mean"(Aria)


    "its simple, since you have tried to kill me multiple times and i still need a body guard, you will become my slave body guard as punishment for you and safety for me"(prince)


    "but but,isn''t it too much? I was only trying to half kill you since you cheated twice and completely humiliate me"(Aria)


    "Unless you consider half killing punching me until my body fuse to the ground or hitting my head hard enough it would reach the moon, you already made 3 assassinations attempts against me and I may be the last in the line to the throne, but i am a prince and the only one left to rule the kingdom"(prince)


    You could see the despair in Arias face, realizing she screw up big time by trying to hurt the prince, even if he deserved in her opinion. With the little sanity she had left, she looked at her father, in hope of maybe find a magical solution to this problem.


    "I can''t help you any more, an assassination a temp against the prince usually means death sentence or prison for life. If I wasn''t the general and you my daughter, you wouldn''t get only this level of punishment. You should be thankfull that the prince agreed to only being temporal and only as a body guard, right?"(General)


    The prince could sense a mild level of threat in that sentence, meaning that the general only agreed to it because it wasn''t permanent and only to protect him and nothing more. It didn''t said what would happen if he tried to make it permanent or ''t be tired to abuse her more than he should, but he knew it wouldn''t be preaty


    "Yes of course, but she will have to wear the collar and do her work properly until I am safe"(prince)


    That was probably the last straw keeping her sanity safe. Before she lost her mind completely, her body made the wise choise of a compleat shut down, making her pass out on the floor again.


    "I guess it was too much for her"(prince shrugged)


    The general with a worried look went to see how his daughter was doing but the prince stop him before he reach her and with a smile took the stimulant.


    It worked perfectly, well at least to make her open her eyes. You could see she was in a zombie like state, provably still trying to reboot her conciousness.


    The prince and the general help her get up, and seeing that at least she had a minimum level of response


    "general, i am going to take her to one of the empty rooms in the castle so she can rest. It should also work as her new room for now"(prince)


    "Yes, go ahead and do that, I think I am going home and take a few days off"(general)


    The general left the room with a solemn face and looking 15 years older. The prince pitied the guy a little, but it''s not like it was the prince fault that Alice screw up big time(Well, the prince didn''t consider it his fault at least).


    The prince make a combination of commands and hand signals until Alice nodded and follow the prince. When they reached a room, He handed her a key and told her


    "Here is the key to your new room, open the door please"(Prince)


    Aria looked at the door and then the key and put the key in the key hold. As soon as she door the key and open the door a pulce hit the knight and made her hit the wall in the other side with full force, knocking her out for the third time today.The prince was 5 meters away, carefully observing everything from the sidelines


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    i knew it, she booby trapped the door(prince)


    The room of course, belonged to his sister Rebbeca. Since he knew Rebbeca was a big S, he could guess that the door was probably booby trapped, and since he didn''t want to get hit with whatever trap her sister had in storage, he used an scape goat = Aria. What surprise him was that when he took a look at her room, he didn''t see any papers or materials or magic items. All he could see was furniture, some common books and her cloth.


    don''t tell me she only gave me the key so i would fall to her trap. She really is a sadist (prince)


    The prince was pondering over this when he heard a lot of noise behind him. He could guess that the staff came after hearing the loud noise the trap made.


    He came out of the room to calm every one down and check if The slave/body guard was ok, but he panic when he saw a person with red hair checking Arias pulse.


    Sh*t the red dragon,what do I do, what do I DOOOOOOO (prince)


    The prince started to sweat like a pig. He knew that no matter what he said or how reasonable he sounds, she would beat the crap put of him for mistreating a girl and making her his slave.


    "Ehh, hi Elena, how are you?"(prince with a fake smile)


    Elena got up, turn and gave him a really cold look


    "Why is the girl you fought yesterday unconscious in the floor with a slave collar in her neck?"(Elena)


    "There is perfect reasonable explanation for this you know"(white prince)


    "and that perfect and reasonable explanation is?"(Elena)


    "Well, you know that she tried to kill me yesterday, right?"(prince)


    "more like punish you for being an a*s hole like usual, something i understand perfectly"(Elena)


    "Even so, since she really tried to kill me in a sparing match, and 2 other times after, she will have to wear the collar and work as my body guard until we know what happened to the rest of my family"(Prince)


    "and why does she need a collar to protect you?"(Elena)


    "Well, she did try to kill me you know, its to make sure she doesn''t beat the crap out of me the first chance she gets"(prince)


    "uhu, and why is she unconscious on the floor?"(Elena)


    "Well, she needs a room to sleep close to my room, right? and since my niece is using Alice room, the only female room left is from Rebbeca but its turn out that as soon as she tried to enter the room, a booby trap activated and well, you know the rest"(prince, really really hoping she swallow the b*ll shit)


    "Yes, i can see the rest"(Elena)


    She got closer to him, and she looked at the prince with really cold eyes


    "So you are telling me that you completely humiliated the poor girl yesterday in a duel"(Elena)


    "uh?"(prince)


    "Made her your slave for an unknown amount of time"(Elena)


    "-gulp-"(prince)


    "and after ALL that, you take her to the only room that was obviously booby trapped and made her open the door?"(Elena)


    "ehh,yes?"(prince chose the wrong anser)


    The prince didn''t even see what hit him before seeing all dark. He woke up when someone started to shake him after who knows how long


    "uncle uncle uncle"(lina)


    "wha...?"(prince)


    He looked around and found a lot of people surrounding him all with different looks. His niece besides him was shaking his arm with a worried look, her personal maid was beside her and you could see the pity in her eyes, the rest of the staff was giving him a disgusting look.As for Aria and Elena, they were both on the floor, and Aria was sobbing while Elena was trying to console her.


    and everything was going so well.....(prince)


    "uncle, are you ok?"(Lina)


    "yeah, I pass out for a second"(prince)


    As soon as he talked, both Aria and Elena turned and gave him a disgusting look like the rest of the staff.


    Great, they are friends now with me as a common enemy(prince)


    He slowly got up and felt pain in his chin, neck, back of the heat and ass, so he probably got knock out by a nice hook to the chin.He rubbed his niece head to calm her down and looked to the two girls to see what they were going to do now.


    "Prince, take this collar of from this poor girl, hasn''t she suffer enough?"(Elena)


    "No can do, like or not, she did try to kill me, this level of punishment is actually quite low already"(prince)


    Elena stared at him demanding he reconsider, but the prince didnt falter one with


    "Fine, then I am also staying here to make sure you don''t do anything bad to her and keep a check on you"(Elena)


    NOOOOO my freedom(prince)


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 Chapter 10: So it shouldn’t have being like that

    3 days after the explosion - Magic university


    " Can you believe that after fixing my face none recognise me?"(prince)


    " Yes I can,since you have been avoiding everyone this last few years. But more importantly, why as soon as you got here you lay on a couch and start telling me your problems? and where did that couch come from!!!!!"(Rebbeca)


    As soon as the prince reached the room, he searched for the couch,lay there and started to tell Rebbeca some of the problems that happened yesterday. She tried to ignore him for a while but since he wouldn''t shut up,she had to revoke


    " oh yeah,I asked the arch mage to put a comfortable couch here,there is also a magic freezer with snacks under it"(Prince)


    "And why is it here!!!???"(Rebeca)


    "Yesterday I got really tired talking to you while standing,and I got thirsty and hungry in the middle of it so I asked the arch mage to put this here so I have a place to rest when a pay a visit"(prince)


    "I am going to destroy it you know"(Rebbeca)


    "But it''s really comfortable,it would be such a waste to break it,besides you can use it when taking a break"(Rebbeca)


    Rebbeca started to think the pros and cons of the idea,she could use it since it wasn''t a bad idea but making the prince happy.....


    "Fine, but if you dirty the couch in any way of eat the snacks I like, I will kill you"(Rebbeca)


    Yeah,I don''t doubt it(prince)


    "So were is my stuff? I know you are an idiot but don''t tell me you also got the mental capacity of a fish"(Rebbeca)


    " I will sent your cloth and books later to the university,but I wanted to do it discretely so it doesn''t rise too many questions"(Prince)


    "I don''t care about that,I can buy it when ever I want, i only care about my research papers and log books"(Rebbeca)


    "uh?"(prince)


    "Don''t tell me you can''t even figure that out? i only want the stuff that i wrote, and magical items and materials i had in my room since they are hard to get, every thing else is pointless"(Rebbeca)


    "What are you talking about? the only thing in your room was cloth furniture and some books, no papers, no magic items, no materials"(Prince)


    "you sure?"(Rebbeca)


    "Yeah, unless you hid it somewhere, there was nothing like that in your room"(prince)


    "you are not lying to keep my research papers right?you know what would happen if you did?"(Rebbeca)


    "And what would be the point? I can''t use it myself and the only people who I know that could use it are here, and as soon as you find out that i did it, I am dead meat"(Prince)


    "Yeah, you are not the type to put your life in danger for a minimal possibility of high reword, but that doesn''t explain why my papers weren''t in my room. Did you lend the key to someone and send then to get what was inside?"(Rebbeca)


    "I did lent it to someone but only to open the door, i knew you would put a trap there just for fun"(prince)


    Rebbeca clicked her tong at that, but the prince wasn''t sure it was because her idea was wrong or because her trap didn''t work, probably both...


    "Well, if you didn''t steal it and you didn''t lend the key to someone else, giving them the chance to steal it, the only other option I can think of is that someone broke in to my room and stole them"(Rebbeca)


    "Is it possible?knowing you, it should be more easy to rob a bank than enter your room"(Prince)


    "I didn''t make it easy but i am not an expert infiltrator, that''s more Jorge department, or mom"(Rebbeca)


    "Yeah, but Jorge is more like how to get into a lady''s room"(prince)


    "hey, I am a lady you know"(Rebbeca)


    Right.....(Prince)


    "My point is, that instead of an individual that got inside for fun, this looks like a professional"(prince)


    "yeah, It''s not like everyone can use my research, you need high level professional magicians researchers, and I know they aren''t using this university researchers, so they must be private contractors or from other country''s"(Rebbeca)


    "How can you be so sure no one from here is working on them"(Prince)


    "Oh, i have magic surveillance all over the place, some of the stuff they research here are really interesting so i keep tabs on them. Also, all the researchers are in important projects and none had a shift of staff, so it''s not here"(Rebbeca)


    The prince started to think who else could steal the research that had the resources to enter a highly secure room with great timing and without being notice.


    "You think it''s the same group that made the temple explode?"(Prince)


    "Probably, but its possible that a different group took the opportunity and stole them,it''s not like we lack enemy''s and since i am famous, my research could be really expensive in the black marked"(Rebbeca)


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    Actually searching the black marked isn''t a bad idea(prince)


    he had some extra official contacts thanks to some side business he did in secret(buy and sell stuff related to alchemy)  so he may find out something if he ask around


    "you know, if you give me a list of the stuff missing, If they are selling it in the black marked I may find something"(Prince)


    "Really? i didn''t know you had dealings with shady stuff, i would have thought that doing something even remotely dangerous was against your life policy"(Rebbeca)


    well, you aren''t wrong, but if it is really beneficial for me, then...(prince)


    For some of his experiments, he needed rare, difficult to get and even some times illegal materials, and after asking around he did found a "special dealer". He also sold some of his experiments, like the sleeping powder, and got a lot of money in the side and build a small network of "special" contacts. Thanks to all this finding out if something was sold in the black marked wasn''t impossible, but only if.


    "It''s a long and boring story,but yeah i know someone"(prince)


    "Right... well, even if its annoying to write it down, i guess i can''t let them get away with stealing my stuff so give me a second"(Rebbeca)


    Rebbeca went to a table and after grabbing 2 papers and 2 pens, the pens started to write alone in the paper. The prince could guess she had done it in some way so he wasn''t surprised, but he did find it impressive since it probably needed an impressive level of concentration.


    she is even a monster in doing simple stuff(prince)


    When she finish, she handed one to the prince and keep the other, probably to do her own investigation later. The prince took a look at the paper and found a list, probably of all the things stolen


    "Is this all?"(prince)


    "Yep, if my memory is right, and I am sure it is"(Rebbeca)


    "Then why is only one of your researches in the list?"(Prince)


    "Since I have done a lot of researches over the years, the paper work is enormous, so I leave most of it here so they can study, make and some times even improve it. I usually take one or two projects to my room"(Rebbeca)


    "oh, so i only need to ask about stolen or "new" information about summoning, besides the artifacts and materials?"(Prince)


    "Or summoning related stuff, it''s mostly theoretical stuff and it can''t be use yet, but with enough time and investment, it could accomplish interesting things. The other stuffs are rare, but not impossible to get, so even if it wouldn''t be impossible to appear, if they suddenly came in the last few days, it should be mine,meaning the seller would be involved with the robbery some how"(Rebbeca)


    "mmm, I guess my best bet right now would be to ask for the materials and artifacts and contact the seller if there is one. I could ask for the research also, but it''s probably to hot to sell . Tomorrow I am going to ask around"(Prince)


    "Tomorrow? why not today? the more you wait the harder it would be to get the stuff"(Rebbeca)


    "I am under protection now, I cant disappear for a couple of hours without an alibi, I need to return to my room to get my disguise and i usually meet my contacts in the morning when there is at least some sun light but few people outside."(Prince)


    "Fine, but tell me later if you find something"(Rebbeca)


    "ok, and i expect the same thing from you"(Prince)


    "Of cource"(Rebbeca smiled)


    .................(Prince)


    The prince thought of telling her about the priestess, but it was pointless since the information was too little and she probably didn''t care


    "Well, i am leaving before you teleport me to the palace yourself"(Prince)


    "It wouldn''t be the palace"(Rebecca smiled again)


    He went outside of the university and found the usual carriage and lazy soldiers with the addition of a blond knight.


    "I still don''t get why I can''t go inside with you, like it or not I am supposed to protect you"(Aria)


    compared to yesterday, she was in a better mental state. The prince wasn''t sure why but maybe having the support of his fianc¨¦ helped, or maybe something else.


    "Look, I went to deal with important stuff that must be maintain in highly secret. The only way i could let you inside was by adding a restriction in your collar that would punish you if you ever talk about it to someone not related"(Prince)


    "Fine, but I don''t like it"(Alice)


    "Well, if you finish complaining, lets return to the palace, I am exhausted"(prince)


    In the way back, the prince tried to figure out the best way to be alone for a good while tomorrow without causing suspicion on himself


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 Chapter 11: One more girl in the party

    3 days after the explosion - The palace


    The prince returned to the palace with the guards and Aria without problems but as soon as he got out of the carriage, his favorite servant was waiting at the doorstep of the palace.


    "The duke wants to see you sir"(Servant)


    Yeah, i can guess why(Prince)


    "Fine, let''s go"(Prince)


    There has been a trend among the faction this last few days and it was a simple one, let''s make the prince our ally since we don''t know what happened to the rest. So far the noble and people factions were left, but since it was kind of hard for the people to contact him, the prince guessed the noble faction was the only one left.


    The prince was taken to a room with to people waiting for him, a fat guy with fine clothing and a girl with a robe and a staff. he was really disappointed with the premise, he could see a repeat of yesterdays event


    Another honey trap, seriously? i guess it was too much to expect something original from this lusting pig(Prince)


    The duke had a reputation of having as many mistress as fingers in his hand, and 3 times as many bastards child''s, and the prince knew she wasn''t one of the legitimated ones.


    "Hello prince, i have something to offer you"(Duke)


    "Let me guess, she is another body guard,right?" (Prince)


    "oh, you are a lot smarter than the rumors says"(Duke)


    if you follow the rumors, even a comatose is smarter than me, at least he knows when to shut up(prince)


    "Right, well I believe I have enough body guards soo I don''t really see the point"(Prince)


    "But there is a point you see, you don''t have a magician as a body guard, and she is a double caster of ice and healing, i am sure she can be of really good use for you. Introduce yourself dear"(Duke)


    "Hello prince, I am Susan Febrycad, nice to meet you"(Susan)


    The girl was around the prince age, maybe a year older, and have brown hair and blue eyes. She was good looking(not a surprise since the duke wouldn''t b-ng an ugly chick)  but he had never seeing her before, so he was surpris to hear she had the duke last name


    "oh, you are one of the duke legitimate daughters?Why I never saw you in one of the party before? I am sure someone as pretty as you wouldn''t have escape my eyes" or Jorge for the case(prince)


    Susan blushed a little and the<del> pig</del> duke started to sweat a little. The prince didn''t mind getting a few brownie points by complementing the girl, but he was more interested in seeing how the duke explained why she hasn''t shown herself in other social gatherings until now, masking the real question under simple curiosity.


    "a yes.... father?"(Susan)


    "well, prince, the thing is.... she was adopted to the family. You probably heard the rumors that I have many mistress, and even if they exaggerates the number a lot, I do have one or two..."(Duke)


    yeah right, 10 or 20 more like it(prince)


    "And?"(prince)


    "and... well she is  my illegitimate daughter. Since I couldn''t bear to see her as an outcast without a father, even if I couldn''t marry her mother legitimately, I could at least adopt her into the family"(Duke)


    and it just happens that like all of your illegitimate adopted sons and daughters, she  has a rare talent, is useful and loyal to you(prince)


    She wasn''t the first and wouldn''t be the last being adopted into the family of the duke, and he always find a use for them, like marrying to someone powerful or putting them in key positions in an organisation. The prince respect and felt disgust with the guy, since he found a way to make his work and his hobby function perfectly together(and he didn''t know which was the hobby and which was the job)


    "look, thanks for the offer, but I already have great protection, its pointless to add more"(Prince)


    "I am sure that knight Aria is a great warrior, and with the "insurance" you put on her (great work by the way ;-) ) I am sure you feel safe, but she is not exactly loyal, and there are ways to by pass a slave collar. That''s why I believe that having a healer with extra fire power would be a great service for you right now"(Duke)


    The prince really didn''t like  to have the pig approval for slaving Aria, since it felt like being in the same league....


    "And the nobles are a little insecure since it looks like i am favoring both the mages and the army right now, so having a loyal watchdog would help them feel in the loop"(Prince)


    "Well i wouldn''t put it like that, but you are not wrong entirely"(Duke)


    "and I am sure you are hoping it she ends up more than just a body guards"(prince)


    "Again, not right but not wrong"(The duke smiled this time)


    The prince took a second look at the girl. She was pretty, and she looked like the quiet type but another person following around was a bother and he wasn''t sure his fianc¨¦ would be ok with it(50-50)


    "Fine, i will give it a try, but if i find it annoying i will fire her"(Prince)


    "Fair enough, I am sure she wont cause any problems, Right Susan"(Duke)


    "Yes of course"(Susan smiled)


    "Is there anything else, i have some matters to attend"(prince)


    "Only that you give her a room in the palace, for convince sakes of course"(Duke)


    "yeah.. i am sure we will find something for her"lecherous bas*ard(prince)


    "well then, good bye prince, please take care fo my daughter"(Duke)


    After that, the duke left the room, follow by the prince and his new body guard. Outside was the blond knight waiting for him by the door. Since most rooms have wards against spying, he was sure she shouldn''t have heard the conversation even with her enchanted senses.


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    "Aria meet susan, susan aria. Looks like you two will be working together"(prince)


    "Nice to meet you"(Susan)


    "Don''t tell me you got another slave"(Aria)


    "Nope, she is the duke daughter and unlike you she knows how to behave"(prince smiled)


    Aria got mad at that last part, but at least she learn not to attack pointlessly. Now all he had to do was explained to Elena the new body guard without getting killed and find a way to slip alone tomorrow. To bad he wasn''t a religious man or he would start to pray to the gods


    3 days after the explosion - Dinning Table


    The prince was kind of intimidated since the table was full of women. There was his nice Lina, her maid, his fiance Elena and his two body guards Aria and Susan, making him the only man in the room


    "Well girls, lets me introduce you my new bodyguard susan"(prince)


    "Hi all"(Susan)


    "Another one? don''t tell me you also made her your slave"(Elena)


    "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but no, she is the duke daughter and it looks like she doesn''t try to kill me every time she sees me"(prince)


    He got another glare from Aria


    "And since all of you are new to the palace and need proper accommodations. I had a great idea"(Prince)


    They all looked at him now, wondering what was he going to say next


    "A day off for all of you to visit the town and buy all the stuff you need,try cloths, have fun etc"(Prince)


    His niece and Aria looked exited, while the maid smiled and Elena gave him a doubtful look. As for susan she gave him a poker face.


    "oh, that''s awfully nice of you, what do you get of it?"(Elena)


    "Why do you make it sound like I only do good things in my own benefit?"(prince)


    "You don''t!!!???"(Elena with a shocked face)


    "Haha Very funny, i just want to help my niece get use to the new place, can''t you help this poor girl?"(prince)


    Both Lina and Elena got a little embarrassed because of that


    "So we all going to town tomorrow?"(Susan)


    "Ah no, I can''t"(Prince)


    "What do you mean you can''t!? I can''t go if you don''t"(Aria)


    "It''s to dangerous for me right now, I can''t go all over town without purpose when we don''t know if someone is trying to kill all the royal family. That''s why you girls take the day off, make sure to protect my niece, and i can enjoy some alone time in my room, I am sure nothing bad will happen inside the palace"(prince)


    Again the girls had all different reactions, Susan still had a poker face, the maid keep her smile, but lina was sad, Aria was glad and Elena was mad


    "You said all that but in the end it''s all so you can have a day off!!!!"(Elena)


    "Don''t make it sound so bad, it''s a win win for all of us. After what we all have been gone through, I am sure a day off is well deserved"(Prince)


    Elena really got mad and left the table to her room, as for Lina, she had a sad face and it looked like she was about to cry at any moment, this made all of them to pay attention to her to see what was going on


    "Lina, what happened"(prince)


    "Uncle, I am a bother?"(Sad Lina)


    "Why do you ask that?"(prince)


    "Because.... "(Lina)


    "because?"(prince)


    "You are avoiding me like daddy. He always did stuff without me and leave me with other people"(lina)


    Sh*t, I thought this was going to be simple, how did it turn out like this, what to do what to do......(prince)


    "I don''t know why your father did that, but unlike him i am really vulnerable you know? It''s not like I don''t want to go outside but that it would be too dangerous right now"(prince)


    "But you go outside all the time!!"(Lina)


    "That is because i move to one secure location to another with a proper escort of guards, body guards and a reinforced carriage. Walking all over town would be to eye catching and dangerous right now"(Prince)


    "But but ..."(Lina)


    "Look, next time I go out, i will take you with me, but go and have fun tomorrow with the girls. I am sure you will have a good time"(Prince)


    "Fine"(Lina said reluctantly)


    Well, that could have gone better, I hope nothing bad happens tomorrow(prince)


    Tomorrow will be a looong day for the prince


    note:thx megacrazy44 and wolves425 for pointing the mistakes


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 Extra chapter 3 – The noble magician

    10 years before the explosion - Small house


    "You did it Susan, you really did it, with your talent and the scholarship, you must work really hard and be accepted as a legitimate daughter of the duke,ok?"(mother)


    "Yes mother"(Susan)


    "And when you do, our family finally will get their reputation back so don''t screw it up"(mother)


    "Yes mother"(Susan)


    Susan''s family was what is commonly known as a fallen noble, they had the title of nobility, but no money or land, only the name. Her mother took the opportunity of the famous lust of the Duke and taking advantage of her pretty face, she seduce him and had Susan as a result. Of course having a daughter wasn''t enough, she also had to have some sort of talent to be taken to the family, but thanks to having a talent for healing and ice outer mana, she got a scholarship so all she had to do was work hard and play nice until she got recognised. Also Susan knew that if she didn''t make it, her mother would definitely kill her.


    3 years before the explosion - Magic University


    Thanks to her hard work and the scholarship, she manage to enter the magic university and further develop her magic abilities. You normally would think that every thing was fine now, but she had become a bullied target thanks to being too poor for a noble but to noble for a commoner.


    At the beginning of his ruling, the wise king made it possible for every citizen could enter the magic university or the fighting collage as long as they have talent, with the condition that they work for the government until they paid they debt.


    This usually ment that there were two factions in the schools, the commoner and the nobles. The problem was that since she was too poor, she wasn''t consider a noble, and since she got a special scholarship thanks to being a noble, she wasn''t a  commoner.


    If you also consider that her mother instructed to act as a proper lady all the time and to never cause troubles, she wasn''t really sociable. None of that helped since she didn''t have someone to support her but the thing that made her a bullied target was simpler, she was pretty and made the other girls jealous.


    Of course she wasn''t goddess level of beauty, and she did wear glasses no make up or accessories a pony tale and she tried as hard as she could  not to stand out. Problem was, one of the popular noble guys had a glasses fetish and since she had a pretty face, he got interested in her, and of course one of the nobles girls had a crush on him and started to bitch about her etc....


    In the end, both the nobles girls and later the commoner girls bully her and the guy lost interest since it was a pain. So yeah, she didn''t have a fun university life.


    1.5 years before the explosion - Back alley


    Susan was kind of in a pinch. The girls, tired of not being able to break her masterful poker face choose to level up the bullying. They forced her to go outside with them, and put her to sleep with a spell. When she woke up, she found herself with 3 guys in a back alley and one with a magic recorder. and Susan could guess what would happen next.


    "Well girl, we got paid to do it with you and recorded, and we can do it the easy way or the rough way, you chose"(Thug a)


    She had her mouth sealed and her hand tied, so she couldn''t cast a spell against them and even if she have inner mana, she hadn''t trained on it since it wasn''t proper of a lady, something she should do if she get out of this one.


    "don''t be to rough on her, they want her in one piece to make fun of her later"(thug b)


    "And pay attention to the camara, we got an extra if it looks nice, and we can sell it later on the market"(camera)


    this made Susan pale a little, only giving more satisfaction to the three thugs


    "Ohh did we scare the little princes?"(Thug b)


    "Don''t worry, in the end you will be enjoying yourself and demanding more, at least they hire a guy with skills"(thug a smiled)


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    "We only get paid for one, but no one will complain if we film more"(camera)


    "Wow, how much did you get paid"(thug 4?)


    "400 gold coins and the camera,200 more after we got the film with a bonus if we did well "(thug b)


    "do you got the money on you"(thug 4?)


    Well yes, they just gave it to us, wait who are you"(thug 2)


    but when the thug turn around to see who he was talking to, he got a punch in the chin, and got knock out. Thug a reacted to the sound and tried to take out his knife from the belt but some powder got on his face and he instantly fell sleep. The camera guy didn''t know what to do since the two of them fell before he could react and he was afraid to break the expensive camera but before he could think of something, a kick went to his chin, a hand took his camera hand and when he felt to the floor, a punch went to his face , making the back of the heat hit the floor and  knocking him out.


    Susan was completely dumbfounded after what just happened, but he couldn''t understand what his savior was doing. It was a guy with black hair, a magic robe and glasses but even if it looks like they went to the same placeshe never saw him before. But the guy wasn''t paying attention to her, instead he checked for pulse on the guys and started checking their pockets and taking what was inside of them.


    "Not bad, 600g and a camera, I can probably sell it for a lot of money"(stranger)


    "ehh, excuse me"(Susan)


    The guy then took notice of the girl and gave her a questioning look


    "yes?"(stranger)


    "Thank you for rescuing me"(Susan bowed)


    "ohh, no problem, this idiots were bragging about gold in this back alleys with their back turned, they were easy prey to rob"(Stranger)


    "Still, thank you for saving me"(Susan)


    Now the stranger took a closer look at her robe, he smiled


    "How much you got?"(stranger)


    "uh?"(Susan)


    "I just save you from a horrible situation, All i am asking is a little monetary compensation"(stranger)


    "Didn''t you just took everything the thug have?"(Susan)


    "This and that are completely different stuff"(stranger)


    Susan was a little confused, but she tought that she could at least spare a few gold coins as a reward, luckily for her, they haven found her secret compartment in her cloth(safety precaution thanks to the bullying). The small bag contained half her saving, so she was glad it was spare, but as soon as she was going to open it  to take a few gold coins, the stranger took the bag.


    "Thanks, this will be enough"(Stranger)


    And run away as fast as he could, taking the camera and all the thugs and her money. And there she was, with four unconscious men, penniless and completely confused to how to react to all that.


    Note: Part 2 is for waaay later(for the spoilers)


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 Characters Introduccion

    Royal Family


    Julian Griffon


    Also called the prince, in his childhood he learn not only did he lack mana in his body or has the ability to sense mana around him, he was average in every thing he did unlike his brothers and sisters. So, instead of working hard so he could may one day surpass them or at least compete with them, he chose to do whatever he wanted and enjoy the benefits of being a prince and rich. He chose to act like a fool all the time to stop people for putting their expectations on him, and even took advantage of it to get away of annoying things. Thanks to this, he have no support to become the king


    Paul Griffon


    First born in the family, he had a talent in inner mana that he pushed to the limit until he became the best warrior in the kingdom. He married at the age of 15 and had a daughter two years later,sadly his wife died after labor. Thanks to his accomplishments as a warrior, he has the support of the kingdom military.


    Lina Griffon


    daughter of Paul, she never met her mother and was practically raised by a personal maid introduced by the king. Since paul didn''t know how to approach her and was afraid to hurt her, he never got close to her and making her think that her father hate her. This develop in a shy personality, afraid of making people hate her.


    Jorge Griffon


    Born after Paul with his twin sister Rebbeca, Jorge took a different path from his brother. He spent most of his time socializing, and he really had a knack for it. Every party he went he was the center of attention, and every person he meet fell for his charms(Rumor has it he charmed 8 of the 7 heads of a hydra).This give him the support of all the nobles.


    Rebbeca Griffon


    Twin sister of Jorge, unlike her two brothers she couldn''t use inner mana, but it was find out later she had a talent for all the types of outer mana. She fomented that talent to become THE genius of the Magic university, bringing all kind of new theories and projects. The magicians in the kingdom gave her full support for the kingdom


    Alice Griffon


    The last born child in the family, she showed great talent in everything she did, surpassing his 1 year older brother Julian in all her studys at the age of 5. but besides her great talents, she had great beauty and wonderful personality, showing in all kind of public events and winning the love of every citizen in the kingdom and the nick name royal angel. This gave her the citizens vote for the crown.


    King


    Arthur Griffon, also know as the wise king.He inherit the throne in a time of chaos at the age of 12 and it took him ten years to bring stability to the kingdom and 20 more to bring it to an even greater glory that has ever been known.This also took all his free time, leaving the raising of his children to maids and tutors


    Queen


    Rose Griffon was know in her younger days as the cool princess. The king had to win against hundred of suitors for her hand, and they made a perfect match to rule the kingdom after it. While he took care of all the official stuff, the queen took care of the nasty side of things but even if they were opposites, they have been happily married for almost 30 years. She also didn''t spend much time with his children, afraid that her dirty hands would stain her family.


    Nobles


    Robert Freben


    Born in a merchant family, after inventing the press machine he gain a fortune and a lot of enemy''s. He was save by the King protection and got into a partnership that brought prosperity to both party''s over the years and even gave him a noble title. Watching his daughter get closer over the years with prince julian, he offered for her daughter hand in marriage and to his surprise he easily got accepted.


    Elena Freben


    Recently know as the red dragon, she is a Childhood friend of prince Julian. She watch him become from a hard working untalented guy to a slob, making her have mix feeling about him and a tsun-dere personality. She really liked his old personality and tries really hard to make the prince get serious in life, without success.


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    The general


    His real name is Robert Lumbrick and is known as a masterful tactician. Born in to a military family What really helped him advance in the ranks  were the many battles that occurred at the beginning of the later know wise king ruling. Showing great talent and innovating thinking the king took notice of his talents and used them to the fullest.


    Aria Lumbrick


    Since she saw a legendary fight in the coliseum, she dedicated all her time and effort to become a great warrior like the legends, with full support from her family of course. She worked hard for many years and took great pride in her accomplishments, beating the crap out of anyone that look down on her for being a girl or acted lazy and then complained of not having any talent unlike her.


    The Duke


    Born in the powerful and influential family of Febrycad, duke Esteban got into an arranged marriage at a young age, but not satisfied with his wife, he took many mistresses. Of course this ended up in a lot of bastards children, but the duke took opportunity of this and adopted to the family the most talent ones. Later he use those children for arranged marriage with powerful people or got them in important parts of different organisations, quickly gaining favors and deals that made him the most powerful noble in the kingdom.


    Susan Febrycad


    Born from a fallen noble family, as soon as she showed talent in magic, her mother did everything in her power to make sure she have proper education so one day she get to be recognised by the duke and restore her family power. She was bullied by the girls for various reasons but it stopped after getting rid of 3 men mysteriously after a serious criminal a temp against her.Right now she is trying her hardest to impress the duke for her family sake


    Arch Mage


    James Howerpot Was a talented young mage that become a teacher at the Magic university at the age of 18. For years he worked hard for the university, and as soon as he saw that the new king was talented, he offer all kind of ideas (like offering scholarship to commoners in exchange of service after graduation) that gave him prestige not only in the university but also in the Palace, getting the title of arch mage and crown wizard at the same time.


    Others


    The Servant


    mysterious old guy with a monocle in his eye that always takes the prince to do annoying stuff(according to him)


    Personal Maid


    daughter of the king nanny, the king send her to Prince Paul after her wife died to take care of paul''s daughter. She have being taking care of her since then and is practically her mother.


    Guard A


    The prince doesn''t know but he actually is his permanent guard since he was young, but since the prince never care and the guard is really lazy, he never found out.


    Cat ?


    the prince only took notice of him one time when he show  a reaction to what he said, but he maybe around more than what it looks like, just not being notice, or maybe he was just a cat.


    Old Man


    An illegal merchant that buys and sell at reasonable prices of "special" stuff, that being illegal, difficult to get or stolen. Little is it know about his past or even his name, only that he may have being an S class adventure and that he still keeps his strength even today. He is the main supplier and buyer of the prince, and they are in really good terms with each other.

 Chapter 12: The old man

    4 days after the explosion - prince room


    The prince went to bed early yesterday with the excuse that he was really tired, the truth was that he really needed to wake up before sun rise so he could get to the shady part of town before they close but after the dangerous hour passed.


    He really hated to wake up so early in the morning, but it wasn''t his first time and it wont be the last. His disguise was already prepare yesterday just to be safe so he didn''t have to spend too much time preparing. The disguise was a simple one, he wore a magician robe with a pair of glasses. It worked fine because he wasn''t the only one going to that part of town in that get up and no one would suspect that the failure of a prince was dress as a magician.


    Well, he also wore his leather armor and utility belt under the robe for safety, since it didn''t weight much and it didn''t restrict his movements and a bag to sell some of his stuff.


    After wearing the disguise, the easy part was done, now came the hard part, getting out of the palace without being notice. It wasn''t as hard as it sounds, since he had a really lecherous and friendly brother that not only found all the secret doors in the palace, but he also shown most of them to him. No, the problem were the guards and staff, since even at this hours some of them were working and if he wasn''t careful, he would be found out(specially since some of the people working here have enchanted senses thanks to their inner mana).


    He did have some special boots that didn''t make noise when he walk, so as long as he didn''t breath hard, step on anything crunchy or bump into anyone, he should be fine.


    First, the prince put an ear on the door to try to hear if someone was close, then he open the door and taking only his head, he confirmed that none was outside.


    The next step was to get to the end of the hallway and peak the other side, while paying attention to noises. He bent down and took a small mirror to pick the other side, but he almost turn white when he saw through the mirror. Far away he catches a glimpse of the annoying servant standing on the hallway.


    He was just standing there but as soon as he started looking, it seems the servant sensed something because he started to look around until he stopped and looked to his corner. The prince started to panic but just when it looked like he was going to move, a maid stop him and after talking who knows what, both went the other way.


    Relaxing a little, the prince keep going until he reached his parents room. It was the closest and most convenient secret passage, but he could only use it when his parent were out of the palace. He used the copy of the key he had and enter the room without a problem.


    The room was spotless, and unlike his sister room, it looked like no one have stolen their stuff.  Now, all that was left was easy. He searched for the loosen brick behind the mirror, and a secret passage open behind the fire-place. the prince follow the passage and open another secret door that went to the sewers of the city. he follow the sewers for a while until he went up to one of the streets in the city.


    The sun was starting to go up went he got outside, and the streets were deserted. You could hear some people here and there, and some store started to work at this hour like the bakery''s, but it was mostly quiet.


    He went to the shady part of town, and luckily, he didn''t find any troubles on the way. The place he wanted to go didn''t look like a store or something like that. No, it was a house with a reinforced door. He knocked the door and waited for an answer.


    "Who is it?"(??) a voice could be heard behind the door


    "Take a guess"(Prince)said loud enough without screaming


    "Jarvan! come inside come inside, I was getting worried someone took you out"(??)an old muscular man open the door and hug the prince


    "old man, you know i am worst than a cockroach, there is no way someone can kill me"(prince)took the hug and gave him a smile


    "true true, but even a cockroach will get killed if you hire an expert or work hard enough"(old man)the two of them went inside and the old man close the door with multiple locks


    "shesh, thanks for the vote of confidence, like I said, I am worst than a cockroach, they won''t get me"(prince)


    "fine, what bring you here today, the usual or something else?"(old man)


    Inside the resident, it looked kinda like a store, with all kind of different products or materials all over the place(illegal, hard to get or stolen) , but the good stuff were lock away for safe keeping as the prince found out one day.


    The prince found out this place after paying a few golden coins in a shady tavern, but only after getting a reputation around the parts that he sold "interesting" alchemy materials.


    The old man had a good reputation, for a shady merchant at least. He was famous for selling and buying at a fair price and got deals with the guards and thief guild to leave him alone. From time to time someone tried to steal the place, since the stuff was worth a lot, but he was an S rank adventure in his younger days, so even in his old age he was quite strong (or so he says, no one knows for sure since the guy is really old and he never says his real name).


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    The prince was really intimidated the first time he met him, but with time he got use to the old man and the two of them made a lot of money together. Since the prince got better equipment, resources time and interest(since most were mages) than most alchemist, he could make quality stuff that the old man sold later, and even got a few request that not only gave him a lot of money but also new alchemy recipes. He also brought rare stuff for his experiment or even normal stuff at a great discount(since they were stolen) so the old man was always happy to see the prince, and the prince didn''t mind the old man manners, but of course he always worked with an alias.


    "Well, yes and no, I came to sell the usual stuff and the last request, and to buy the usual but this time I want special information"(Prince) said while handing him a bag with the stuff


    the old man took a quick look at the bag to make sure everything was there


    "Sure, I am not really in the information trading business, i know a guy for that, but tell me and I will see what I can do"(Old man)


    "A friend of mine got their stuff stolen the other day, he doesn''t care about the stuff but more like if someone is out to get him. That''s why I want to know if someone brought some of the staff in this list the last few days"(the prince) handed the list Rebbeca gave him


    The old man took the list "Yes, someone brought a couple of the stuff on this list, but no matter how much I like you lad, I can''t betray one of my contacts"(Old man)


    "Look I get it, but I am not out for blood, you should know I am not that type of guy. The problem is that they stole important research papers and my friend want it back. If it was a simple robbery, then we just pay to get the stuff back and be done with it, and if it was to purposely hinder my friend, then he wants to know to be more careful for now on"(prince)


    "Like I said, I can''t just betray a contact, It''s bad for business"(Old man) gave the prince a sorrowful look


    "How about this, tell me if the guy that sold you the stuff belonged to an organisation or worked alone, that at least will help get a picture of what happened"(prince)


    "Fine, it was a guy that usually works alone but gets hired from time to time"(Old man)put his two hand up in surrender in a joking manner


    Well, that helps a little but doesn''t answer if it was from the bombers or someone taking advantage of the bomb


    "mmmh, If I promise to don''t bring him any harm from me or anyone I know and to paid him no matter what kind of answer he give me, would you please tell me how to find him"(prince) pleaded him


    "Why so much interest in helping this friend, I never saw you try so hard at something before"(old man) was surprise how tenacious prince was this time, he usually was quite lay back and showed little interest to anything and everything.


    "Usually yes, but I own a lot to this person and I would feel bad if I don''t try a bit at least"(prince) thought about telling the old man that he was related to the stolen stuff, but he was afraid that if someone connected the stuff with Rebbeca, and he admitted he was directly connected with this, they would find out he was the prince. At least if someone who knew asked about it, he could tell it was a friend from the magic university, and it reasonable for them to know what she had in the room and ask for her stuff. Well at least that was the story he was going to give.


    "I give up, the guy name is guisu, he usually drinks at he green dragon in the evening and he has brown hair and a scar on his forehead. I am doing a leap of fait with you lad, if the guy gets mad and doesn''t want to do business anymore or he show up dead the next day, you and me will have a problem, ok?"(old man) gave the prince a glare, making the prince sweat a lot and wish to never make an enemy of the guy


    "Don''t worry, I also like or friendship and I wouldn''t want to break it"(prince) gave the old man a smile, trying to reassure him


    The old man started to palming his back and laugh "hahahaha, don''t give me that face, I am sure you will keep the end of your deal, I was just scaring you a little. Now tell me what you have being up to lately, it''s been almost two weeks since I last saw you"(old man)


    "Fine, but bring me something to drink first old man all this talk made my throat thirsty"(prince) would chance some of the details so he wouldn''t catch on to who he was, but at least he have someone to talk about his problems now.


    Note:Trying new stile, tell me if you like it or if i should go back to the old 1 and thx macrobdella for the help


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 Chapter 13: Ambush!

    4 days after the explosion - back alley


    The prince got kick out of the shop after a few drinks. The old man enjoyed talking to him and the prince didn''t mind staying there until the afternoon, but like it or not, the old man had to work at night and sleep at day, so he needed to sleep a couple of hours and even if he liked the prince, he couldn''t leave him alone in the shop and he needed to be open for business at sun down, so he kick him out.


    Now, the prince was in serious troubles, he couldn''t return to the castle since he wouldn''t be able to escape in the evening to talk to guisu the thief. The problem was he had to do something until the evening and he couldn''t just walk around, since he knew that with his "great" luck this last few days, something bad would happen.


    Thiefx3 suddenly appear!


    "Hello boy, that''s some nice cloth you are wearing"(thief a)smiling to the prince


    "Can''t you spare a few coins to us poor fellas"(thief b) took a knife out of his pocket


    "I am sure you got some coins from the old man, or even something nice to loan to us, we will give it back, right boys?"(thief c)


    "right"(thief a,b)


    yeah, maybe I shouldn''t have drunk so much with the old man, this could get dangerous(prince)


    The prince started to ponder on his limited options<ul>


    <li>talk<</li>


    <li>fight</li>


    <li>special?</li>


    <li>magic </li>


    <li>items</li>


    <li>run


    </li></ul>


    "Como on guys, the old man will get mad if you stole one of his clients, and you wont be able to sell him stuff"(prince)


    It was a sound arguments, since the old man have a no crime rule near his shop, and if you got caught, you were in for a serious beating and compensation.


    "The old man is sleeping now, and if we make sure you can''t talk, everything will be fine, right?"(thief c)


    sh*t(prince)


    <ul>


    <li>talk</li>


    <li>fight</li>


    <li>special?</li>


    <li>magic </li>


    <li>items<</li>


    <li>run


    </li></ul>


    <ol type="$type"></li>


    <li>money<</li>


    <li>powder


    </li>


    <li>chemical</li>


    <li>bomb</li>


    <li>tonic


    </li></ol>


    15g


    The prince took some gold coins from his pocket and throw it to the air in hope to distract the guys <ul>


    <li>talk</li>


    <li>fight</li>


    <li>special?</li>


    <li>magic </li>


    <li>items</li>


    <li>run<


    </li></ul>


    As soon as he throw the coins, he started running to the other side of the alley in hope of leaving them behind. The plan didn''t work as he hope, since one guy stayed to collect the coins while the other 2 chase after him.


    why did i have to run into smart thief''s!!!!!(prince)


    Normally he would have outrun them or even beat them since 2 against 1 wasn''t really hard since he have good equipment and training, but he was kind of drunk since the old man brought the strong stuff and even with his liquor party training, he was affected a little.


    Now he was having problems keeping his balance while trying to run at full speed in hope(unsuccessfully) of losing the 2 thief. After running for a minute, the prince chose to change tactics<ul>


    <li>talk</li>


    <li>fight</li>


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.<li>special?<</li>


    <li>magic </li>


    <li>items</li>


    <li>run


    </li></ul>


    The prince suddenly stop after turning in a corner and faced the two guys. The 2 thief also stopped and they put their guard up ready to react to whatever surprise the prince got for them. Well, at least they tought they were until the prince gave them an evil grim, and with a hand over his stomach and a green face, the two thief''s suddenly went pale after guessing what was coming


    "blarghhh"(prince)


    The prince suddenly vomit all the content of his stomach into the knife guy, splashing a little in to the other one. The knife guy looked at his shirt filling disgusted, and while trying to take the vomit out of it, he forgot to keep track of the prince. The other thief tried to get away from the knife guy in shock of watching him get completely soak in vomit, but before he could even register tat the prince was also there, a fist went directly to the chin of the knife guy, follow by a punch directed to his face that he didn''t even thought of dodging.


    Well, that could have gone worst(prince)


    The prince felt a lot better after throwing up but he still wasn''t at 100%. He checked on how the two of them were after the punching, and found that one of them was still groaning in pain so he gave him another punch to the face with the combo of the head hitting the floor and completely knocking him out.


    He started to check their pockets in search for valuables in "compensation" for what they put him through. He didn''t even finish searching the first guy when he heard the third guy footsteps  and his sudden stop when he turn in the corner to find the prince searching the pockets of one of the thief in the floor.


    oh yeah, I forgot about the 3 guy(prince)


    Luckily, the prince found out that the guy had the coins in his hand, since he probably didn''t have the time to put them in his pocket and follow without losing sight of them. He saw a good opportunity and while keeping a low stance, he went for the third guy


    The thief manage to react a little and let go of the coins in his hands and tried to punch the prince, but the prince was faster that he expected and the thief received a punch to the stomach, got his fist dodged and took a second blow to the chin.


    Not satisfied with beating the 3 guys a little more after being down, the prince took all their valuables,got them on their underwear(except the vomit guy, he didn''t want to touch the  shirt full of vomit) and throw their cloth in a dumpster


    This will teach them a lesson about pissing me of and disobeying the old man rules(prince)


    Felling a lot better after vomiting the alcohol, moving a little and releasing the last few days of stress, he happily went to the main street while whistling a song.


    Finally, time to enjoy my freedom(prince)


    Every time he got, the prince would go to town and after selling his stuff, he would go around and do all kind of thing to pass the time. He even got an adventure ID and got a C rank level(with his fake name).Even for someone like him(lazy bastard), there was some childhood dream of becoming and adventure and doing adventure stuff. He even  got to do the typical goblin extermination that every men dreams of doing at least ones,taking advantage of one of the palace secret passage (since he would have to leave town at least for a day, and go to the door check point otherwise) killing five goblins and cutting their left ears as proof


    He started as a E rank member like every one else, but getting from E to C wasn''t that hard, since all E request were errands and he got a lot D and C requests for alchemy stuff, or even some thief or city monster subjugation. To get to B rank and beyond, the number of request capable of being complete entirely in town were too few and with a lot of competition. So if he wanted to rank up the prince would need to get out-of-town and since the missions got really dangerous at that level, the prince was happy with his rank with no chance of getting a promotion in the near or even the far future if he could help it.


    His plans for the day were simple. He would kill time around town watching the different stands and maybe do a request in the adventures guild if he had the time, and when the evening, he would look for guisu and ask about the robbery.


    Well, that was the plan, until he saw 5 familiar girls he knew, and his face turn completely pale.


    Note:the game reference are a joke and not the fighting stile of the world(just to be clear)


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 chapter 14: Can I escape?

    Four days after the explosion - Main street


    While walking around and thinking about his options to kill time until the evening, he saw the five girls that were suppose to go around town today, his fianc¨¦,his 2 bodyguards his niece and the maid. It wasn''t that hard to find them since all of them draw attention(looks, cloths, hair, etc) but since he realised when they were moving in opposite sides of the flow of people.


    He thought about running away were the got close enough, but he would draw more attention to him if he made a sudden movement, and he WAS wearing a disguise,not fool proof but so as long as he play it cool and went with the flow of people, it should work.


    please don''t look this way please don''t look this way(prince)while walking with the flow in what it seems an eternity for the


    prince, while praying to every god he new and didn''t know.


    And his praying................ didn''t work. He really shouldn''t have included the lord of chaos in there.


    Well,  not exactly, the one that notice him was the one that knew him the least, so it may have been just love at first sight from his look(or so the prince wanted to believe).


    Susan was looking directly at him, with her poker face like always but without saying a word while the other girls were distracted chatting. They even past each other, so the prince tought that he was safe finally


    praying did work, who would have believe it(prince)


    But the prince suddenly felt  a hand on his shoulder, but he didn''t dare to turn around and look


    "Excuse me sir"(susan)


    When susan stopped and the other girls hear her talk but not near them, they also turn around and tried to see what was going on


    "What is wrong susan"(aria) put her hand in her sword as a precaution


    "I think I know this man so I wanted to ask some questions"(Susan) responded, with a look of anticipation on her face


    fu*k fu*k fu*k fuuuuuuu*k(prince) still no turning around and with his mind in overdrive


    "Now that you mention, he looks familiar, I wonder why"(Elena)


    sh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*t(prince)


    "Why Isn''t he turning around?"(Lina) and started to grab her personal maid a little worried


    ok, time to run for my life, literally(prince)


    "Excuse lady but I have not interest on what you are selling"(fake voice prince) while grabbing her hand and taking it off his shoulder without turning


    As soon as he let go of her hand, he started to walk faster but without running yet, or it would end up in a chase


    "Wait a second"(Susan) started to chase him, asking the prince going even faster


    "Lets follow them, I got curious"(Lina)


    The other 3 girls nodded and the 4 started to follow them(lina in her maid shoulders)


    "Wait pease"(susan)while running after him


    "Sorry I am a busy person"(fake voice prince) He practically running while making shure to NOT turn around and see if he was being follow(he knew he was) and trying to think of a way to lose them without showing himself or using something he would use(alchemy stuff).


    He knew that trying to out run them was impossible(specially Aria), so he chose to run to the bassar and try to lose them in the crowd of people.


    Fu*k, they don''t give up, I can heard them screaming at me to stop behind me(prince) was getting worry they at least suspected something


    Well, since most of the girls never go outside, they have a hard time running in the crowd and the maid had lina on her, the prince was slowly getting more ground, and as soon as he got on the bassar, the girls lost sight of him.


    finally safe(prince) turning around to find the girls looking around on the crowd


    "there"(lina) pointing at his whereabouts, taking advantage of her high ground


    "Where?"(the rest)


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    "Over there"(Lina) still pointing at him


    "we can''t see him from here"(Elena)


    The prince got worried for a second, but it looked like only Lina from her high point, so he only need to keep moving and he would be safe


    "I got and idea"(Aria) suddenly jumped to the roof of a building


    SERIUSLY!!!!!!!(prince) panic while cursing the monkey


    Most of the people watched her jump in amusement,thinking it was some kind of event or something


    "Found you!"(Aria)pointed at him, making all the people around him turn at where she was pointing and moving aside and giving him space


    Aria jumped from the rooftop  and landed beside him"ha,surrender, you have no place to escape"(aria)


    Plan b I guess(prince) he took something out of his pocket, making a loud noise and making smoke around him


    "wha.?"(aria)


    As soon as he throw the smoke bomb, the prince lower his body and started to run while staying low


    This time he didn''t stop to look back and keep going until he enter a store and hide behind a counter. He tried to take a peak with his mirror, and found 3 of the girls just outside the store


    "I saw him around here"(Elena) moving her head around


    "he is really good at hide and seek"(Lina)


    "Isn''t he"(P maid)looked at the mirror and  smiled a little


    "Did you see something?"(Elena) wonder after seeing her smile


    "No, just thoug of a favor someone owns me"(P maid) keep the smile and give the prince a blink without Elena noticing


    -gulp-(prince)


    "Excuse me sir, do you want to buy something?"(merchant) asked after watching the strange behavior of the prince


    "Shhh, keep it low please"(prince)put a finger on his mouth


    "only customers can stay, if you don''t buy something I will have to take you out of the store, to those lovely ladys"(merchant) gave the prince a merchant smile


    The prince understood what he was implying" Fine, here is a gold coin, shut up while I "look" around please"(prince) throw him a coin with an annoying look


    "pleasure in doing business with you sir"(Merchant) with merchant smile


    "Lets keep looking, he shouldn''t have gotten far"(Elena)


    A minute later the girls keep going and five-minute later he got up and grab whatever he found first to "buy" from the merchant


    "3 silver coins please"(merchant)with a streight face


    "IT COST 3 SILVERS!!"(Prince) couldn''t contain his rage


    "I know,ipso facto, 3 silvers"(merchant) with a merchant smile


    "And the gold coin I just gave you!!??"(prince)


    "But sir, you already buy something from that"(Merchant) with a merchant smile


    "WHAT!?"(prince)


    "My silence"(merchant) with a real smile


    the prince stared for  a minute at the merchant, and left the store pissed(living the 3 silver thing behind)


    Now he had to keep lying low for a couple of hours until the evening, and he really hoped that nothing else would happen


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 Chapter 15: Bad news

    Four days after the explosion - Pub


    The prince decide that the safest place to wait was in the green dragon. It was a place were a lot of adventures,ex adventures and town people gather, so it was full of loud and dangerous people and 5 high class lady''s wouldn''t show up there(or so he hoped).


    It was to early for guisu to show up but the prince didn''t mind much, it was a good opportunity to hear the rumors around town and have a fun time drinking. Well that was the idea, but he went inside at a bad time. It was 3 pm clock, a time where everyone has already eaten and to soon to start drinking.


    Well, it was an adventurers pub, but no adventure worth their weigh would drink at this hour unless he was done for the day since it was incredibly dangerous other wise.


    There was the normal side effects of not being able to react properly, sleepiness, nausea, etc. but the worst part for an advance adventure was that they couldn''t use their inner mana. Usually the worth of a warrior was measure on three things, how much mana you have, how fast it regenerates and how well and efficient you use it. All three aspects can be trained and improved but how much you were born with how much you train and how talented you were did make a difference.


    Problem was, all of that didn''t make a difference if you were drunk since it didn''t matter how much mana you had, you couldn''t use it. Of course with higher mana, it was harder to get drunk, but if you drank enough, you would get drunk anyway. And the reason a warrior(or anyone in this case) couldn''t use mana was simple, being drunk make you unable(or at least really hard) to feel the flow of mana around your body, making really hard to bring power to body parts. You could bring mana all around your body, but you needed an enormous amount of mana and mana regeneration to keep it properly and it wasn''t as strong as powering up body parts(since it was dilute)beside been drunk cut your mana regeneration.


    Since 3 pm was to early for anyone to stop working, the pub was deserted, only the bartender and some permanent drunks were around, so no opportunity to hear rumors and gossips yet. Well he could ask the bar keep since he was bored like him, so the prince chose to take a stall in the counter and ask what was going around in town


    "A beer please"(prince) sat on a stall


    "Sure"(barkeep)handed a glass to the prince


    "I just came to the capital from a trip, whats new in town?"(prince)asked after taking a sip, it wasn''t bad beer.


    "Weeell, you hear about the royal family, right?"(barkeep)


    " It''s not like I was under a rock, any news on who did it?"(prince)paid a little more attention, maybe he hear something


    " So far there was no statement on who officially did it, but there is a lot of speculations, conspiracy theories and accusations going around"(barkeep)


    "I bet, anyone believable or at least the most accepted one?"(prince ) playing it cool but glad that they were getting to the good part


    "A couple, at the beginning most people thought it was a terrorist attack or an invasion, but since no organisation made an statement or a war broke at the borders, they were dismiss"(barkeep)


    "Uhu"(prince) though it made sense


    "And after that, there was one theory after another, like it was the elves or heaven retribution, suicide, the duke, etc"(barkeep)


    "And now?"(prince) wasn''t surprised that some suspected those 3, since the elves were always assholes, it was a temple so divine retribution wasn''t impossible to think about and the Duke was always kind of shady


    The barkeeper got a little closer to the prince ears and in a low voice"Some people are starting to think it was actually prince Julian who did it"(barkeep)


    The prince almost choked with the bear when he hear that and he gave the most shocking face humanly possible to the barkeeper


    "-cough- WHAAAT!!!"(Prince)almost screaming


    "keep it down boy"(barkeep)Shush the prince


    "but but it''s the black sheep of the family, the most incompetent and useless prince in the whole family, there is no way someone would think he did it"(prince) trying to deny the statement


    "exactly, and that''s why people think he did it"(barkeep) with a nod like saying of course of course


    "?"(prince) confused


    "At the beginning, some people were saying that it must have being the prince, since he was the only survivor. But since he went all over town with that blue face and acted like a clown like always, no one believe it possible"(barkeep) smiling a little


    Acting like a clown is a little....(prince)


    "but even if it sounder impossible, some people still keep saying that it must be the prince, since it was the only way he would get the throne. But it''s the prince you know? who would believe that HE was capable of making such a successfully attack to those monsters"(Barkeep)


    "Exactly, there is no way he could kill them"(prince) agreed, even if it hurt his pride a little


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    "But then rumors started to flow that maybe it was all an act and the prince was just playing dumb"(Barkeep)


    "Uh? where did that come from"(prince)


    "No idea, but it is know that suddenly, he made friends with the 3 most powerful people in the country, after the royal family of course"(Barkeep)


    "Isn''t it because they want to use him"(Prince)new that THAT was the only reason they approach him


    "Again, we all though that at the beginning and weren''t worried butt...."(barkeep)


    "but...?"(prince)


    "but they weren''t just trying to use him, they acted like he was the hottest thing around and they MUST become his best friend"(barkeep)


    "What do you mean?"(prince)


    "It started with the Arch Mage, he gave him hours of his time every day since the explosion like spending time was a priority instead of taking care of the university or his job as the kingdom arch mage"


    "So? maybe he is researching the explosion or something like that"(prince) tried to explain himself


    "For hours every day? no way, besides it doesn''t end there, not only did he beat the best knight of the kingdom alone in a duel twice, he manage to get the only daughter of the general as a slave. Do you think someone incompetent would be able to do something like that?"(Barkeep)


    "Maybe it was stage or something to make the prince look good"(prince) lied to try to get away from this situation


    "No no no no no, I thought that also, since it was the prince, but not only many people saw the fight on the palace, ALL of them swear in their family name that the girl was so serious, she even went for the kill and failed, beside she has being seeing all over town with the slave collar, so it must be true"(Barkeep)


    That f-cing aria, always causing trouble(prince)


    "That already making him look really capable, but if you also include that even the duke gave him one of her daughters, and we all know that he only use his sons and daughters for political advancement, so he should be really capable"(barkeep)


    "but it''s the prince you know, the prince! there is just no way"(prince)almost panicking


    "I use to think the same, but if you lay all the facts he looks really suspicious. Think about it, he is the only survivor, he had a perfect excuse to not go, he is more capable than what he made everyone believe no one else have taken advantage of the opportunity and the one that has gained more from this incident is the prince, since there was no way that he would have gotten the throne otherwise "(barkeep)


    "That make no sense, everyone knows he doesn''t want the throne, he does whatever he wants without ambition or worrying about the future, there is no way he killed his family to get the throne"(prince) tried to grasp the only argument he had left, that was also the truth


    "Genius right?He fooled the whole kingdom and even that monster of a family. Maybe he IS as capable as the rest of his family "(Barkeep)


    He couldn''t believe it, how did it turn out that he was a master deceiver and manipulator capable of fulling everyone?the prince was shock at the power of rumors and imagination of the people. But if people really believe it then...


    "Don''t tell me are revolt is coming ...."(prince)


    "I am not sure, but if more people start to believe it , who knows?. A lot of people really loved the royal family and hated the prince, so it may happen"(Barkeep)


    the prince turn completely pale, and started to order glass after glass while wondering what the f-ck must he do now.


    The barkeeper though that the prince must be really worried for the state of the kingdom and the possibility of a revolt, so he left him alone.


    He even forgot about the real reason he came for the bar and even made all that trouble to get out of the castle until a guy sit beside him. It wasn''t guisu, but after looking around the pub the prince found that it was almost full and he even saw guisu sitting in a table, if the description of the old man was right.


    The prince was drunk (again) and after the news he just got, he really didn''t feel like questioning the guy in hope of maybe getting some information. On the other side, the prince realised that if he didn''t find a culprit fast, a revolt may reach his doorstep, so he really didn''t have a choice


    So, the prince got up from the stall, pay the barkeeper for the drinks and realised that he was more drunk than he should. At least he had experience and teachings of acting proper even drunk(Everyone in the family had to take those so not to embarrass the family in events, even if he or she was force to drink) so he went to the thief table and really hoped that he finally found a clue in all this mess.


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 Chapter 16: Guisu the thief

    4 Days after the explosion - Pub


    The prince got near Guisu''s table and when the prince was near him, he tap his shoulder to grab his attention


    "Are you guisu?"(prince)


    "Who is asking"(Guisu?) a little wary


    "A friend of the old man"(prince)


    "Are you really?"(Guisu?) still wary


    "you know that if I say that and the old man found out I was lying and using his name he would kill me"(prince)


    "Fine, I am guisu"(guisu)


    "Can i sit"(prince)put 5 gold coins on the table


    "Sure"(guisu) signal a chair for him to sit


    "So, what do you want"(Guisu)


    The prince thought really hard on how to approach this question, and decided to play the fool, it turns out he was even better than he thought at it.


    "I went to the old man and found out really rare materials being sold at a cheap price (meaning they were stolen of course) so I asked if it was possible to "get" more and he said he didn''t know. Since I was afraid someone else may steal the opportunity to found this and maybe even more rare materials, I persuade him to give me his sellers name, meaning you"(Prince)Lied


    "Why the extreme interest in this stuff?"(Guisu) really wary, looking around and with a look like he was ready to run at any moment


    "Simple, I an alchemist and one of the main providers of the old man, specially the sleeping powder. That stuff would help me a lot on my researches"


    "It''s that true?"(guisu) a little more relaxed but still wary


    "Yep, that''s why I wanted to know if it was possible to get more or if you had more stuff that you still haven''t sold"(Prince)keep the lies rolling


    "Sorry, even if you know the old man,i don''t want to get involved with that stuff"(Guisu)


    "Why not"(prince) putting 5 more gold coins on the table


    "I don''t want to say it"(guisu)looking at the gold coins a little


    "Please"(prince) adding 10 more


    "You are getting really persistent for just a couple of materials you know"(Guisu) a little more wary but still looking at the gold coins


    "They were really rare and useful materials, I would be a fool if I don''t try at least this hard"(prince) looking determinate and adding 10 more g coins


    Guisu looked at the coins, then at the prince then close his eyes and thought for a second. After thinking for a while, he open them again and look at the prince.


    "Look if you pay me a 100g plus what it''s on the table, I can tell you how I got them, but I keep the money even if you don''t like the anser,ok?"(Guisu)


    "sure, 50 now and 50 more if you are not lying"(prince)out 50g on the table


    "I found them hidden all over town by chance"(guisu)


    "That didn''t anser the question, how did you know it was there?"(prince)keeping the extra 50g


    "It was by chance, didn''t I just say so?"(guisu) a little worried


    "You also said all over town, are you telling me you found it by chance multiple times?"(prince) pressing the matter


    "ehh"(guisu)getting more nervous by the second


    "What are you afraid of, tell me!?"(prince) Not letting him time to think


    "I can''t!!"(guisu) almost screaming


    "WHY NOT!!"(prince)Yelling and punching the table


    "THEY WILL KILL ME LIKE THE GIRL!!!"(Guisu)compleatly white and trying to pull away from the table


    The prince was shock by the statement and call down for a second. Since the tavern was pretty loud and they were in a corner, no one paid attention to them, but the prince didn''t want to cause a disturbance and grab their attention so he put the 50g on the table and took another 100g and show it to guisu


    "calm down and tell me every thing from the start"(prince)


    It look like the prince was throwing away money like water, but for most people, even 1 gold coin was a lot of money. A normal person could only got that amount after working for a month. That is why every time the prince keeps increasing the amount, guisu coudn''t just give it up, even if it was dangerous for him


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    "fine, I will tell you every thing but only if you promise to give me all the gold on the table plus those 100g in the end"(guisu) greed won over his caution in the end


    "I promise"(prince)glad that he finally was getting to the good part


    Guisu POV


    The day the explosion in the temple happen, It was around midnight when i saw a young maid with a big bag walking around. I Found it suspicious so I got close to her without her noticing and I follow her. She went into a deserted house so I went around and enter the house through a window. I found her in what it should have being the living room moving around and really nervous. I found a good hiding spot and waited to see what was she doing there


    Half an hour later, 3 bald guys arrived and for the look on her face, I notice she was expecting them, but she still was nervous.


    "Where you follow?"(bald A) He had a scar on his left eye and looked like the leader of the grup


    "Of course not, I was really careful"(Maid)Acting a little offended, but still nervous


    "Are you alone?"(bald A)Showing no emotion like he didn''t give a sh*t


    "You told me to come alone so i came alone"(maid)


    "Did you bring the stuff and without drawing attention?"(leader?)


    "Yes, I went through the hole in the wall like they told me and took the papers and everything that looked valuable in this bag. I gave the bag to the guard they told me and he gave it back when I talk to him later outside. I can I get the money now?"(Maid)


    "Snake pay the woman"(leader?)


    One of the bald guys, probably snake, got close to the maid and in a flash he cut her throat. The poor girl put a hand in her throat with an expression of disbelief and fall to the ground dead.


    The leader grab the bag from the dead maid and started to look inside. He took what it looked like some papers and some items and he put them in a smaller bag. He handed the big bag to the other bald guy


    "Rat,clean the blood and dispose of this items around town and burn the bag. Snake dispose of the girl body. We will reunite with the other team in the hideout and leave town tomorrow"(Leader)


    "Yes sir"(snake and rat)salute the leader


    The team leader left first, snake put the body in a big bag and lift it like it was nothing. After the leader gave him the ok signal, he went outside. Rat stayed to clean up the blood and went he finish, he grabbed the bag and left.


    I follow after him(after giving the poor girl a small pry) and shadow him really careful around town. He always make shure no one was around when he left an item in a hidden place and then keep going. I memorize each hidden place and when he finish, i went to each one and grabbed the items.


    <hr />


    The prince was really shock about all that happen, it didn''t anser who was behind it but it showed that it was someone powerful and with resources. Besides if he looked around the maid and the guard he may find something. He also wanted to check that "hole" in the wall.


    "Thank you for the information, I guess I wont be getting more items it seems"(prince) handing him the last 100g he promise


    "Yeah, sorry about that, but as you can see, you don''t want to mess with those guys"(Guisu)


    "I can see that, you should also be carefull to who you tel that story, this guys look connected"(prince)


    "Don''t worry, i can tell who is good and who isn''t, and you  don''t have a killer look"(Guisu)


    "Still, be carefull, if you end up dead the old man may blame me"(prince) a little worry someone may killl him later to shut him up


    "No problem, whit the money I got for this, I can easily lay low for a year, so i will take it easy for a while"(guisu)


    "Good luck then"(prince)


    The prince said his good bye to the thief and decided to pay a visit to the old man before returning to the castle. If one of the bad guys find out he was selling the stolen stuff, he may end up dead.


    Note: The only reason the thief''s had that much money in the side story is because those nobles didn''t know the value of money(and they did manage to steal a couple of coins from them)


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 Note 2

    For those wondering what happend, I deleted chapter 3 and 4 and fuse them with 1 and 2, since they really were 2 short. I also Added a title  and a prev next and main menu at the end of each chapter.


    Also, I would apreciate if you guys review, like the reviews alredy done or tell me in the coments what is wrong so i have a better idea of the weak points of the story


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Finally, there is also a wordpress if you prefer to read it there instead of royal road, since I usually update the 2 at the same time


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 chapter 17: And the day never ends

    4 days after the explosion - Old Man Store


    Since it was late the prince went to the old man store that should have reopen already. He went to tell him what he found out  from guisu. After he finish telling him everything guisu told him...


    "So be careful old man, don''t tell anyone how you got the stuff"(Prince)


    "You should be more worry about yourself, those guys that stole your friend look really dangerous"(old man)worry


    "yeah, tell me about it, luckily they left town it seems"(prince) happy and  sad that they left, since it was one less clue, even if it was a dangerous one.


    "Still, don''t do anything stupid"(old man)


    "Sure sure, you too"(prince)acting like it was nothing


    "Hmmp, like some bald brats can harm me"(old man)


    "Well, got ta go, seya later"(prince) open the door leaving


    "Come back soon"(old man) waving his hand


    It was early in the night so a lot of people were outside but the prince didn''t want to risk being out of the castle any longer, who knows what kind off scandal would rise if they start looking for him and no one find him.He went to the street where the sewers he came out was while being in high alert for the 5 troublesome girls that have chase him around town.


    He was relaxing as he got closer to the street when he suddenly hear a lot of noise from a garbage can. He stopped to see what was going on, but he didn''t got close just in case.


    "miau"(cat) took his head out of it with some food on his mouth


    The prince watch as the cat leap out the garbage can and walked around him and keep going. He watched it go but then the cat suddenly stopped, watching a man. The prince follow his gaze and when he look at the man face, the man reacted.


    "Guys, we got found out"(guy a?)


    ???(prince) didn''t understood why the guy reacted like that when he saw his face, but he got the idea when suddenly 9 other guys show up


    "What do you want"(prince) worry of the sudden turn of events


    "Revenge of course"(guy a?) acting smug


    "Revenge for what?"(prince) didn''t think he did anything really bad yet


    "For stealing our cloths and stuff"(thief a)Angry


    Oh yeah, the guys from this morning, looks like they are really pissed(prince) found it kind of amuse, but then it hit him that it was 10v1 and he still was kind of  drunk from all the beer he drank at the pub.


    Right now his best option was to stall for time while he search for a way out


    "How did you find me"(prince) kind of worried this might happen again if he manage to scape


    "easy, we left one guy to scout the old man place and when he saw you come in, he warned us and we all gather a couple of friends to teach you a lesson"(thief a)


    "Isn''t this a little over kill? beside, I was merciful, most guys would either cut your throat or send you to the cops"(prince) Tried to make it sound like it wasn''t that bad what he did


    "YOU CALL THROWING UP ALL OVER USS AND LEAVING US NAKED ON THE STREET MERCIFUL!!?"(Thief b)shouting with everything he is got


    "come on, the old man will kill you if he find out what you are doing"(prince)tried a different approach


    "WE.DON''T.CARE"(Thief b)


    "We want to really f-ck you up"(Thief a)


    "OFFICERS; THEY ARE MUGGING ME"(prince) look behind the thief and making signals to grab attention to himself.


    All the thief''s couldn''t help but look behind them but they didn''t found anything there, as soon as they look back to the prince, all of them got REALLY angry and started to curse the prince.


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    As soon as they turn, the prince run like his life depends on it(and it kind of did). He couldn''t believe it worked and he really thought that he would get away, but 2 of them run at an unbelievable speed


    Fuck, 2 warriors(prince)


    Before they got close to him, the prince went to an alley and throw a smoke bomb to the floor. The 2 of them went over the smoke, but they couldn''t find the prince


    "over here"(prince) and as soon as they turn back to the smoke, he throw some powder at their face (1 with the left and the other with the right) making them fall sleep.


    Luckily they pass me as I glued to the wall(prince) kind of glad it work so perfectly


    He jump over the 2 body''s  and shouted


    "OVER HERE AS-HOLES"(prince)making a pose a little far away from the smoke and the 2 warriors.


    Suddenly 6 guys appear from the smoke but seeing the prince and not the two guys on the floor, all 6 of them trip and fell to the floor, the prince didn''t miss the chance and started to throw his sleeping powder like a madman all over the six guys, making a pile of body''s on the floor.


    The prince relaxed a second, thinking it was over but suddenly he heard a scream and a guy with a knife stepped over the unconscious guys and jumped trying to stab the prince. The prince manage to bend his body, almost dodging the knife but the thief did manage to slash over his back.


    Since he was wearing the dragon armor over his robe, the slash didn''t harm him, but he did panic for a second. The prince quickly grabbed a flask from his belt and throw it at the thief and breaking in his stomach. The thief panic when his cloth started to dissolve, and taking advantage of the distraction, the prince punch him in the stomach and finish with a jab to the chin


    What the prince throw at the thief was an acid that dissolved anything except skin, so it wasn''t life threatening(and the prince carry it because it was useful for opening stuff) When the smoke from the bomb dissipated, he found a thief trembling in where the smoke was.


    The prince thought for a second to scare him and left him run, but he decided to start running, jump over the unconscious thefts and kick him in the stomach. When the guy fell to the floor, the prince bent over and kick him in the face, knock him out.


    Man, what a looong day(prince) with a really tired face


    Of course the prince didn''t just left them there, this time he took everything valuable from them and strip them completely naked. Then he tied them all together with their shirts and left them there in the cold. When his revenge was done, he went to the sewers and to the palace secret passage.


    The prince went to his parents room, close the passage, and went to the door to listen if anyone was on the hallway. After not hearing anything, he open the door and took his mirror. Not seeing anything, he quietly went to the end of the hallway and took the mirror again. Unlike in the morning, he didn''t find anyone there, so he quickly run to his room.


    Finally safe(prince) was really glad that he finally reach his room, all he had to do was hide his cloth, put the bag away and fall sleep in peace Well, that was the plan, but when he enter, he found the red dragon sitting on a chair....


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 Chapter 18: down to the rabbit hole

    4 days after the explosion - Prince room


    The prince almost sh-t his pants when he saw Elena in the room, almost. He had to think really fast how he would get out of this one without getting his face fuse to the wall after she was done with him


    "hey Elena, how are you doing?"(prince)knowing full well that wasn''t a good start, but he didn''t have anything better


    "Where were you?"(elena) ask while looking at the prince with dead eyes


    "In a room alone reading a book?"(prince) Tried to use the story he had ready, knowing full well that it wouldn''t work


    "Riiiight, and why are you wearing a robe and glasses?"(Elena)


    "Well, it was an adventure book, so I dressed the part to feel more in the world"(prince)


    "Of course of course, you know? We saw someone REALLY similar to you on the streets, the similarities were almost shocking"(Elena)


    "You know what they say, there are at least 5 guys that looks like you in the world"(Prince)


    "Cut out the bullsh-t prince, We both know it was you on the street today!!!"(Elena) got close to him and put his index finger on his chest


    "Well, I had to investigate a few things and I didn''t want the guards follow me"(prince)


    "Right... and that investigation includes drinking more alcohol than a monk?"(Elena) Smelling the alcohol in his breath


    "Well, the best place to investigate is a bar, and in a bar you must drink...."(prince)


    "-sight- I get it, you wanted a day off so you send us to town to get out of your back"(Elena)


    "nonono, I really had something to do in town"(prince)


    "It''s ok, i get it, I won''t hold it against you since I had fun, but I am disappointed in you, Lina was really looking forwards to spend some time with you. If you don''t do something for her, I WILL make you pay"(Elena) left the room with a disappointed expression, the kind he was really used to.


    Well, I guess I got away in one piece this time(prince) Tried to cheer up a bit but that face probably hurt him more than anything she could have done to him


    5 days after the explosion - The palace


    The prince didn''t got up in the best of moods, not only he had to worry about a revolt, mysterious killers, and the reaction of the five girls the next morning, the prince had a killer migraine for all the drinking yesterday.


    For now, the prince went to have breakfast and hoped the other girls won''t plaster him to the wall. He found them chatting happily on the table(except for Susan, she had a poker face like always)


    Well, it looks like they are getting along (prince) Wondering if his ass was on the line right now


    "good morning"(prince) Acting casual while sitting on a chair


    "good morning"(x5)the five girls responded to the greeting


    Weird, they are not saying anything(prince)surprised there wasn''t at least some level of killing intent, so he chose to play dumb until he knew more


    "So did you girls have fun yesterday"(prince) playing dumb


    "Yeah it was a lot of fun, we went shopping for cloth, we saw all kind of people and we even played hide and seek!!!:-) but we lost in the end :-( "(Lina) Starting really exited and then a little depressed at the end


    "Oh, who were you playing with?"(prince) thinking that maybe she didn''t know


    "I don''t know, some guy on a robe that Susan knew"(Lina) wondering


    "Did you know him Susan?"(prince) kind of interested on how did he got found out, but after he said it, he realised it was a bad question at the moment


    "He look like someone who I owned a favor, so I wanted to asking but he tried to escape so I chase after him and the rest follow"(Susan)without showing a hint of emotion


    Did she mistake me for someone else or is she lying The prince didn''t remember helping her in the past, and he was sure he never meet her before, so It couldn''t only be a mistake on her part or a lie and she new it was him


    "Did you girls found him or who he was in the end?"(prince) really hoping only Elena and the maid knew the truth


    "No, the guy was really slippery, he even throw a smoke bomb at me to get away"(Aria) A little disappointed he managed to get away from her


    The rest of the breakfast went on how they spend their day and the frustration of losing "that guy". They also ask the prince what he did for the evening, but he told them that he lock himself in a room and read some books(like he told Elena before)


    "So prince, what are we doing today?"(Aria) was curious since she did have the duty to protect him, like it or not.


    "Well, first I want to check something on Rebbeca''s room, and later I plan to go to the magic university, do you want to come Lina?"(prince) did promise to take her out twice already, so he might as well annoy his sister a little


    "Sure!"(Lina)answer really cheerfully


    "But like I said, first I want to check Rebbeca''s room, so let''s go"(prince)


    All of them got up from the table and started to head for the room, but before they got out from the dinner


    "You girls go ahead, I want to speak a second with elena and I catch up in a second"(prince)wanted to find out why was Elena the only one that knew what really happen yesterday


    "Fine, why the sudden interest in that cursed room?"(Aria)remember how she got knock out from that trap door


    "I hear a strange current was sense from that room, so I want to check the walls for a breach or something"(prince)made a plausible lie


    "Why waste our time searching for something pointless in an empty room?"(Susan) even flinched a little at that, making one of the few times the prince saw her show any emotion


    weird, I wonder way she reacted(prince)


    "why not? something you don''t like?"(prince)deflected the question and tried to satisfy his curiosity


    "Well...."(susan)acting a little nervous


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    This got the attention of all the girls, since they almost never saw her react to something


    "come on tell us tell us"(Lina)


    "yeah tell us"(Aria)


    "I don''t want to say it"(susan) acting shy for a change


    "pleaseeeee"(lina)With begging eyes


    "pretty pleaseeeeeee"(Aria)joining Lina in the begging


    "I am afraid of ghosts"(Susan)give up


    "EHH!!!!"(shouts x6)


    "Rebbeca was famous for her strange experiments, I am sure if there is a ghost in this Palace, it is there, and who knows what kind of traps are there?"(Susan)


    "IIII am suhuure theere arre no ggghost there, rright?"(Aria) Tattering her teeth while looking at the prince


    "mmm, Susan has a point, why don''t you check Aria, look for every inch of the room"(prince)smiling a little


    "WHYYY ME!!!!"(Aria)


    "You are the knight, It''s your duty to protect the citizens from any danger, including the supernatural"(prince)


    "Please, can''t someone else do it?"(aria)


    "sor.."(prince)"I will do it"(Susan) cut the prince off before he finish


    "uh, weren''t you afraid?"(prince)


    "I must conquer my fears, so I want to take this chance to face them"(Susan)


    "Fine, but make sure to check the wall and be careful of the traps and you aria protect Lina, she looks scare enough with all that ghost story''s"(Prince)could see lina hugging her maids legs in fear a ghost would grab her.


    "Now go, I still have to speak with Elena a second"(prince)


    The 4 of them left, and only the prince and Elena stayed. The prince took her to one of the sound proof rooms and close the door.


    "Why no one else knew I was the robe guy they were chasing yesterday?"(prince)didn''t understand why they didn''t know


    "I didn''t want to make Lina sad for ditching her yesterday"(Elena)


    "And how did you know it was me?"(prince)


    "Well, from the moment I saw your back, I thought he looked like you, and when he throw that smoke bomb, I knew it was you. And since I saw you with a bag, I was sure you would try to sneak to your room unnoticed, so I waited for you there"(Elena)Showing her deductive skills


    "You should have being a detective"(prince) tried to make a joke


    "I already feel like one, with all your daily crimes"(Elena) shakes her head in resignation


    "yeah yeah, let''s go to rebbecas room, they are waiting for us"(prince)didn''t want to press the matter


    They left the room and went to rebbecas, finding the 4 of them outside the room


    "so?"(prince)


    "I checked the room and moved the furniture, but I didn''t find anything like you described"(Susan)


    "really?"(prince) went inside before she could answer


    The room was a little messier since all the furniture was moved, but he didn''t saw a hole in the wall(or marks) like the dead girl said. He thought that maybe guisu lied, but then he notice the wardrobe was unmoved


    "You forgot the wardrobe"(prince)pointing at it


    "I was afraid that if I moved, a ghost would appear. Besides, I didn''t feel any current from there"(susan) with her usual poker face


    "Aria, go move it"(Prince)


    "Wait, Whats the point? If you move it a trap may activate or a ghost may come out of it"(Susan)


    "Yeah, Aren''t you doing this to make me fall in another trap?"(Aria)Scared


    "Prince I though I told you not to bully Aria anymore"(Elena)with an angry face


    "Fine, I will do it"(prince) wasn''t really scared of a trap since he was pretty sure the hole was there.


    The wardrobe was heavier than he expected, but he did manage to move it and he found what he was looking for. Behind it you could clearly see that the wall had been cut with half a circle shape. The prince tried to push it but he found resistance and since It was moving little by little it wasn''t the wall that was suck but more like something else was on the other side. He thought about pushing more or go to the room on the other side, but instead...


    "Aria, lend me your sword a second"(Prince)


    "Why?"(aria)


    "Just hand it to me"(prince)


    "Fine"(Aria)took out her sword and hand it to the prince


    The prince stab the sword side ways on the cut part of the wall and use the sword as a lever to pull it.


    All the girls were shocked went they saw the prince take a part of the wall with the sword and got closer to see what was going on.


    "Why did you break the wall?"(Elena)


    "It was already broken, I just move it"(Prince)


    "Eh, How was it broken?"(aria)


    "By someone to steal Rebbeca''s stuff obviously"(prince)


    The girls were shocked again at the statement, and you could see them trying to figure out the implications of what the prince just said


    "But who would do something like that, where does the hole takes you"(Susan)


    "To Jorge room"(prince)


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 Chapter 19: Dont say the B word

    5 days after the explosion ¨C Royal palace


    After calming themself, the girls asked the prince if he knew who did it, and wh but the prince dismissed. He worried about a couple of stuff.


    First, how did they make a hole in the wall, it¡¯s not like it was an easy thing to do and according to the maid, it was already done when she got the stuff. That could only mean someone else made the hole but couldn¡¯t get the stuff out so they hired the maid. And if the prince had to be honest, the first suspect was his brother Jorge.


    Not only did he had a hole in the wall of his room, something extremely easy to do if it was him, the person that help him get away from the explosion was dead, and he did have the skills to do it(He was really good at sneaking into lady¡¯s rooms). He also had connections, so he could hire those killers and find a way to contact the dead maid. But well, it¡¯s not like it was impossible to enter his room and make a hole in the wall or kill the priestess if she help kidnap him or something so it wasn¡¯t exactly a definitive proof of his guilt.


    For now the prince was going to talk to his sister about all this and the chief of police to see if they found the maid body.


    ¡°Well, I am going to the magic university, do you want to come Lina?¡±(prince) looking at lina, and after seeing her node, the prince started to walk to the stables


    He took a carriage, and Susan lina and the personal maid went inside with him. Aria and guard a took the rains and the carriage started to move


    ¡°I hear you go to the magic university almost every day since the explosion, can you tell me why?¡±(Susan)


    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s a secret that only the royal family can know, that''s why I can only bring Lina with me into the university¡±(prince)


    He was kind of lying but since it was a bad idea to show her sister to a lot of people and only royal family should know this, it was an ok lie in this case. Besides if something happen to the prince(something that looked more probable every day) It was better for Lina to know she had some family left.


    The rest of the travel was quiet since the 3 girls weren¡¯t the chatting tipe unlike the other 2 and the prince wasn¡¯t in a talking mood. His mood didn¡¯t improbe when he saw that the people at the street were glaring at the carriage, making all he hear about public opinion of him more real and worrisome.


    If people started to throw eggs and tomatoes at his carriage, he would really need to make an escape route out of the capital. Well, at least he did have one made a few years ago just in case, so all he need was to polish it. The reason he had one made was simple, he had read too many books of royalty suddenly loosing his home in a coup or war or disaster, so having some secret stash of money and safe havens around the country as safety precautions was a good idea(he only have 2 but it was better than nothing)


    At least he got to the university safely so he helped Lina get out of the carriage and told the rest to wait for him here. His two bodyguards and the maid protested but he assure them he would be safe inside and this was something they couln¡¯t know no matter how much they complained.


    Lina follow him inside the university and down the stairs to the ¡°Staff only¡± door a little afraid, but as soon as she enter inside and saw that her aunt Rebbeca was there, she started running and hug her leg before the prince could stop her.


    I am surprise sis didnt freeze her or something(prince) remembering what happened when he tried to do that the other day


    ¡°You are alive!!¡±(Lina) hugging her aunt leg with all her strength


    ¡°Yeah¡­.¡±(Rebbeca) not really knowing how to react


    ¡°Do you know if my father is alive?¡±(Lina)


    ¡°Sorry no, i only know he didn¡¯t died at the explosion. I don¡¯t know where he is now¡±(Rebbeca) surprisingly showing a sad face to Lina


    ¡°oh :-(¡°(Lina)


    ¡°I am sure you are going to see him again¡±(prince)


    ¡°yeah¡­¡±(Lina) still with a sad face


    A couple of seconds passed without anyone saying anything  until rebbeca lift her niece, put her in the couch and hand her some snacks from the freezer


    ¡°thank you :-)¡±(Lina)Cheering up a little


    ¡°No problem;-)¡±(Rebbeca)


    While the snacks were distracting lina, Rebbeca got close to the prince with a murderous glare


    F*ck, why so much difference in treatment(prince) cursing his life and the gods


    ¡°I thougt I told you not to bring anyone to the lab and what would I do if you do it¡±(Rebbeca)


    ¡°Shh, what if she hear you saying that, he would get sad again¡±(prince)


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I put a sound barrier around her and the snack should keep her occupied until I teach you a leson¡±(Rebbeca) with a murderous glare


    ¡°Wait wait, I have important information about your stuff¡±(Prince) trying to protect his face


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    ¡°Fine, talk now and I may spare your life¡±(Rebbeca)


    The prince told her everything that guisu told him and the hole in her room


    ¡°Sh*t I never though of putting defenses or a trap in the walls, they only had the typical sound proof enchantments¡±(Rebbeca)


    ¡°If i make you feel better, at least it had being done by profecionals¡±(prince)


    ¡°Like I need cheering up from you¡­¡±(Rebbeca)


    ¡±  With an attitude like that you will never find a boyfriend sis¡±(Prince) Tried to make a joke but was utterly shocked of what he saw after


    He could see the rage all build up in his sister face and the Murderous eyes she was giving him, it looks like this time the prince manage to hit her in a really sore spot with the boyfriend thingy


    seriously, with those anger problems and that horrible personality you will never find a boyfriend(prince) worried a little for his sister future


    ¡°Little brother I thing I will really Send you far far away this time, do you prefer a jungle a dessert or a dungeon?¡±(Rebbeca) Smiling at the prince while visibly showing her murderous rage


    ¡°How about my room in the palace?¡±(prince) almost begged


    ¡°NOT.AN.OPTION¡±(Rebecca) already starting her chant


    The prince knew he was dead if he didn¡¯t do something fast, so he chose the do something he was sure was going to regret later. He quickly grabbed some of his already re-stoked powder and before she could finish or even react, he throw it at her face, making her instantly fall sleep. Relieved that he got away with his head still attached to his shoulders, he promise himself to not visit his sis without backup next time


    ¡°What happen to rebbeca¡±(Lina) ask when she got close to the prince with a snack n her hand, it looked like the sound proof spell disappear


    ¡°She was really tired, she tried to stay awake but she stayed awake all night yesterday¡±(prince)lied


    The prince grabbed her and took her to the couch. he really didn¡¯t want to anger her more later.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we don¡¯t want to wake her up¡±(prince)


    ¡°Ok¡±(lina)


    ¡°And don¡¯t tell anyone you saw her, no matter what, ok?¡±(prince)


    ¡°Why not?¡±(lina)


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story, just promise me you won¡¯t tell a soul, it¡¯s important¡±(Prince)


    ¡°ok¡±(Lina)


    ¡°And if something happen to me, you go to her ok?¡±(prince)


    ¡°Will you disappear like daddy?¡±(Lina) with tearful eyes


    ¡°Nonononono, I told you I am more tenacious than a cockroach, nothing will happen to me. But If and is a big if something happen, go to her ok?¡±(prince)


    ¡°ok¡±(Lina)


    To be honest, the prince didn¡¯t care that much about telling everyone she was alive, since she was already mad with him, but to little was know about the enemy so it was best to keep as many ace in his sleeve as he could, they were really useful in situation like the one just now.


    "miau"(cat?)


    When they got outside of the university, a cat suddenly appeared and went near Lina. Lina couldn''t help herself and started to stroke it, when the cat started to purr a face full of bliss could be seeing in Lina, making the prince guess with a 100% accuracy what word was coming next


    "can we keep it"(lina) said the obvious question a 5 years old would make in that situation


    The prince thought about refusing, like in 80% of those situations, but since he would be more of a bother to tell her no and she crying the rest of the way than saying yes and making the maid take care of it, he really didn''t have a good reason to refuse. Besides the cat looked ok, it was kind of young and even if it was black, it''s not like the prince was a superstitious man


    "Fine, but take good care of it,I won''t be responsible for it"(Prince)


    The girl grabbed the cat with a delighted face and went to the carriage at full throttle like she was afraid he would change his mind if she stayed


    Now that I think about it, the cat looks kind of familiar(prince) Trying to remember when he saw it


    He thought he saw a similar cat a couple of times, but since it was probably his imagination, the prince just ignore it and started to think what he should do next


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 Chapter 20: police help

    5 Days after the explosion - Carriage


    When the prince got inside the carriage, he found on the left side of it his niece in the middle and his two bodyguards at her side all stroking the cat, so he end up sitting in the right with the maid.


    "Hey Aria shouldn''t you be in the front with the guard?"(prince)


    "he will be fine, this is a reinforced carriage so even if we are under attack, It should hold on until I go outside if something happen"(Aria)


    The prince could order her to go outside with the guard, but since she would be occupied with the cat, Aria shouldn''t bother him much so he didn''t really care. They headed to the police HQ since he wanted to see if they found the maid body so he could start an investigation and see who she was, who did she know, who were the people she last spoke too, etc.


    The girls occupied with the cat allowed the prince relax. He also tried to avoid looking outside since every time he did it the prince saw a lot of frowns and rude gesture from the people, so he mostly saw the 3 girls stroke the cat.


    When he arrived at the police HQ all 5 of them got out of the carriage


    "One of you two take Lina and the cat to a veterinarian to have him checked"(prince) pointed at his two bodyguards


    "Me me me"(Aria)


    "Fine, you go, let''s go inside Susan"(prince) while walking to the station


    Taking the cat to the vet was more of an excuse to make Lina go away since he didn''t want her to hear about the dead body, but he couldn''t just send her without protection so he send her with an escort. Inside he asked in the receptionist to talk with the Police chief while showing his ring but this time she didn''t try to verify it.


    Looks like this time she know who i am, i wonder if she got yelled at(prince)wondering since she was acting more friendly than last time


    The prince went to the chief office to see if he could find out more about the dead girl. Luckily he was there


    "Hello chief"(prince)


    "Prince Julian, good to see you again, What brings you here"(P chief)


    "I need to have another visit to the morgue if you don''t mind"(prince)


    "Sure sure, let''s go"(P Chief) Treating the prince really respectfully


    The 3 of them left the office and went down tot he morgue


    "So, do you want to check on the priestess again?"(P chief)asked while going there


    "No, actually I am looking for a different person"(Prince)


    "Really?Is it related to the explosion?"(P chief)


    "Probably, at least it is a side effect of it"(prince)while opening the door to the morgue


    "Oh, hello chief, is that prince julian?"(Mortician)


    "Yes, sorry for the intrusion"(prince)


    "no problem, we work for the empire anyway"(mortician)


    "I came looking for a dead girl that should have her throat cut 4 days ago. I don''t know what she was wearing, how she looked like and I don''t know where she was found, only that it was a different place to where she was found"(prince)


    "Let me think... a yes, a naked girl was found dead 3 days ago in an alley dead but not raped, really unusual if you ask me. I think i have her file around here"(mortician) Started for something in a pile of papers and took something from it


    "here it is. Cause of dead was blood lost from a deep wound in the throat around 11 pm and 3 am 4 days ago, No other wounds or bruises found on her body or signs of struggle before dead"(Mortician)


    Yep, just like guisu said, it looks like he wasn''t lying(prince)


    "anything else?"(prince)


    "Well, her name is Maria Stenfell, It looks like her mother filled a missing report yesterday after 48h of going missing and this morning an officer came to check the Jona doe''s. Since it''s a murder case now, the jurisdiction change hands but no one has being assigned to the case yet"(mortician) Reading the file and saying his own conclusions


    "Do you know her prince?"(P chief)


    "Not really, she worked at the palace so i may have seeing her or even talk to her some times but I don''t talk with most of the palace staff"(prince)


    "Then how did you know about her"(P chief)watching really carefull at the prince


    The prince though for a second if he should tell the truth or not, but since he WAS the police chief, he may find out more than him if he was properly informed(well even so the prince wouldn''t tell him everything)


    "Simple, I talked to a guy that saw the moment she was murder and what they were talking about so I knew she worked at the palace and that she had her throat cut by the killer"(prince)shrugged


    That surprised the police chief, the mortician and Susan, since they didn''t expect that


    "What can you tell us? everything you know may be useful in catching the killer"(P chief)


    "Killerssss, it was 3 bald guys, one with a scar on his eye, I forgot wich one. All i know is that someone hired her to sneak into princess Rebbeca''s room to steal her stuff. She enter through a hole in the wall made by someone else and she gave the stuff to a guard that he later give back to her outside the palace"(prince)


    Again what the prince said surprised the 3 of the and Susan even turned a little pale.


    "Is that true?"(Susan)


    "Of course, I already checked the wall as you know and the dead girl confirms the rest of what I heard"(prince)


    "Should you being telling us this? Even if I am the police chief, this information involves national security"(P Chief) panicking a little


    "And I am just a mortician"(Mortician)


    "Don''t worry about the small stuff, the important thing now is catching the culprits and see if they are involve the temple explosion"(Prince)


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    It looks like the prince was on a role, since he manage to shock a 3 time the 3 of them. It looks like none of them thought that this could be related to the explosion until the prince mention it


    "Tha aa... That is even worst!!!! This shouldn''t fall into our jurisdiction!!!"(P chief) Shouting and panicking at the same time he knew this was way over his head


    That gave the prince a wicked idea that would make the police chief hate him or fear him for the rest of his life probably


    "oh but it does, like you said this is a matter of national security so most of it must stay a secret. Since we can''t tell the public someone sneak into the palace and stole Rebbeca''s stuff, all the police is going to look for is for the murder of a poor maid that just happen to work in the palace, and since I am such a good person, I will alow a detective to question the staff"(prince) giving the police chief a smile


    The prince smile made the 3 of them shake in fear a little, but the prince didn''t do this to annoy the police. Since He knew that someone in the palace could be the culprit, it was best to relay on an outside source for it and making it look like a normal investigation may lower the guard of the culprit or culprits.


    "I want your best detective on the case and have him come to the palace tomorrow, tell him of all I told you but he should act like he is only making a time line and making routine questions"(prince)talking tot he police chief


    "Why like that?"(P chief) didn''t understand why do it that way


    "Simple, I want to catch the culprit of guard so it''s best if it looks like normal procedure, but if you believe it''s better to do t different do it, I just want to catch the culprit"(prince)


    "nonono, it is fine, I was just a little curious. Tomorrow I will send one of my best detective to the palace"(P chief)


    "Well, I will go now, if you have any more questions you can tell the detective so he can ask me tomorrow"(prince)


    "Sure"(P chief) and the mortician glad that he finally left, leaving them time to process all the information they just got


    The prince and susan left the Police HQ and went to the carriage, luckily the other 3 seems to have returned alredy.


    "So, everything alright with the cat?"(prince)


    "Yes! :-)"(Lina)


    "The vet didn''t found anything wrong with the cat, did you finish your business?"(P maid)


    "All done, so let''s go eat something around here"(prince)


    The prince order guard a to take them to a famous restaurant near them since he didn''t feel safe enough to eat in a normal one after seeing the looks the people gave him.


    When they arrived at the restaurant, he gave the guard a silver coin and told him to order something while watching the carriage while the five of them eat something inside, the cat included. normally the maid and the cat would also stay, but since it would get awkward for lina other wise, he showed his ring and order a table.


    It looks like being the only prince left give him a better standard than before, because the different in treatment was completely different from other times when he went to eat there. Before, when he showed the ring, even if he was a royal prince, he had being  treated the same than anyone else (since they probably knew which prince it was) but now you could see the extra effort they were putting, they even offer to empty the restaurant so they could have a quiet dinner, but the prince refused since he didn''t want to increase his bad reputation.


    "Wow, looks like they do treat you like royalty here"(Aria)


    "Yeah, unlike some people who even tried to kill royalty"(prince) Glaring at aria


    "Don''t be over dramatic, I even got to wear this annoying thing thanks to that, and I only wanted to punish you for cheating"(Aria) shrugging


    "I.DIDN''T.CHEAT you just suck"(prince) also shrugging at the end


    It was aria''s time to glare at the prince, but they were interrupted by the waiter asking what they wanted to eat, so the 2 calm down and all of them made an order.


    The rest of the lunch they chatted about different things like how was the visit to the vet or what the prince did at the police station(he lied) and went they all finish, the prince left 2 gold coins and went to the carriage with the rest. Well, that was the idea, but a crowd formed outside of the restaurant, all of them watching the prince get outside and go inside the carriage.


    The prince thought they would make a riot and was a little afraid, but maybe because lina was there with the cat or no instigator was around, all the did was watch


    "Why so many people were looking at us?"(lina)


    "They were shock by your cuteness"(prince) lied with a charming smile


    This made Lina blush and the other girls and the cat giving the prince a shock expression that looked like they were saying "who are you? what did you do with the prince?"


    hey I can say nice things from time to time(prince)A little offended by their faces


    They went to the palace without any incidents and managed to arrive safely there. Inside the duke took Susan away to talk to her a bit and her fianc¨¦ question him about his activities, but after telling the servant that a detective should arrive tomorrow to question the staff, he finally have time to relax, probably the first time since the explosion.


    He spent the rest of the day lazing around, something he really missed and couldn''t wait to get away from his responsibilities and laze around until old age. But if the prince wanted to be honest with himself, he reaaalllyyy needed a way to convince the people he was innocent or he wouldn''t get there. His best hope was that tomorrow investigation found a culprit to bring to justice, but he really should start the preparations for plan B and C just in case


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 Extra Chapter - The noble magician part 2

    8 days before the explosion - small house


    Since her rescue by the stranger, nobody bullied her anymore since they were afraid of her. Since she managed to escape from that hopeless situation without a scrap, all kind of rumors started to go all around the university, they went from her being a secret assassin to running a criminal organisation in the shadows.


    Susan was happy with this development since she could finally be left alone,and even if the guy had being kind of an a*s hole, she was thanks full for what he did. Sadly,even after searching for every magician in the university and even in town, he never found him.


    After looking for him for some time without success,she give up and focused on her study''s, and finally after years of working hard, she carry out what her mother demanded of her.


    "I am so proud of you Susan, tomorrow you are finally going to become one of the duke''s legitimate daughters"(mother)


    "Thank you mother"(Susan)


    "And don''t forget to do ANYTHING he ask of you, you don''t want to waste all that effort, right?"(mother)


    "Of course mother"(Susan)


    Susan had done research on the duke over the years, and she knew what to expect. The hardest part was to get his attention since he had a lot of bastards and he would only adopt the ones that catch his interest, but even if you got selected, there were more test you need to pass. The test changed from bastard to bastard and it could be one assignment or multiple, but the better you did, the more chances you could get a good place, and the better your family would get "supported"(bribed)


    "Let''s get you ready to meet your father, we don''t want to disappoint him"(mother)


    And for the next 3 hours, her mother made her try all kind of dressed, carefully apply her make up and took care of her hair while constantly nagging on what she should and shouldn''t do no matter what(she also implied that she can''t fail no matter what, period)


    2 days before the explosion - Party


    This party had being organised by the duke to celebrate the upcoming ceremony of the sun god the day after tomorrow and was the introduction party of Susan to the noble world. She had being trained by her mother and even some teachers on how to behave in such party''s so it wasn''t to hard for her, the only problem would be the test.


    when she finally met her father a couple of day''s ago, the duke was exactly as she heard, a pig in fine cloths. He asked her all kind of questions from how old she was to how "committed" she was to the family. Of course she answer all his questions and assure him that she was completely committed to the family, and for the looks of it, he had being pleased with her answers.


    He gave her a "task" as he called that according to him was of the up must importance. She had being tasked with the important mission of getting into the prince Jorge room no matter what.


    According to him, it shouldn''t be to difficult for her to do it with her looks and talent in magic. Since Jorge attended EVERY party in the empire, he would show up no matter what, and since he liked to hunt for new prey (especially the pretty ones) the duke was sure he would approach her.


    The duke told her that a daughter of him should be able to carry out something so simple easily and that he would be REALLY disappointed on her if she fail. Susan told him that she wouldn''t fail no matter what and to rest assure. The duke was pleased with her answer and left after giving her the invitation to the party, a dress and some "pocket change"(1000g, more money than she had ever seeing)


    On the party, the duke introduce her to all kind of people and she had being asked all kind of questions(interrogation to be exact) like where she had being all this time, what could she do, etc. Her objective arrived late to the party but was still introduced by the duke. Jorge kissed her hand and said a charming thing that make her blush but left her alone after that and started to chat with different people.


    She did get kind of nervous since it looked like Jorge was ignoring her, but the duke was normal, so she keep her cool


    and keep a smile while "enjoying" the party.


    It was after the duke left her and she was resting on a char after some waltz that Jorge approach her again


    "Me and some of the nobles are going to a more "fun" party, we would love if you come so we can get to know you better"(Jorge)


    She knew that she would go the moment he made the offer, but she couldn''t make it look like she was too exited or she would look "easy"


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon."Just to be sure, where is it and how many boys and girl are going and for what?"(Susan)


    "Don''t worry, we will be around 15 boys and 15 girls in a Manor near the palace, we will drink and have some party games"(Jorge)


    "Sure, but I can leave if I see something i don''t like right?(Susan)


    "Of course, follow me"(Jorge)


    Her mother thought Susan many tips to catch a man lust and heart, in this case, if she played hard to get but approachable, she should catch his interest.


    She went with some nobles in a different carriage than Jorge, but she still tried to be sociable without giving in with the advances of the guys, even when they arrived to the Manor.


    They have a lot of alcohol and some party magic items, so they play and drank until sunrise. She took advantage of her healing magic and applied minor desintoxication magic on herself when she felt too light headed and manage to convince most of the nobles to drink until they pass out.


    In the end only 3 girls and 2 guys were left(including her and jorge)and all of them end up quite drunk. Since she was the only one relative sober, she started to make her play. First she approached one of the two blond girls still awake(both of them had the liver of a oax) and propose to her a threesome with the prince in his room. The girl had neing delighted with the idea so they approach Jorge and asked him if he could "show" them his room in the palace.


    Jorge gladly agreed to the idea of "showing his room and with the help of Susan, she and the two drunks enter the palace(the guards even smiled at them) and Jorge took them to his room.


    As soon as Jorge open the door


    "Why don''t you bring some snacks and alcohol while we prepare, I am sure we will get really  hungry in a while"(Susan)


    "anything for a lady"(Jorge)trying to bow while smiling to the girls


    Jorge went to what Susan suppose was the kitchen and took the blond girl inside and casted a sleeping spell on her while laying her on the bed


    She made sure where the wardrobe was and while casting a small ice spell on the floor, she move it thanks to the extra strange her inner mana gave her without noise. Susan casted a big ice blade in the form of a half circle and pressed the blade to the wall that in theory should allow to remove a block of the wall.


    She used low-level telekinesis(a skill any mage can learn if they practice enough) to move the block and enter the adjacent room and confirming there was a wardrobe on the other side. The duke informed her that it was suppose to be empty since Rebbeca was in the middle off an experiment in the university and that the two room were a mirror of each other except for the bed(Jorge was a doble).


    She was getting out of the hole went she started to hear the talk between Jorge and some one else, so she quickly put the block into the wall and laid on the bed while pretending to be sleep. She knew she didn''t have time to move the wardrobe so all she could do was pray the other guy went away and that she could manage to cast a sleeping spell or fool Jorge.


    "...eah, here it''s your room, take care jorge"(???)


    "Take care little bro, unless you wanna have some fun"(Jorge)


    Please no please no please no(Susan) prayed to the gods


    "Naa, they look to wasted to be fun, see ya later"(Prince?)


    After the prince left, Jorge closed the door and went to the bed where the 2 girls were sleeping(well 1 yes, the other pretended), and fall completely sleep with them. Susan slowly move away from him, cast a sleeping spell just in case, and moved the wardrobe so no one notice what she did to the wall.


    She wished good night to the two of them and left the palace from where she came from. The guards let her go without any problems, so she decided to go to the duke and report that the important "task" was a success and no one should know she did it. She didn''t know why she had to do it and she definitely didn''t enjoy it, but she would keep doing works for the duke for her and her family, she worked to hard to let it all go to waste.


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 Chapter 21: Questioning

    6 days after the explosion ¨C The palace


    The prince was happily sleeping in his room when someone knocked on the door


    ¡°Sir wake up¡±(servant)


    ¡°WHY!!¡±(prince) asked really annoyed for the sudden wake up


    ¡°The detective arrive and wants to speak with you¡±(servant)


    ¡± Can¡¯t he just question the staff and leave me alone??¡±(prince)


    ¡°She said it¡¯s important¡±(servant)


    She?(prince)


    ¡°Fine, give me a minute¡±(prince) got up and dressed with a little hope that at least she may be cute


    ¡°Lead the way¡±(Prince)after opening the door and finding his ¡°favorite¡± buttler


    He follow the servan to one of the private rooms of the palace and found a woman waiting for him. She looked young and had a nice body in prince opinion but since she was at least 23 and the prince wasn¡¯t into older womans(they had at least an 8 year gap) he probably wouldn¡¯t go the extra mile to impress her.


    ¡°Hi!I am prince Julian, you must be the detective I presume¡±(prince)closing the door behind and extending his hand for a hand shake


    ¡°Detective Rayle at your servise¡±(Detective) shaking the prince hand


    ¡°so, why did you call me?¡±(prince)


    ¡°well, I have being informed of the delicate situation this case involves, but since it¡¯s a highly classified and important one, I want to make sure I have all the facts right and ask you some questions¡±(detective)


    ¡°Go ahead¡±(prince)


    ¡°Maria Stenfell was found dead in an alley naked and with her throat cut, her mother filed a missing complain and was found later when they checked the jona doe¡¯s. Before a proper investigation of her dead even started, you show up and told the chief of police that you were looking for a girl with her throat cut that died recently and they told you about this girl, right?¡±(Detective)


    ¡°Right¡±(prince)


    ¡°You then told them that she worked at the palace and that you talked to a ¡°guy¡± that saw her murder¡­¡±(Detective)


    ¡°Yes?¡±(prince) didn¡¯t like the ¡°guy¡± sound


    ¡°Can i talk to that ¡°guy¡±, I have a couple of questions¡±(Detective)


    ¡°Sorry, he left town in fear of his life¡±(prince)


    ¡°Right¡­ well he told you 3 bold guys  killed her and stole her stuff?¡±(detective)


    ¡°nonono, 3 bold guys were there to grab the stuff she stole from the palace and one of them killed her after she handed the stuff¡±(Prince)


    ¡°Then she stole some thing, tried to sell it to them and they killed her to get it?¡±(detective)


    ¡°No, she had being hired by someone to steal every thing important from my sister room, hand it to a guard to get it outside and deliver the stuff to them¡±


    ¡°So you are saying they killed her to cover it up?¡±(Detective)


    ¡°No idea but it is a good guess¡±(prince)


    ¡°Well, lets just say all you said is true, what do you expect me to do¡±(Detective)


    I get the feeling that she either don¡¯t belive me or think I did it(prince) a little paranoid


    ¡°Lets stop the bullshit, I am not in the mood to play around, do you think I am lying or do you think I did it?¡±(prince)


    ¡°Calm down calm down, It just sound a little far-fetched and you are a teenage prince, not a detective. I was order by my superior to come and do whatever you think is necessary but don¡¯t expect me to believe a tale that could have come from a book without any evidence to prove it¡±(Detective)


    The prince almost went into a rampage, all that was happening was something that would go to the history books, of course it wouldn¡¯t be strange that something like this to happen. Well, he did manage to call himself since people pissing him off was almost a daily occurrence thanks to being constantly treated like sh*t for not accomplishing their expectations.


    ¡°Fine, don¡¯t believe me. It¡¯s probably better that way since you are only supposed to know is how she died and that she worked here ¡°(Prince) Trying to stay calm


    ¡°that was what I am going to do¡±(Detective)


    He thought of showing the hole in the wall or Rebbeca¡¯s room but she probably would think that he did it to make his story more believable. He could also say that it may had relation with the explosion, but she would said he was paranoid.


    Well there was also the option that she thinks he killed her, so telling her more theory¡¯s and useless prove wouldn¡¯t work


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go¡±(prince)made up his mind


    ¡°Uh?where?¡±(detective)


    ¡°To question the staff of course¡±(prince)


    ¡°You are coming?¡±(detective)


    ¡°Well, since you don¡¯t believe a thing I said since I am not a detective, I can¡¯t just leave without seeing of ¡°such a great detective¡± in action,right?¡±(prince) trying to annoy her with a remarkable success


    ¡°Fine, just don¡¯t get in the way¡±(Detective)


    When they went outside the room, the prince found Susan waiting for him


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±(prince)


    ¡°Since you will be looking for a culprit in the palace, I thought it was best if I stayed near the detective if someone attack her since I am the only one that knows what she really is doing here¡±(Susan)


    good idea(prince) surprised at her initiative


    What she said make sence since anyone else wouldn¡¯t be properly informed and wouldn¡¯t be on guard if something happened. Besides, since he was also going, it made sense to have one of the bodyguards near him


    ¡°Ok let¡¯s go¡±(prince)


    The detective did a standard procedure, trying to find out how she behave at work, who were her friends, did she had any enemy¡¯s or people she didn¡¯t get along, what she normally did and what she did that day, who saw her in what moment, and who was and who wasn¡¯t working that day. Some of the staff asked why the prince was there, but she told tem it was to make sure every one answer properly to help the investigation


    After talking with a few of them They find out that she was in good terms with every one but wasn¡¯t specially close with any one. She talked and chitchat a lot and got along with every one, but she wasn¡¯t the type to go out with the rest of the maids since she said she needed the money for her family and couldn¡¯t go out


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Her job was cleaning, and one of her jobs was cleaning Jorge room. That day she cleaned Jorge room like usual and took a big garbage bag from there. It wasn¡¯t a strange sigh since Prince Jorge Usually have ¡°private party¡¯s¡± in his room, and it was  a mess after. Nobody pay particular attention to what she did with it.


    Pity, if she had talked with one of the guards, we may had know who did she handed the bag(prince)


    ¡°see, I told you she stole stuff from my sister room¡±(prince) after they finish the questioning of some of the staff with a smug smile


    ¡°That only proves she dispose of a lot of garbage from your brother room like always¡±(Detective) dismissing it


    ¡°The two rooms are next to each other and there is a hole in within¡±(prince)


    ¡± Still not buying it, how did she got the stuff outside if she did it?¡±(Detective)


    ¡°I told you, a guard did it¡±(Prince)annoyed


    ¡°And how would a guard take a bag full of stuff outside the castle without being notice??¡±(Detective)


    ¡°I.don¡¯t.know thats why I have you here ¡°detective¡± ¡°(prince)pointing at her


    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up, i can¡¯t solve an imaginary case¡±(detective) shrugging


    They keep interrogating the maids and butlers but got little else beside what they already knew.


    In the proses they came across with Aria, but she didn¡¯t follow the prince since it was pointless to have 2 bodyguards in the palace so she went to train in the training room and told them to look for her there if they need her. They also came across Lina and Elena, and the prince managed to convince Lina that a murder investigation wasn¡¯t something 5 year old should see. Elena did stayed with them since she complained that every time he saw the prince, he was with a new girl and the prince didn¡¯t want to anger her more.


    When they finish with the maids and butlers, they started to question the guards. They didn¡¯t know much more and it looked like that would be all they would get until they talked to one of the guards that worked near the garbage disposal.


    ¡°ah yes, I saw her with a big garbage bag that day. She said a few words to Julius and left the bag with the rest¡±(Guard)


    ¡°Julius?¡±(detective)


    ¡°The other guard I usually work with¡±(guard)


    ¡°Ah, where is he?¡±(detective)


    ¡°in his usual shift near the garbage disposal, I work 3 out of 5 days there and work 2 with him¡±(guard)


    they left to look for Julius and see what he had to say. They found 2 guards there and didn¡¯t know who was Julius so


    ¡°Which is julius¡±(Detective)


    ¡°That would be me ma¡¯an¡±(julius) raised his hand


    ¡°We are looking into the death of the maid Maria Stenfell. We heard that you talked to her briefly the day of her dead when she came to take out the trash¡±(Detective)


    ¡°She is dead?how did it happen?¡±(Julius)turning a little pale


    ¡°Someone cut her throat and left her naked on the street¡±(detective) told the harsh truth


    She usually wouldn¡¯t give so much detail but he WAS acting suspicious, and telling him facts may cause a reaction, slip or even a confession if she was lucky.


    ¡°What did you talk about?¡±(detective)


    ¡°We never talk!¡±(Julius)


    ¡°i just told you someone saw you talking, what did you talk about¡±(Detective)


    ¡°We didn¡¯t do anything!!!!¡±(Juius)panicking and looking around him


    The Prince saw Susan move and start gathering mana but before she could do something, julius move at lighting speed(Something easily done with inner mana)punched her in the stomach and the chin which knock her out completely. The prince reacted by grabbing some of the powder he always carried in his pocket but before he could throw it, Julius went behind Elena and grabbed her by the neck.


    "nobody moves"(Julius) said while taking a  knife  and pointing it to Elena heart


    The prince detective and guard stood there trying to NOT do sudden movements that would alert Julius.


    "Calm down, no need to panic"(detective)


    "SHUT UP!!! let me think!"(Julius) screamed


    They waited for him to say something but all they could hear was curses under his breath and that he was going to die


    "Look, if you let her go, I promise I won''t let any harm come to you"(prince)


    "AN INCOMPETENT PIECE OF GARBAGE LIKE YOU CAN''T DO SH*T WITHPUT HIS FAMILY SO SHUT UP"(Julius)


    If stares could kill, Julius was sure that he would be dead because the look the prince gave him was enough to make his blood run cold and awake from his panic state


    "Let.her.go"(prince)


    Julius could see now that he really screw up, the prince was deadly serious now and he knew he was dead if he didn''t surrender or make a move soon.


    He had 2 choices surrender or gamble


    "She is yours"(Julius) said while stabbing her and running away with all his might


    The prince managed to catch Elena and saw her bleed in his arms


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    Happy aprils fool


    Note:thx ali56ha</a> and FrankyStein</a>  for pointing the mistakes

 Extra chapter - The noble Magician part 3

    2 days after the explosion - Private Manor


    Susan was summon in the afternoon to go to the duke residence for the first time since she went to Jorge room. She guessed that it was for either get a  reward for her job, punishment or a new one (It was possible it was all 3 at the same time)


    A Butler took her to a room and the duke was waiting for her there. He was sitting on a chair while drinking wine and with a gesture, he signal a chair for her to sit.


    "Good  evening father"(susan) didn''t like to call this pig his father but he insisted


    "Good evening Susan, happy to see you here today"(Duke) smiling at her


    Well, at least it looks I didn''t screw up the test(Susan)a little more relaxed


    "Me too, thank you for inviting me"(Susan)


    "I am glad to do it, after the exemplary work you did the other day you even surpassed my expectations. Not only did you carry out the work like I asked, no one saw you do it or even realised you were there. All the nobles on the party where delighted with you and even in the private party you went, they thought you went home and the only one that knew is missing right now. Even the guards took you as just one of Jorge girls"(Duke)


    Susan kind of wanted to ask about Jorge missing part, since his timing was to perfect to be a coincidence, but she didn''t dare to ask in case she got him angry at her. Curiosity wasn''t worth the risk


    "I was lucky, they all drank too much and I just took opportunity of it"(Susan)


    "No need to be modest, you did your task and you did it perfectly, showing me your level of commitment to the family. That''s why I have a new and more rewarding one for both of us. I expect a level of commitment even higher than before, and if you are lucky you may even get set for life after it"(Duke)


    This made Susan a little exited, she may get the last task or even the reward of her efforts now


    "Of course father, I will always do my best if it is for the family"(Susan) play the kiss a-s card


    "Tomorrow I will introduce you to the prince Julian as his new body guard, I want to keep you safe while informing me of every thing he does"(Duke)


    "Yes Father"(Susan) a little confused


    She knew about the prince infamy like all the kingdom so he wondered for a second why he would need a body guard, why would the duke present one and why her but after thinking for a second she understood why. Not only was he the only one left in the royal family, he was in danger and he needed protection. Besides having someone telling the duke his every move would be useful for him


    "Meet me here tomorrow and we will go see the prince together. I left some money for expenses and cloth for you to wear, make sure to have a completely different look than in the party so the guards don''t recognise you"(Duke)


    She say good bye while bowing and got out of the room. A maid handed her in a bag the cloth and money and she left the mansion.  When she looked inside the bag in her home, she found cloth a magician would wear and 600 gold coins. She told her new job to her mother and she had being delighted at the news and reminding her that she can''t fail no matter what. Her mother also told her that she would be delighted if she got a grand children from the prince(and the duke would be too probably)


    Susan loved her mother (even if she nagged a lot) but she wasn''t planning on following her foot steps if she could help it. She wanted to become great herself not her child, so she would do her work for the duke and get his approval, but as long as it wasn''t explicitly require she wouldn''t take that road


    3 days after the explosion - The palace


    She had being introduce to the prince the next day and after some negotiation, she became the prince as a body guard as long as she didn''t annoy him. She was also introduce too his niece fianc¨¦ and other body guard, but she really didn''t care much. Her impression of nobles wasn''t great thanks to the university and even the party(since they acted like they were awesome when all they did was eat drink and f*ck)so when she heard she had to spend her time with 3 pampered girls the next day, she wasn''t trilled, but thanks to years of practice of not showing her expressions, nobody notice.


    4 days after the explosion - Street


    She was shopping with the other girls. They were looking for cloth and accessories(and in the little girl case dolls) and talking a lot. They tried to talk to her too, but she always gave short and pretty basic answers  so they give up. Susan spend most of her time trying to look for sales and bargains since  didn''t want to spend too much.


    It was when they were walking on the street that she saw a guy she tought she recognised, the guy that save her from the rape and took all her money. She didn''t know if she wanted to thank him or punch him, but before she could chose what to do,they passed each other.


    Since she didn''t want this opportunity to slip, she turned around and quickly grabbed his shoulder to try to make him turn and at least talk with him


    "Excuse me sir"(susan)


    When susan stopped and the other girls hear her talk but not near them, they also turn around and tried to see what was going on


    "What is wrong susan"(aria) put her hand in her sword as a precaution


    "I think I know this man so I wanted to ask some questions"(Susan) responded, with a look of anticipation on her face


    But strangely, the guy didn''t turn around


    "Now that you mention, he looks familiar, I wonder why"(Elena)


    "Why Isn''t he turning around?"(Lina) and started to grab her personal maid a little worried


    "Excuse lady but I have not interest on what you are selling"(Rescuer) while grabbing her hand and taking it off his shoulder without turning


    As soon as he let go of her hand, he started to walk faster but without running yet, or it would end up in a chase


    "Wait a second"(Susan) started to chase him, wondering why was he trying to escape


    "Lets follow them, I got curious"(Lina)


    The other 3 girls nodded and the 4 started to follow them(lina in her maid shoulders)


    "Wait pease"(Susan)while running after him


    "Sorry I am a busy person"(rescuer) He was practically running while completely ignoring Susan, making her a little mad


    In the end, even in a heated chase that the other 3 girls helped, herrescuer got away, and with out a clue of who he was or why he was so adamant on getting away


    "So why did you stop him before"(Elena) asked Susan when they gave up on the chase


    "I think he was someone who helped me in the pass and screw me over at the same time"(Susan) gave an honest answer


    "Really? I thought it was because he looked like the prince"(Elena)


    "He does?are you sure? "(Susan)Trying to picture the prince, she really didn''t pay much attention to his looks


    "It was just a felling, forget about it"(Elena) trying to change the subjects, she didn''t want to look like she saw the prince every where she went


    "Ok"(Susan) Still trying to remember if there was a resemblance


    They all returned to the castle after shopping a little more and found out the prince was missing when they arrived. It seems they searched all over the castle and couldn''t find him. She helped with the search reluctantly but in the end Elena told the staff that she found him drunk in one of the secret passage and he was now sleeping in his room.


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    What a pain in the a*s, at least tell someone if you are going to disappear for a couple of hours(Susan) complained inside, but she didn''t have a bad time that day


    5 days after the explosion - The palace


    She had breakfast with everybody and they were discussing what they did the day before. She remember what Elena said about looking similar and she had to admit they had some similarities, she didn''t manage to see his face in detail but the hair and body build was similar. Still, his hair and body build was relative common and it didn''t make sence that the guy that help her 2 years ago would be the prince, why would the prince be in that part of town and why dress like a magician.


    In the end she dismissed the thought and keep eating her breakfast happily(It was really good) when the prince started to talk about Rebbecas room and something about checking out some current or something.


    "Why waste our time searching for something pointless in an empty room?"(Susan) Really nervous that they might find the hole


    "why not? something you don''t like?"(prince)Insisted


    "Well...."what do i sayyyyyyyy(susan)


    This got the attention of all the girls, since they almost never saw her react to something


    "come on tell us tell us"(Lina) gave her puppy eyes


    "yeah tell us"(Aria) made the same puppy face


    "I don''t want to say it"(susan) trying to buy time


    "pleaseeeee"(lina)With begging eyes


    "pretty pleaseeeeeee"(Aria)joining Lina in the begging


    sh*t sh*t shi*t(Susan)thinking at full capacity how to get out of this one


    "I am afraid of ghosts"(Susan)said the first good reason she could think


    "EHH!!!!"(shouts x6)


    ghost? really? good job mind(susan) cursed her stupidity


    "Rebbeca was famous for her strange experiments, I am sure if there is a ghost in this Palace, it is there, and who knows what kind of traps are there?"(Susan) glad that at least could make up a good follow up


    "IIII am suhuure theere arre no ggghost there, rright?"(Aria) Tattering her teeth while looking at the prince


    "mmm, Susan has a point, why don''t you check Aria, look for every inch of the room"(prince)smiling a little


    "WHYYY ME!!!!"(Aria)


    "You are the knight, It''s your duty to protect the citizens from any danger, including the supernatural"(prince)


    "Please, can''t someone else do it?"(aria)


    "sor.."(prince)"I will do it"(Susan) cut the prince off before he finish


    If she played her cards right, she could make it look like she searched all the room while forgetting to check the part with the hole


    "uh, weren''t you afraid?"(prince)


    "I must conquer my fears, so I want to take this chance to face them"(Susan)


    "Fine, but make sure to check the wall and be careful of the traps and you aria protect Lina, she looks scare enough with all that ghost story''s"(Prince)


    The prince stayed to talk to Elena, so she went with the maid lina and aria to Rebbeca''s room. The 3 of them stayed outside afraid of the ghost so she went inside and moved all the furniture except for the wardrobe. She stayed a few minutes inside to make it look like she searched throughly and went outside and told them she didn''t find anything inside.


    After a few minutes the prince came with Elena and asked how the search went. She told him she didn''t foun anything inside and he asked what a bout the wardrobe. She almost panic but managed to say an excuse but strangely the prince didn''t give up on the search and moved the wardrobe. Not only did he move it and found the hole, he open it and told every one it was to steal the things in Rebbeca''s room(something even she didn''t know).


    Susan tried to find out what he knew but he played dumb and instead of telling someone in the staff to start an investigation he told every one he was going to the magic university.


    Except for Elena, they all went to the university and on the way, Susan tried to find out why the prince expended so much time there(something the duke told her to found out) but he dismissed that question too


    Strange, he is more secretive than I though he would be(Susan) a little annoyed that it was hard to get information out of him


    In the end she waited inside the carriage with the maid while Aria stayed outside with the guard. When they got out Lina grabbed a cat and took it inside, and even Susan couldn''t help herself and stroked the cat


    In the end, they went to the police HQ and Susan with the prince went inside while the others went to the vet for the new cat. And she was really lucky she was there, since she found out really surprising things


    The prince went there to find a dead girl with her throat cut, and Susan didn''t understand why. Well at least she didn''t until she found out that not only he somehow talk with the guy that saw her getting killed, this girl was the one that used the hole she made and end up dead because of it.


    She didn''t know how did she manage to not completely flip out after that. Not only that girl was dead thanks to what she did, what if she was next?


    In the end she went in auto pilot until they arrived to the palace(thanks to her constant poker face, no one notice) but woke up when she saw the duke was waiting for her in the palace


    She follow him to a room and closed the door after going inside with him but waited for him to start talking


    "I heard that the prince was quite busy today, I want you to tell me every thing he did"(Duke)


    Susan had being surprised at his directness and thought for a second what to do. In the end she told him everything he did today, from  the wall to going to the morgue. She didn''t know how could he possible got all that information, specially from a witness but she did start suspect a little about the rescuer she saw the day before. She didn''t told him about her theory but she did tell him every thing else.


    "Good good, you did a good job hearing all that information. Luckily I heard someone was going to investigate the palace and I manage to make sure it is a novice detective. Tomorrow I want you to follow the detective around and make sure noting comes out of the investigation, if they find the guard or any other culprit kill it or let it escape, I will take care of the rest"(Duke)


    "Yes father"(Susan)with a hundred questions and problems in her head


    Will she get taken care off later, was his father a traitor to the country, how far must she go until she had done enough for him and how will she end up after all this. She knew that it wasn''t going to be easy since the beginning, but she never expected this and she knew it would only get worse


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 Extra chapter - Female Knight Part 2

    6 days after the explosion ¨C The palace


    Arias mood had improved since she had being made a slave by the "cheating" prince. At the beginning she was in a state of utter shock since not only was she beaten twice by the greatest failure of the royal family, something impossible to accept as someone who searched for the greatest level of strength.


    It was like being a championship chess player and being suddenly beaten by a beginner 10 years old that never played before. And because of that, for the safety of her sanity, she brainwashed herself into believing that the prince only won because he cheated(it also helped that she was a muscle brain idiot)


    Her becoming his slave also didn''t help to her mood, since not only have she being beaten by a cheater, she now was force to become his slave for an unknown amount of time and she couldn''t relay in anyone to get her out of it. It was thanks to his fianc¨¦ that constantly beat him and his cute niece that was  a joy to spent time with that she could bear the job. As for Susan, it helped to have another person to shear the burden of guarding the cheater, but since Susan didn''t say much, Aria didn''t pay much attention to her.


    When she was order to become the prince body guard, the general gave her specific instructions to not only make sure that the prince was safe, but to also to tell him of any suspicious activities that happen around him, since he wanted to know if someone was plotting against him preferable before they acted. Sadly, Aria wasn''t skillful in reading people or dealing with the common back stabbing of the noble world, since all she did was train all day and night with out interacting with the politics of the noble world.


    In the end, on her 4 day of work as a bodyguard she was already skipping. So far she didn''t see any suspicious activities or danger to the prince life, so when she heard that the prince was going to spend all day going around the mansion for a routine investigation, she chose to spend her time training instead of pointlessly follow him around a complete safe place when he already had a body guard following him.


    Of course she asked the prince if she could go train instead of demanding it since she still knew it wasn''t really up to her if the prince insisted, but since the prince didn''t care, he allow her to skip work. She went away before the prince change his mind and started her normal training.


    Even at the start of her body guard job, she did her regular training every day to keep her sense sharp and to not dull her skills, but since she needed to guard the prince, she didn''t have the time to further develop her own ability, something she would try to do every second of free time she had.


    Late in the evening when she was taking a break she heard a commotion starting. Aria saw through a window that some guards were chasing after one guard around the palace, and since she thought it was strange, she chose to follow them and see what was going on.


    She jumped from the window and started to follow them. Since she wasn''t to far behind one of the slower guards, she manage to catch up to him and ask


    "Whats going on?"(Aria)talking while running


    "He stabbed the prince fianc¨¦ on the heart and we are trying to catch him before he run away"(guard) A little surprised for the sudden appearance but still answering


    Aria was shock at the sudden information and after processing it, she got really mad at the guy and started to sprint at full speed. She forgot to ask if she was ok, but right now in her mind was to catch the guy that hurt or even kill one of the few people who treated her nicely here.


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    The speed of her sprint was inhuman, even for a warrior, but if you consider she was an expert, with years of constant training and in a mad rage, it was understandable. Still, all the guards that saw her run were stun for a second not only for her speed, but the crazy eye she was giving(they even felt fear down their spine and send a small pry for the poor soul that piss her off)


    The criminal was near the gate when he heard the noise Aria sprint was making and when he turned his head and saw a demons running at full speed in his direction, he use all his inner mana to go at his maximum speed, even if he wouldn''t be able to move after 10 minutes.


    He did manage to slip up the guards at the gate and reach the city, but the demon was right behind him so he did his best to slip in to the crowd. sadly for him, Aria jumped to a building and as soon as she saw him, she jumped again and landed in front of him. Before he could do something she just kick him in the b*ll, killing all his future descendants for eternity and beyond....


    Aria didn''t want to kill him yet, she wanted to make sure he suffered for what he did, and they probably  needed to ask him a couple of questions, so she broke both his legs and started to carry him back to the castle by grabbing the back of his neck and dragging him thought the ground.


    Every one around her was utterly shock of her brutality, but no one dare to say a word and even moving aside to let her pass.


    She carry the criminal all the way back and handed him to some guards so they can do whatever they need to do with him. The guards were a little afraid of her, but took the criminal gladly, well at least they did until he took a look at him. One of them kept looking at the body while the otehr went to talk to aria


    "Did you had to be so rough on him?"(Guard b)


    "HE STABBED ELENA, I SAY HE GOT AWAY WITH TOO LITTLE"(Aria) While glaring at him


    "Sorry sorry, it was just a comment"(guard b)afraid of her rage, especially after what he saw her do


    "-sigh- after what he did, he can''t complain for that level of injury"(Aria)shurgging but still glaring at the guard


    "Still, It would have being better if you catch him alive at least"(Guard b) shaking his head in disapointment


    "WHAT!!!"(Aria) Couldn''t belive what she just heard


    She moed aside the guard and went to take a closer inspection at the body. The guard inspecting the body also moved to let her have a look and she found out that his throat had being cut and his face was purple, meaning that even posing had being applied. Someone really wanted this guy dead.


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 Extra Chapter - Fiance

    6 days after the explosion - The palace


    Elena was resting in her room she shared with Aria. Well, if she wanted to, she could have an individual room to herself since there were enough empty rooms in the palace, but after she saw the mess she was the first day, she didn''t have the heart to leave her alone in the room and it was kind of hard to leave her after. Beside, it not like she was having a bad time there, since at least the girl was fun to spend time with as long as she wasn''t depressed or angry at something.


    The room had two beds, one to the left where Aria sleep and Elena''s bed to the right. They put their stuff near their own beds, dividing the room in two half. Elena''s half had mostly cloth and some personal items while Aria''s side had her armor, some training cloth and surprisingly a doll(it turns out she couldn''t sleep without it).


    Elena was alone in the room since Aria woke up early to train, like she did every morning, and Elena was thinking about everything that has happen the last few days.


    It had being a mess from the start. She never believe it that the prince would get the throne(and every one else too) so she didn''t find it strange that she could get to be a prince fianc¨¦. And if she had to be honest with herself, she knew she liked the prince so she was happy when she got to be his fianc¨¦, and she didn''t mind never becoming queen.


    But even if she liked the prince, she couldn''t stand the way he acted. It was ok to give up the throne since the competition was great, but it''s a different thing to give up on life. He took every opportunity he could get to skip lessons and events he found annoying, he spend most of his time reading books or experimenting ways to fail at alchemy(It was a public secret he did it on purpose)and she even found out 2 days ago he could sneak to town and he probably did it a lot. She also knew that his plan in life was to leach on his family money for the rest of his life, and maybe become a state governor and live of the taxed from the citizens


    And to make it all worst, his actions didn''t improve after becoming crown prince. He was still trying his best to scape work, delegating most of it to the 3 advisors of the crown(duke,general and arch mage),expending most of his time outside and even sneaking into town to drink and do who knows what else. But what probably anger her the most was that it almost look like he was building a harem, almost every day a new girl was follow him around. She new it wasn''t his fault(probably) and none of the girls really like him(only his niece but not in a romantic way) but all this has started to build a lot of stress on her mind.


    She thought on apologising a couple of times for the constant mistreatment, but his stubborn personality(and hers) and his constant smugness make it really hard, and not changing one bit, no matter how much she insisted, didn''t help also. So instead of trying to change him, something that had gone unsuccessfully for the last 8 years, she always end up taking the frustrations the prince gave her back to him.


    She stayed in bed for a while and thought what she should do now. She couldn''t let the prince do whatever he wanted like always, but even if she knew what he shouldn''t do, she didn''t know what he should do. She thought he should at least try to take care of the country instead going around doing nothing and even if someone from the royal family show up, ruling the country for a while should help him grow up.


    For now she decided to follow him around and make sure he at least don''t escape his responsibilities and took advantage of his power to do whatever he wanted.


    She got up and went to have breakfast a little later than usual, but the staff wouldn''t mind really. The activity in the palace was normal, with the maids butlers and guards going around and doing their jobs like every day and didn''t change too much since the explosion. There were some extra guards the duke lend from his state and the maids and butlers had less work, but the routine didn''t change much


    In the table she only found Lina and her maid already eating their breakfast and after saying good morning she sat with them. She even find out he cat was eating under the table


    "So how are Lina? Every one treating you alright?"(Elena)


    "Yes! every one have being really nice and the maids give me  candy and I got a cat and and..."(Lina) answer in excitement


    This made both Elena and the maid smile, since they where worried that she might be sad because of her father, but since she was acting cheerfully, this lift a weight in their hearts. It was possible it was an act, but at least they would keep trying to make her happy


    "So how is the cat?did you give him a name?"(Elena)


    "He is really nice, he let me pet him and he usually follow me around so I name him sir Lancelot"(Lina)answer with a smile


    "Oh, a knightly name, did you came up with it?"(Elena)


    "No, Aria recommended to me and I like it"(Lina)


    Elena wasn''t surprised in Arias choise, it was a common cat name(she didn''t know why) and the knight Lancelot was a famous kids story about a knight that got famous in beating all kind of enemy''s with his lance and since his name was Lancelot it was a pun kids enjoyed,


    They kept talking about the cats and other things and when they all finish, they left the table and started to walk around. It was later that they found out that the prince was going around interrogating the staff about a dead maid. They got curious and searched for the prince.They found him walking around with Susan and a new girl


    ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!(Elena) almost went into a frenzy


    She couldn''t believe that every single day he found a new girl, every single day.......


    Luckily for the pricne, years of knowing Elena warn him of his impending doom if he didn''t think fast.


    "Hey girls, let me introduce you to detective Rayle"(Prince)made a move


    "Nice to meet you"(detective) greeted the girls


    "And they are Elena, lina and her caretaker"(Prince)didn''t know the maid name so he skillfully dodge it


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    "Pleasure, to meet you"(Elena)missing her opportunity to rampage at the prince


    "Hi!"(Lina) a little shy


    "So, what are you doing?"(Elena) glaring a little at the prince


    "eh, it is a routine questioning about a person that use to work here"(Prince)


    "Why?"(Elena)


    "Well.. she was found dead and the detective here is trying to find useful information about the girl. I decided to help her in every way I can"(Prince)


    Elena find it strange for the prince to actually do extra work for the goodness of his heart


    "Really? you don''t mind if I help too right?"(Elena) threatening the prince with her tone a glare


    "No problem"(Prince)knew he couldn''t refuse


    "Can I come too?"(Lina)pleaded with her eyes


    After looking at her eyes,you could tell he couldn''t just say no, but a murder investigation wasn''t a place for a little girl, so he looked at the maid in hope that she could get him out of it


    "We can''t Lina, it is not something a little girl should get involved in"(Maid)


    "Fine"(Lina)disappointed


    In the end, the two of them left, and Elena stayed with the prince  and watched how the investigation proceeded.


    It was pretty boring since all of them keep repeating the same lines with little difference, so she stopped paying attention after a while and just kept following them. It was when a guard started to act estrange that she stop daydreaming and that''s when all went to sh*t.


    Before she could even react, Susan had being knock out and a dagger was pointing at her heart.  The guard was grabbing her from behind and ordering all not to move. She could see the worry in every one faces and the anger that the prince show, even she had being surprised at the blood lust he was emitting


    But in the end, she felt the knife enter her body, and she saw an unbelievable amount of blood pouring out of her wound. The last thing she saw was the prince holding her in his arms with a worried face. She didn''t know why, but she though it was funny seeing the prince like that.


    ?? days after the explosion - ?????????


    Elena woke up on a bed and could feel all her body hurting. As soon as she started to move, a maid saw it and got up with a happy expression


    "Elena you finally woke up, we where worried you would never wake up"(Maid) said cheerfully


    "What happen? where I am?"(Elena) with her voice a little rough


    "Wait a minute, I Will go fetch your father, he has being worried sick"(maid) left the room after saying that


    She tried to get up but it was too painful to move since every part of her body hurt so she decided to moved a bit at the time and the pain started to diminish as she keep moving. Her muscle weren''t atrophied so it hadn''t past a long time, but there was some friction with the movement, so she wasn''t at 100%


    Her father arrived after a few minutes and he had a big smile on his face and with his eyes a little teary


    "Elena!!!! I was so worried!"(Father) hugged her daughter


    "Father! what happen? where am I?"(Elena)


    "Are you ok? does it hurt anywhere?"(Father) worried for her daughter condition


    "I am fine,i just have muscle pain"(Elena)


    "Good good, the doctors said you should be ok, they just weren''t shure when you would wake up"(Father)


    "How long has it being since.... that"(Elena) didn''t want to mention the stabbing


    "Just a couple of days, don''t worry"(Father)


    "What happen to the... "guard" "(Elena)


    "He died while trying to escape"(father)answer with a tone like saying he deserved


    "And the prince?"Is he ok?"(Elena)


    "you don''t have to worry about the prince anymore"(Father)with a serious face


    "What do you mean"(Elena)


    "I cancel the engagement"(Father)


    "WHY!!??"(Elena)shouting


    "Because you almost died!!!"(father) elevating his tone but not yelling


    That made Elena flinch, and see the sad face in his father eyes, making her unable to argue back


    "Since the explosion, I have being harass by nobles to cancel the engagement, since all of them see a chance to have their daughters become queen. I didn''t do it because I wanted for you to be happy, but if you stay as his fianc¨¦, your life will be in constant danger.The prince failed once already and I can''t risk a second time, even if it is what you want"(father)


    "but...."(Elena)


    "I am sorry but you won''t see the prince again"(Father)said that and left her alone


    In the end, all Elena could do right now was cry, and that is what she did


    Note: I changed last chapter ending to make it simple to understant(basically she was draging his body throught the ground) and added an extra way of for fun


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 Chapter 22: Bad news

    6 days after the explosion - The palace


    Elena was bleeding to dead in the prince arms. He didn''t know what to do so he took his jacked as fast as he could and did his best to try to stop the bleeding with it. While keeping his jacked in the wound, he looked around trying to find someone who could help.


    He found the detective near him watching as the girl bleed without knowing what to do and the unconscious Susan. It looked like the guard chased after the criminal


    "Detective, wake the girl there right now!!"(prince)


    "but  s."(detective)


    "NOW!!"(prince) shouted at her


    The detective understood that it wasn''t the time to argue and started to shake the unconscious girl, trying to wake her up. Susan managed to open her eyes but wasn''t fully aware of what was going on since she was still a little shaken in the head thanks to the blow to the head


    "SUSAN, USE THE BEST HEALING MAGIC YOU KNOW TO ELENA RIGHT NOW, FAST!!!"(Prince) shouted as soon as she open her eyes


    Susan didn''t understand what was going but manage to do what she was order to do with out thinking too much, she could tell instinctive that it wasn''t a time to have any doubts, The prince calmed down a little when he saw her applying her magic and stared at the detective


    "Go get some help at the castle, and ask them to bring the best medics and medicine we got, order from the prince"(Prince)


    "Wh."(detective)


    "NOW!"(prince)


    The detective didn''t say another word and did what the prince told her. Meanwhile the prince kept pressuring the wound with his jacked while waiting for more people to come or for Susan to finish.


    Susan kept on healing Elena none stop even with her milt contusion pouring all her concentration and even using some of her inner mana. Normally, a mage didn''t need to use their inner mana since they specialize in modifying the mana around them and most of them didn''t have mana inside them, but someone who could also use inner mana had the possibility of adding some mana around them, increasing the power of the spell or casting one if there wasn''t mana around them.


    In this case, the castle was full of mana since they installed it near a huge mana vein, so there was plenty of mana around making it easy to cast a spell, but since using inner mana did increase the power(even if it was a tiny bit here) she did it to help Elena as much as she could.


    After casting a healing spell for a long time, she manage to close the wound and repair the damage inside her body to some extend but since she wasn''t an expert healer, she couldn''t do anything else.


    "I have done everything I could, we should leave the rest to the experts"(susan)


    The prince checked her pulse and after sensing a small pulse, he relaxed


    "Thank you"(Prince) bowed a little in gratitude


    This made Susan blush a little and turn her head, since it was rare to see the prince showing that he care about something. Since she met him, all he ever did was play around or show a boring or disinterest expression.


    6 days after the explosion - Hospital


    After the palace doctor checked on her, he told the prince that she should be fine for now, but they should take her to the nearby hospital for a throughly check up and make sure that the dagger didn''t have some kind of poison or special effect on it


    When they arrived, they used some magical items to make a throughly check up and they didn''t find anything else beside the knife wound but they did recommend to do a minor surgery to the heart to completely fix it. The procedure involved opening her chest and pouring healing magic directly to the heart. Since it was dangerous to wait to much for her body to naturally heal the would and generate some side effects later, they asked for permission from the prince (since his family wasn''t here, as his fianc¨¦ he could consent) and went as soon as they could.


    Her father arrived in the middle of surgery and went directly to the prince as soon as he saw him


    "Where is Elena!?"(Father)with a worried face


    "In surgery"(Prince)


    Elena''s father punch the prince in the face with all his strength when he heard where she was. Some guards and Susan reacted to that but the prince stop with one hand while checking his check with the other.


    "Why did you let this happen!"(father)


    "Sorry"(prince)said while bowing and didn''t try to make an excuse


    Elena''s father didn''t try to said anything else and waited with the prince in absolute silence. After an hour, the surgery was finish and they allowed visitors. They found her sleeping and the doctor told them that the surgery had being a complete success.


    The damage to the heart had being completely fixed but that she still wasn''t a 100% ok. For a few month there should be some chest pain, and since blood didn''t circulate well for a while, they didn''t know the damage to the nerves and brain. She should wake up, but it could be in a day, a week or a month and there may be some psychological trauma after this


    Her father and the prince(and even Susan) were a little worried after hearing all this but glad that at least she should be ok. The doctor left after finishing his diagnostic to let them have some time alone with her


    "Julian, I am cancelling the engagement"(Father) said while looking at his daughter


    The prince wanted to ask why, but he knew why, he also wanted to say no, but he didn''t have the right. All he could do was to wait for him to finish what he wanted to say


    "I understand you didn''t want this to happen, but I can''t put my daughter at risk when I feel you don''t have the means to protect her"(Father)Still looking at his daughter


    "I understand"(prince)finally said


    The prince took one last look at Elena and went for the door but before he open it and went outside


    "I am sorry for what happen, I didn''t want my problems to harm her in any way"(prince)


    "Me to Julian, me to"(Father)


    She left the hospital with Susan, leaving the guards that came with him to stay guarding the room just in case.


    The prince wasn''t sure that he love her in a romantic way, but he had known her for years and even if she constantly nagged at him and was always angry thanks to all the stupid things that he always did, she was one of the few people who actually give a sh*t about him, and considering that most people treat him like garbage and most of his family ignore him, this wasn''t a small thing.


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    In the end, he let go one of the few people he care about and he didn''t know when or even if he will see her again


    The next day, the merchant took his unconscious daughter out of the city to one of his villas in the country side so she could recover and miss any opportunity to meet the prince again.


    6 days after the explosion - The palace


    The prince returned to the palace still depressed from what happen in the hospital. When he arrived, the servant was waiting for him at the entrance.


    "Follow me"(servant)


    Since he wasn''t in the mood to complain, he chose to follow him without complaining with Susan behind. He expected to meet someone but was surprise when he took him to the palace jails. This jails have wards that stopped mana from coming inside and the prisoners usually wear shackles that absorb their mana if they were warriors


    They kept going until  they arrived at one jail where Aria was inside(without the shackles) while the detective was interrogating her from outside


    "Why did you kill him? Who are you working for?"(Detective)


    "I told you, I didn''t kill him!!"(Aria)


    What is going on?"(Prince)


    The two of then looked at him as he arrived, one with a serious face and the other with an angry one


    "She capture, torture and killed the guard that stabbed the girl"(Detective)


    "I DIDN''T KILL HIM!!"(Aria)not denying the torture part


    The prince didn''t know if he should be happy for the as* hole fate or sad because he lost a good lead, probably both


    "Tell me what happen after he escaped, and don''t omit the details"(prince)hoping to find a clue


    "After he stabbed the girl, he started running and the other guard that was with us chased after him and sounded the alarm. He was chase by at least 10 guards but the guy still manage to outrun them and he managed to escape to the city. according to the report the soldiers gave, Aria managed to run past all the guards chasing him and follow the criminal out in the city. She returned after a few minutes but not only was the criminal dead, both his legs and b*lls were completely destroyed, a clear sing of torture. Right now I am trying to find out why she did that"(Detective)


    "What do you have to say to that?"(Prince) asked Aria


    "I didn''t kill him!I only kick him in the .... there to stop him and broke his legs so he wouldn''t try to escape, when I handed him to the guards, someone had slid his throat and poison him"(Aria)


    The prince cursed inside his mind at Aria''s stupidity. He knew he wasn''t the type to lie or try deceptions since she was an idiot but since she was an idiots, he wasn''t surprised someone manage to fool her and kill the guy while she wasn''t looking. Well, it was possible for her to kill him and play innocent, but he seriously doubt that her straight forward personality was an act, and if she was, she seriously deserved an award.


    "Let her go"(prince) say to the jailor of the prison


    "Why? she hasn''t told us anything yet"(detective)


    "She already told us everything she knew, she didn''t kill him"(prince)


    "How can you be so sure? It''s really suspicious she didn''t saw the moment he died"


    "Because she is an idiot"(prince) shrugged


    All the people present looked at him with an incredulous look, and Aria went completely red in anger


    "i am not an idiot!"(Aria)


    "It is an undeniable truth, that is why I am sure someone manage to kill him without her noticing and why she isn''t lying, since she isn''t smart enough to fool anyone"(Prince)


    Aria went mad in rage, but for some reason, all the people take a look at her face and nodded in agreement. This reaction shocked Aria and made her really depressed


    "Well detective, I want you to check with Aria the area where she capture the culprit the path she took to the palace and see if there is any blood from the guy or witness that saw who kill him"(prince)


    "I could tell you to not interfere in a police investigation but since you are kind of my boss boss and it makes sence so I will do that right now. Are you coming?"(Detective) directing her question at Aria


    "Actually, I need to know something first. Is Elena ok? they told me she survived the stabbing but they didn''t know how bad it was"(Aria) with a concern look


    This made the prince remember her and making a sad face after everything that happen. Of course Elena saw his face and was almost having a panic attack but Susan decided to intervene before things got complicated


    "She is fine, but her father cancel Elena''s engagement with the prince so we wont see her in the palace anymore"(Susan)


    And this made Aria both glad that she was safe but sad that she wont see her any more. In the end she chose to follow the detective for the investigation and as soon as she finish her duty, she was planing to visit Elena at the hospital


    "I will let you know if I find anything"(detective)


    "I would appreciate that, thanks"(prince)still a little depressed


    When they left, the prince went to a secret stash to grab a couple of bottles of alcohol and get drunk. Maybe drowning his sorrow in alcohol was kind of pathetic, but it was the best way he could cope with all  the bullsh*t he had going around him lately


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 Chapter 23: first day as a bachelor

    7 days after the explosion - The palace


    When the prince woke up the next morning he made a mental note and put it in the highest priority "Search remedy for hangover". The great amount of pain he was felling in his head was unbearable and without any remedy near him, he would need to suck it up.


    Even if he didn''t feel like it, he chose to get up and go to the dinner table and have some breakfast since it should help with the hangover(specially a good cup of coffee). When he reached at the table, he found Susan and his niece with the maid happily eating their breakfast.


    He wasn''t surprised that  Aria wasn''t here but when he remember why Elena wasn''t also, he felt a little sad and disappointed. In the end he sat ont the table and asked a maid for a cup of coffee and something to eat


    The table was quiet since Susan wasn''t the chatting type, Lina was to shy to start a conversation, it would be rude for the maid to start one and the prince wasn''t in a good mood. In the end, Lina couldn''t hold it any more and broke the ice


    "Are you sick uncle?"(Lina)  asked worried after seeing his face


    The prince should have look really bad if even his niece asked about his complexion, but he wasn''t surprised after all he drank yesterday


    "I am fine, it just a little hang over from too much drinking"(prince)Answer honestly


    "And is Elena sick too? She always had breakfast in the morning with us"(Lina)


    fu*k, this is a tricky question(prince) wondering how he should answer the question without making her panic


    "She went to a villa in the country side because of a family emergency"(prince)chose to say a half truth


    "when is she coming back?"8Lina)


    "This emergency looked really serious, so she won''t be coming back any time soon"(prince) really didn''t want to get her hopes up when he knew Elena may never come back


    "oh..."(Lina) stayed quiet while she grabbed the cat and started to hug him


    The prince kept eating his breakfast quietly but now he was kind of worried for his niece. Losing her father, mother, almost all her family, confined in a new enviroment and now losing one of the few people she could talk to may be to much for the little girl. He started to think for  a way to cheer her up and after thinking of different options, he found a way to kill multiple birds with one stone.


    "Lina follow me"(prince) while getting up from the table


    The 3 girls had being surprised at the sudden outburst of the prince but decided to follow him anyway. The prince kept walking for a while until they reached the training grounds and found Aria in the middle of her daily exercise.  Aria reacted at the sudden visit


    "What''s up"(Aria) casually asked


    "I want you to train Lina"(prince)


    "EH!!!"(x10) since not only the 4 girls but also the people nearby reacted


    "What? Why such a reaction"(Prince)


    "Well,taking aside the way you casually say it, it is estrange for a lady, specially in such a young age, to do any kind of physical activity"(P maid) managed to compose herself and made a sound argument


    "So? I don''t really care if it is strange or not, I want her to train under Aria"(prince) dismissing what she said


    "Why"(P maid)


    "Why not? besides, don''t you want to be strong like your father Lina? The sooner the better"(Prince)use the father bait


    "Can I be strong like father if I do the training thing"(Lina) completely biting it


    "Of course"(Prince) reel her in and convince her


    Lina got completely exited with the idea and no one had the heart to stop it so the prince had won. Of course the prince had a couple of reasons to be doing this.


    First, this would keep Lina occupied, making it harder for to worry about other stuff. Second, a little training would help if something happens(and with his luck...). Third, Aria get along with Lina and was strong so it wasn''t a bad choise for a teacher. And finally, since he was in danger and involved with problems that weren''t suitable for a little kid, it was best to keep her busy so she doesn''t always try to follow him around all the time.


    "You ok with this aria?"(Prince)asked just incase


    "Sure, I never trained anyone before but it shouldn''t be too hard"(Aria)try to hide her excitement in her first disciple, especially since she was the daughter of her idol


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    "Ok, you should have training with her every morning, but make sure both of you come to the dinner table and have breakfast"(prince) didn''t want to keep having breakfast in silence like this morning


    The prince left Aria with his niece and the maid, and decided to take a look at his alchemy books, he really need it to find a cure for a hangover, his head was killing him.


    7 days after the explosion - Dinning table


    He had lunch with the 4 girls and still had a headache. It was better than in the morning but sadly he couldn''t make a cure for it. He did find the recipe in one of his many books(one of the benefits of being royalty, books weren''t lacking) but he lack some of the key ingredients, so he had to suck it up.


    The lunch was a little more lively than the breakfast since Aria was the type that wouldn''t shut up, but nothing interesting happen. In the end, they all got up from the table and while Lina went to have her afternoon studys, the prince took the opportunity to go to the Police HQ and see if they found anything else from the murder yesterday


    He took the carriage with the 2 bodyguards and some normal guards, and went there. On his way he notice that the people still gave him the evil eye(sadly, the carriage was easy to identify) and it felt like it only got worse with time. He thought that he should make another visit to time soon and see what was going on.


    When he arrived, at the HQ, he went to the reception desk and asked to see the Police chief, and was let in without a problem. Of course, the police chief let him in to his office with a grand welcome and he even call the detective from yesterday, but sadly they didn''t find anything yesterday. No trace of blood or witness of the murder, they only heard people talk about the brutality of Aria to the guy and the ferocity she showed.


    She really is a mad dog, maybe it wasn''t such a great idea to have her as Lina teacher(prince)started to regret chosing her as a teacher


    In the end, the investigation would keep going for both this murder and the one with the maid, but if they didn''t find any more clues, it would be hard to find the culprit, according to the cheif.Well, he also asked permission for the detective if she ever needed something or someone from the palace, and the prince agreed.


    The prince decided to go back to the carriage and chose his next option. He started by trying to figure out how could the guy get killed, and he could only come out with a couple of options


    <ol type="$type"></li>


    <li>Aria lied(not likely)</li>


    <li>Someone killed him while aria dragged his body and erased the blood after(probable)</li>


    <li>he killed himself(possible)</li>


    <li> The guards did it while distracting Aria(probable but the prince didn''t want to become too paranoid so he tried to deny it in his mind)</li>


    <li>Magic was involve somehow, like illusion magic or brainwashing(really hard to accomplish but possible with every thing going on)


    </li></ol>


    The prince didn''t think it was option 1 since aria wasn''t likely to fool anyone. Option 3 was the 2 less possible option since the way he died wasn''t ideal for suicide, but still possible. The prince didn''t want to think option 4 was the one, since it meant that at least a couple of guards in the palace were in someone else pocket. Option 5 seems a little far fetch, but a powerful spell caster would be able to pull it off, or at least he thought he could pull it of since he wasn''t an expert in magic.


    Finally option 2 seems the one he liked the most for various reasons. Firs, it probed again that aria was an idiot, it didn''t involve a powerful wizard, just a good assassin(and they weren''t that hard to find in the capital) and he didn''t have to worry about corruption. Well the lack of blood seem like either the assassin clean up(not that hard to do with the right tool or chemical) or the police was incompetent, also something really likely


    The prince saw himself in a cross-road.One option was to go see her sister and hope she not only help him with number 5 and maybe something else she also doesn''t kill him in the proses(since he almost got killed last time). The other one was to go home and wait for a new development. He didn''t like either one but he still needed to make the choise


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 Chapter 24: Sugar bribe

    7 days after the explosion - Magic university


    The prince was in the carriage thinking how he should proceed. They didn''t leave in good terms the last time they saw each other, so it would be dumb to not prepare something in advance. Well he could just skip it and forget about it, but after what happen with Elena, he didn''t want to give up yet.


    He thought about bringing the two body guards but he didn''t trust them to keep Rebbeca''s fate a secret since it was a pretty big deal. He couldn''t trust in his alchemy since she probably could insta-cast some spells, and they wouldn''t be the pretty ones.


    In the end he decided to bring the meat shield and hope that the slave crest is capable of shutting her up if he made it an order.


    "Aria, come with me, we are going inside"(prince)


    "What about me?Why can''t I come"(Susan)


    "She has a slave crest, so I can order her to keep it a secret"(Prince)


    "Hey"(Aria) protested


    "No complaining, it will be your own fault if you open your mouth, and you can stay in the carriage if you are afraid"(prince) Would take her even if she didn''t want, but it was better to taunt her and make her come willingly


    "Fine! I will go"(Aria) got a little mad but could refuse after the taunt


    "But what about me? don''t you trust me to keep it a secret?"(Susan)


    "I don''t trust people, I know people. And I know you give information to your father, that''s why he put you with me. So yeah, I can''t trust you with a secret"(prince)


    This made Susan embarrassed, but she didn''t press the matter or deny it, since it wasn''t really a secret she informed his father. The prince trusted the duke since he trusted his family ability to select the right person for the right role, so he believed that the duke general and arch mage worked for the country, even if they tried to take advantage of the situation. That''s why he didn''t mind a little spying on his part in stuff that didn''t matter, but who knows what would happen if the duke, or anyone else, knew that the prince wasn''t the only heir to the throne right now.


    For starter, Rebbeca would refuse to become queen and would use force if necessary to prevent it. But it was possible that someone would get the great idea of killing him and force her to take the throne. There was also the possibility that Rebbeca would go on a rampage and make every one forget about her or just run to another country.


    That''s why even if the prince didn''t know or suspect that the duke have being doing dangerous stuff behind his back, he didn''t want for Rebbeca''s fate to be know by anyone else beside the people who already know.


    He gathered all the courage he could ouster and got out of the carriage and went to see his sister. ON his way there, he brought her favorite cake(Jorge told him it worked every time he made her mad) and some extra candy if it wasn''t enough


    He enter the room and before she could say anything, he offer the cake as a tribute/offering.


    "I guess Jorge told you my weakness"(Rebbeca) said while grabbing the cake putting it on a table


    "Yeah, so I am safe or should I run to the hills?"(prince) not moving a muscle but ready to run at any second


    "yeah, it''s fine, at least you got enough time until I finish the cake"(Rebbeca)said while searching for a knife


    The prince was glad it worked, because his best escape plan was use Aria as a meet shield while he ran at full speed. And now that he thought about it, Aria was really quiet. He turned around and saw her completely frozen


    "hey, you ok?"(prince) while weaving his hand at her face


    "Wha... is she.... why..."(Aria) still not completely ok


    "Make sense please, I can''t understand babbling"(prince) slapping her lightly on the face


    "Isn''t she princess rebecca?what is she doing her!!??"(Aria) finally making sense


    "ahh thaat, she doesn''t want to be queen so she is hiding, and I don''t really have a way to make her do it"(prince) say it casually


    "he is joking right?"(Aria) directed her question at the girl who was stuffing her face in cake


    "wee sidnf jifsunking"(Rebecca) talking with her mouth full


    "What!?"(Aria)


    Rebbeca gulped a big choking of cake"he is telling the truth"finally said


    "seriously? why?"(Aria)


    "Julian, she is starting to irritate me"(Rebecca) Threaten them


    "Aria, shut up now please"(Prince)


    "but.."(Aria)


    "Shut up!"(Prince)


    "fine"(Aria)


    The prince relaxed a little and decided to ask what he wanted to know and go before she finish the cake and at the speed she was going, he didn''t have much time left


    "So there was a fight in the middle of the street near the palace yesterday evening. The guy was capture alive there but when he arrived at the guards in the castle five minutes later he was dead and we don''t know how he got killed"(prince)


    "So? why do you need me?"(Rebecca)


    "Well, I wanted to know if it was possible to do with magic like brainwashing or Illusion"(Prince)


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    "I doubt it was a big spell if that''s what you mean"(Rebecca)


    "What do you mean?"(Prince)


    "Well, I would feel a distortion in the mana with a big spell. If they used a spell, it was a small one or nothing more than a few since to many small make a big one"(Rebecca)


    monster(prince) was always shocked at what his brothers and sisters were capable, but at least he could drop a possibility.


    "Any good ideas on what to do?"(prince)


    "If magic isn''t involve I don''t really care, so no"(Rebecca)Answer while still eating the cake


    Figures, another dead end and no help to keep going(prince)getting tired of always getting nothing


    "Well, I leave you alone with the cake, just don''t do anything nasty while no one is watching please"(prince) left the room with Aria before Rebecca decided to throw a spell just for fun


    "F-ck you"(Rebecca) yelled while they were leaving


    He may have being tempted to bring a cake every day just to make her fat(it would be really funny) but he was sure she had a way to drop weight


    On the way back the price warned her that if she tried to tell anyone what she saw inside, she would feel a tremendous pain from the collar. It was a bluff since he didn''t know how to do it, but after seeing her go pale, he was sure he fooled her.In the end, they just went back to the palace without any incidents


    When they got inside, they found Lina a little upset since they left her behind, but the prince managed to calm her by taking out the extra candy he brought for rebecca. In the end, he spend the rest of the day reading and eating while trying really hard not to thinks about Elena like he had being trying all day with little success. He knew there wasn''t anything he could do about it, and he was in enough sh*t to have time to be depressed, but it was harder than he thought.


    8 days after the explosion - Magic university


    He woke up by a maid like almost every day and went to have breakfast. This time he found Aria chatting with Lina, and Lina was wearing more comfortable cloth than usual, so they probably trained early in the morning and they were having a break while eating their breakfast.


    "So did you do some training in the morning Lina?"(prince)


    "yes! Aria said it was better to move train muscle in the morning before eating and now we are taking a break"(Lina)


    "Does that come from personal experience?"(prince)asked aria


    "It is something my instructor said when I was younger"(Aria)


    So they kept eating and the prince asked aria how would she train Lina since it was kind of worrying that she was capable of throwing her to some dogs to build courage or something like that. In the end it will be mostly physical and inner mana training(Since Lina has) before breakfast and then sword lessons after. Since it looked pretty standard, the prince didn''t have anything to worry about(probably)


    The prince then decided to see how Susan was doing since he didn''t want her to feel left out. He was about to ask how she was doing but he realised she looked a little paler than yesterday and her plate was half finish


    "Are you ok Susan?"(Prince)


    "eh? oh yeah, just a little sick, nothing major. I just forgot to cast a healing spell since i am still sleepy"(Susan)


    and then she said some words and with a small flash, she looked fine again


    "If you are sick you can take the day off if you want"(prince)


    "Nonononono, don''t worry, one of the advantage of being a healing mage is that I can cure myself from most stuff, it is just that I have a lot of stuff in my head and didn''t notice that I looked that bad"(Susan)waving her hand around in denial


    The prince find it a little strange, but he guessed it was probably that time of the month so he didn''t press


    In the end, they all finish and got up of the table but before he could go anywhere, he was stopped by the servant. The prince thought that the day he bring him some sort of good news, the end of the word would be near.


    "Follow me please"(Servant) said his usual line


    And so, the prince follow him. He kind of wonder what sort of surprise would bring him today. It was usually something important when he called for him, so it was hard to refuse, he only hoped it was something too annoying.


    He follow him to a room  he knew his father use to be a lot and when the servant open the door to the room, the prince saw hell. He suffer a lot over the years with the constant mistreatment and disappointing looks. He also consider the stabbing one of or even the worst moment of his life but what was in that room was something else entirely


    He was sure that if the 7 hells existed, that room was one of them.


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 Chapter 25:Hell

    8 days after the explosion ¨C hell/Office


    ¡°No way¡±(prince)


    ¡°Sorry sir¡±(Servant)


    ¡°No way no way no way¡±(Prince)


    ¡°It is your duty sir¡±(Servant)


    ¡°but but I delegate, I am not supposed to be doing this!!!!!!!¡±(prince)


    ¡°And it is because you delegate that it is only this much, it should be at least 3 times bigger¡±(servant)


    ¡°but there is no way a normal person can do this, it is inhuman!¡±(prince)


    ¡°It is because this time of crisis increased the normal amount and you have being skipping it for days, increasing to this level¡±(Servant)


    ¡°There is no way I will do this, I will run away first¡±(Prince)


    ¡°I can¡¯t allow that. GUARDS!¡±(Servants)


    20 guards appear out of nowhere and surrounded him and the rest, leaving no chance for the prince to escape. For the looks of it, the servant predicted he would try to run away as soon as he saw IT


    ¡°Please, don¡¯t make me do this, I beg you! I will do anything but please not this¡±(prince) was begging on his knees


    ¡°Sorry sir, but it will only get worse with time. You can watch it increase or do something about it¡±(Servant)


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!¡±(prince)


    he was crying on his knees after realising there was no way to escape from hell. His worst fear has come true, he knew this day would come if he stayed as the crow prince and that was the reason he was trying his best to find a replacement. He also was sure this was the reason Rebecca wouldn¡¯t budge on her statement of staying dead to the public, she was to smart to not know what would happen if she become queen.


    This was a personal hell any king or person with an important work must do, and it is hell on earth (according to the prince) and the reason he consider his father a fool instead of the wise king like every one call him.


    In front of the prince was a mountain of paper work and for the way it looked to the prince, there was no end to it.He knew that if he started reading the papers, it would take a month at least, and the amount would still increase with time, making it an endless loop.


    He thought of knocking himself out with some of his favorite powder, but they already saw him wake up someone with the stimulant, so it wouldn¡¯t work. He seriously tought of faking his dead in some way or go all out and escape, but it wouldn¡¯t work right now so he chose to wait for a better opportunity.


    In the end he chose to share hell with everyone. he wasn¡¯t the type that act like a true knight and take the burden alone. No, he was more like the type that if he was going to hell, he would drag everyone down to hell with him.


    ¡°Fine, but you and everyone else in THIS castle stays to help¡±(prince)


    ¡°wait, what?¡±(servant) Sweating a little for the first time


    ¡°you heard me, bring anyone here that can read or count and all together will start to read this paper work¡±(prince)


    ¡°but we have duty sir, we can¡¯t just leave them¡±(Servant)trying to get away


    ¡°I.DON¡¯T.CARE!¡±(prince)


    ¡°but..¡±(Servant)


    ¡°No but, bring everyone that can read and everyone that can count here so we can start to work, and that includes YOU¡±(prince)


    ¡°But we can¡¯t! I have to manage this castle and so every one else!¡±(Servant)


    ¡°Make the ones that don¡¯t come do the missing share and double the salary of everyone so there is no mutiny or complain for the extra work¡±(prince)


    ¡°but..¡±(servant)


    ¡°If you say but one more time or don¡¯t do what I told you, this paper work will be the least of your problems¡±(Prince) deadly serious


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    The servant understood there was no way out of this one, so he did what the prince order him. While he waited, he order Susan and Aria to start helping with the paper work, but after find it out aria could barely read, he just send her away so she doesn¡¯t get in the way. As for Lina, the prince ask her if she wanted but she said she had more lessons and would come back later(and she did, but she only played with the cat while she watched)


    The servant brought around 20 extra people to help and tried to get away but the prince ¡°Insisted¡± that he stayed to help.


    What the prince had them do was simple, they would read the paper work, remember the important parts and then tell the prince what was important and where to sign or write(if it was a report) accordingly. Of course the system wasn¡¯t perfect, and there was a lot of paper work, but it was faster than doing it alone.


    Since more than half of them were useless since some could barely read or count, some were to shy and other were really annoying. In the end only the prince, Susan, the servant(that had being forced to stay no matter what he said or did) and 6 more. Sadly since they spend a lot of time in getting use to it and since more paper work kept coming, the amount didn¡¯t reduce much even after working all day


    9 days after the explosion ¨C Prince room


    At 3 am, the prince tried to make an escape, but when he open the door, he found 2 guards guarding his room door so he reluctantly went back to sleep and had another hell day later


    10 days after the explosion ¨C Prince room


    This time, the prince waited for one of the guards to go to the bathroom. as soon as one of them went, he put the other one to sleep and make a run for it. Sadly, a maid saw him while he was running to a secret passage and after screaming(everyone in the castle had the order of not letting the prince escape) A guard heard it and managed to catch the prince. In the end he had another hell day


    11 days after the explosion ¨C Prince room


    4 guards were at the door this time so the old plan wouldn¡¯t work again. Another hell day  was waiting for him


    14 days after the explosion ¨C Prince room


    The prince waited. He made everyone work over time,refusing to hire extra force for "security" reason meanwhile he took a rest every time he could(like faking tor ead but sleep under the paperwork) so now everyone in the castle was really tired thanks to the extra work with less helping hands.


    There were still 4 guards outside,even if they were really tired, so he waited for one of then to go take a break. As soon as one of them left, he open the door and told the other 3 there was a strange noise inside the room, so 2 of them went inside to check it(he even made one of his tools make the noise) while the other remained outside.


    The rest was easy.


    He prepared his powder in both hand and quickly throw it at each one of their faces. He then went outside and throw the powder at the one outside. He grabbed al the stuff he had already prepare in a bag that included his standard kit of magician robe, glasses, armor money and alchemy stuff and make a run for it. This time he had some powder ready in his hand(he learned this lesson from last time) and went he saw a maid walking around, he simply throw it at her before she could scream.


    In the end, he managed to enter his parents chamber and use the secret passage outside. The prince finally manage to escape from paperwork hell.


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 The continent and races

    A Little of world History


    The planet Kapteyn has numerous continents with different races in each one. Nobody knows how big the planet is, only that even after centuries, no one has claimed to found the end of it or go around it. The reason for this is simple, the world is to big and too dangerous to carry out


    Thanks to the numerous mana veins around the world, all kind of dangerous creatures have being born, making long distant travels, for either land, air or sea, to dangerous to carry out without making settlements first. This make every kingdom or race that tried to expand their borders make it really slowly.


    Also when they tried to go to a new continent, crossing the sea was extremely difficult since sending a great amount of boats cause the sea big sea creatures to notice then, so it was hard and expensive to send an army through water. But even if they manage to do it, if it was already inhabited by a different kingdom or race, it was really hard to conquer since fighting with 20% of your strength against 100% is a big difference.


    Continent History


    This bring us to the Yerwall continent. Usually one, two or three races was the most common thing in each continent, beside the usual monsters of course, but Yerwall was a bit unique in that aspect. The first known habitants of this continent was the demon race, nobody knows when they arrived, but they were already there and had  many cites around it when the war started.


    Fist came the beast race, always searching for new enemy''s to fight,they didn''t lose the opportunity when they meet the demon race as a new challenge.


    Since the Beast race was also at war with the elf, the information leaked to them so they also send their warriors to try to conquer the continent before the best race.


    And of course, this brought the attention and interest of two of the other races that had dealings with the elf(both in good and bad ways), the dwarf and humans. The dwarf wanted new placed to mine and the humans wanted more land(like the elf actually). Since the humans had multiple kingdoms, when one send his army to conquer the new land, their rival country also send their respective army''s to fight in the new continent.


    All this caused that the demon race was suddenly invaded by 4 races and 5 kingdoms(since 2 were human) and were losing ground fast. The war went for decades until the different races manage to set their own country, diving the continent into 6 kingdoms.


    Right now they are at peace with a few fights here and there but there is a bloody history behind it and it is never know when a new war will start


    Human race


    Usually lives 80 years but the amounts doubles if they can use inner mana(mana inside their body''s) or outer mana(mana around them) and if they live in an environment rich in mana, the life expectancy also extend, making the average of 500 years in ideal circumstance.


    Commoners have a 10% chance of being able to use inner or outer mana, and 2% of using both. Meanwhile, since nobles had to marry among people capable of using mana in some way, they have a 50% chance of using either and 10% of using both.


    Griffon Empire


    Started as a colony of the Dragon empire but after decades of working under it, the 4th prince took rule of the colony and named his independence from the empire so they could stop paying taxes. A war started against the dragon empire that took a lot of resources from both kingdoms but they manage to win in the end and the new king renamed his kingdom as Griffon empire.


    Still, even if they won against the dragon empire, the other kingdoms took advantage of the weaken state of the Griffon empire and they never manage to come back to the prosperity they had before the war until the wise king came and manage to even surpass it.


    Zergeite Kingdom


    Also a human colony from a bigger kingdom, they still keep up paying their "tribute" to their kingdom to this day. The benefits of being a colony instead of their own kingdoms are that they get support in time of crisis, a great amount of soldiers for free and if some new technology is discover, the kingdoms share it for free among their colonies. Well, if the kingdom is in crisis, the colony must send extra "tribute" and soldiers.


    Their amount of land is around the same as the Griffon empire after the ruling of the wise king but had a greater share before it even when they were a colony.


    They have tried to unite both kingdoms for years, both with peace and with war, without success since not only the Griffon empire didn''t want to be the colony of other kingdom, the other races also didn''t want for the humans to join force, so they usually intervene when necessary.


    Elf Race


    Original, there was only the High elf, immortal being extremely powerful since all of them could use inner and outer mana effectively. Sadly their fertility was low so being in constant war was dangerous for them


    This make them decided to breed with human, creating the half elf that have higher fertility than them (but less than humans) and still powerful but not immortal since they only live 700 years. They had being made to use for war and since they weren''t immortal and most of them couldn''t use inner mana after two generations(all of them could use outer mana), the high elf were treating them like second class citizens.


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    Elf empire


    After the high elf send the half elf to conquer the continent, they killed all the high elfs send with them and declared their independence. The high elf tried to punish them but sadly almost every half elf they send joined them and sending to many high elf would be a great lost, so they left them alone


    In the end, they declare themself elf and their old overlords high elf, and took root in the continent. Since they were elf, they consider themself better than the other races(quite stuck up) and had some hatred against the humans since it was their blood that make them weaker and impure. Well, they also didn''t like the dwarves because they lived in caves, the beast race because they were animals, and the demons race because they were freaks of nature.


    Their amount of land is bigger than the human kingdoms but smaller than both of them together. They kept mostly to themself and the leader is usually an elf that can use both inner and outer mana that the population choose by vote.


    dwarves Race


    Similar to humans, they have a 15% of having inner or outer mana and 3% of having both but unlike them, they have great constitution and are quite skilled with their hands. They live up to 700 years even if they can''t use mana but don''t have great fertility. They compensate by being expert at all kind of tools, both magical and normal.


    They are quite greedy by nature, and are great at both commercial transactions and secret deals.


    dwarves Union


    They belong to the dwarves union, a conglomerate of different country''s and continents that shares their resources and findings. They came to the continent to extract the minerals and look for new stuff to sell, since every continent usually have a new resource to extract.


    Since they relay mostly on items, they aren''t great at attacking since they quickly ran out of resources and the enemy end up using their weapons against them, but on the contrary, attacking a dwarven city is almost suicide since they have all kind of traps and tools ready


    They live usually in the mountains so they don''t have much flat land but if you take into consideration of all the veins in the mountains, their kingdom is quite big.


    Beast Race


    It is a conglomerate of different tribes that are half beast half man. They love to fight and usually go around the world searching for new enemy''s to fight. They have the highest fertility of all races and 20% of them can use inner mana, and even those who can''t are quite strong.  There are too few that can use outer mana but it is unknown if it is because it is hard for them or they just don''t like it. Their life expectancy was 80 to 150 for normal and 200 to 300 for inner mana warriors


    Beast tribe


    They have the greatest amount of land, but half of it belong to a desert were strong magical beast inhabit. They go to war against the other races from time to time, but they mostly enjoy fighting against the magical creatures around the continent(especially the desert)


    Since they relay mostly in numbers and brute force, they are great at invading but usually lose a lot of land in the process. The ret of the kingdoms consider them a pain, so as long as they don''t get attack by them, they leave them alone


    Demon Race


    Red eyes, horns and bat wings give them a bad reputation and since most of them can use inner mana and outer mana, the are really strong. Their fertility and life expectancy is similar to the dwarves


    They select the strongest as the king and get to rule the kingdom until he is defeated or dies and a new one has to be selected.


    Demon Empire


    First inhabitant of the continent, it isn''t know were they came from. They first meet the beast race but since the other kingdoms took opportunity of the war, they end up fighting against the four races until they were force to move to an Island near the continent. Of course this happen since not only were they fighting against the 4 races, but the humans elf and dwarves were afraid of their strength so their force them to move there.


    They have stayed in their island till today and it is almost as big as the elf kingdom, but they still hold a grudge against the 4 races since the beast started all and the other 3 joined forces to banish them.


    Other races


    There are other races going around the world like the mermaids, dragons orcs, etc. But since they didn''t manage to put their footing in the Yerwall continent, they won''t be mention here.


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 Chapter 26: a new move

    14 days after the explosion - streets


    The prince wanted to run away, there is no doubt about that, but he couldn''t. It wasn''t for his sense of duty as a prince, since he was always treated like sh-t. It wasn''t because he care for the people, since they also treated like sh-t. Of course he didn''t want to rule the kingdom since it would be a pain and he also wouldn''t do it for his family name, since most of them were a-s holes. Well, he would feel guilty leaving his niece alone since she was nice unlike the rest of the family but it wasn''t because of her that he didn''t plan to run away yet.


    The reason he wasn''t planing to run way yet was a simple one, he just didn''t want to work for the rest of his life. If he ran away, yes, he did had a secret stash and a business plan ready to make a lot of money with some of his alchemy inventions(specially one) but not only was it really dangerous since he planed to sell them in the black market, he still would have to work selling them.


    On the other hand, if he suck it up for a couple of weeks and found a successor to the throne, he could lace around with a bureaucratic job like the governor of a city and live of tax money. And if he ever wanted more money he could always sell his stuff in the black market, governor or not.


    Of course this involves suck it up until he found such successor, but he knew thanks to his sister than his hole family was alive, and as long as he found one, he was scot-free of duty and ready for a life of easy life. Even if all he found was his parents, they only needed to rule until his niece was grown up enough and she can become the queen.


    Well, even if he  did need to suck it up, that doesn''t mean he needs to do his job properly. If he could get away from his duty or find a way of diminish them he would do it, and that''s why he run away to finally have a day off.


    He also had a plan. It may not work and was kind of dangerous, but it was the only way to get a lead right now. He wanted to believe in the police and the guards but they were too incompetent or under someone pay to be that bad at their jobs. It was really strange that no clues on how the guard was killed were found, and that could only mean that the police or the guards cover it up or didn''t care enough, and if the prince had to be honest with himself, he didn''t know what was worst.


    So, if he couldn''t trust on the "honest" side of the world, he didn''t have other choice than search for the less "honest" side, and for that he needed to pay a visit to the old man


    He escaped the castle before sunrise and the sun didn''t came out yet so the prince knew that the old man store should be open for a couple of hours more. He didn''t find any trouble (or people since it was really late/early for people to be out) on the way, so he didn''t have any troubles.


    When he was near the store he started to move really quiet and watching for anyone near. He learned his lesson for last time and didn''t want to fight the fu-king thief''s again, he was sure they still hold a grudge against him


    He did find one guy watching the store door, so for safety he just knock him out from behind and enter the store. Since it was still late at night, it looked like the store was fully open


    Well, store was a nice name for the place, since it was more like a dump with a lot of stuff lying around, almost like a hoarder home. The old man knew where every little thing was and if he catch you trying to put something in your pocket, you were a dead men.


    "oh!Jarvan still alive and kicking it seems"(old man)


    "You know me, harder to kill that a cockroach"(prince)shrugging while sitting on a chair


    "yeah, I heard you took care of 20 guys the other day"(Old man) while bringing a cup and some whisky


    "It was 10 guys really, and it was really dangerous ya know"(prince) denying the whisky and signaling for water


    "aha, youth this days. In my old days even 50 guys were nothing"(Old man) handing him a glass with the water


    "Sorry for not being a monster. Still, try to do something about them, they are becoming really annoying"(prince)


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    "Well I already banned most of them from the store and gave them a good beating but I think they still are out for blood since you completely humiliate them"(Old man)


    "Hey, It was self-defense"(Prince)


    "Also stealing their cloth and stuff?"(old man)


    "eye for eye and toot for toot. They tried to steal my stuff so I stole theirs"(prince)


    "You aren''t going to make a lot of friends with that way of thinking"(old man) shakes his head in resignation and takes a sip of whisky


    "Don''t worry don''t worry, with friends like that who needs enemy''s"(prince)


    "Amen to that boy"(old man) and prince got their cups up in a salute and drank their content in one gulp


    After that they just chatted about stupid stuff foe a while. The prince told him he was really busy with family problems and the old man told him about his adventures on the old days, not like either of them knew who the other was even with this information.


    Well, if the old man wanted, he could find out who the prince really was, and vise versa, but they weren''t the type to get into other people business(the prince because he was lazy and the old man because it was necessary for his job) o they got along just fine that way.


    But it was after the usual chatter and the prince buying and selling stuff that the prince went to the real business of his visit.


    "Old man, I need another favor"(prince)


    "Really? I have know you for 2 years and the only time you asked for a favor was last week"(old man) a little surprised


    "well,  strange things are happening in the capital since the explosion, so i can''t really help it"(prince)shrugged


    "True true, business have boomed since the explosion since there is less security and some people are selling their stuff in panic"(old man)


    "oh! I didn''t knew that, anything interesting?"(prince)


    "Sorry kid, i sold most of the rare stuff already, but nothing from your list if you want to know"(old man)


    "Na, just curiosity. And going back to the favor, I need a good information broker"(prince)


    "I see, and you want to know if i can introduce you to a good one right?"(old man)


    "exactly, can you do it?"(prince)


    "Yeah no problem, I know a guy that tells me the current value of most of the stuff, but he deals in a lot of stuff and even if he doesn''t know, he probably know someone who does"(Old man)old man wrote in a note the address and name


    "Thank man"(prince) took the note


    "Be carefull, I don''t know what you are doing, but it looks dangerous if you need a thief and a broker"(Old man) with a worried face


    "Don''t worry don''t worry, I wont die no matter what happen"(prince)said with confidence


    "I hope it''s true, you wouldn''t be the first one to say that"(old man)


    And with that, the prince left to search the information broker. The prince wasn''t sure if he would find out anything interesting, but it was worth a shot, and it was the only move he have right now.


    With his luck, he probably wouldn''t get anything out of this, or get in an even greater mess, but he had to try at least


    Note: sorry :s short chapter


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 Chapter 27: Information broker

    14 days after the explosion ¨C Back alley


    The paper the old man gave the prince took him to a brothel near his place. He almost thought it was a joke, but after thinking for a minute he realised it would be a good place to gather information(or so he hoped, since it really could be a joke from the old man)


    It was still open at this hour since the door had guard, so it probably was the type that stay open 24/7


    ¡°Hello, I am looking for Roxanne¡±(prince) asked the guard


    ¡°She is still working tonight, 1 silvers to enter, service does not include¡±(Guard)


    Expensive, I hope it¡¯s not a joke from the old man or he is going to pay later(prince)complained in the inside but still gave the coin to the guard


    ¡°First time right?¡±(Guard)prince node


    ¡°Don¡¯t cause trouble and enjoy your stay¡±(guard)give the prince a ¡°charming¡± smile that made the prince shiver since he was really  ugly


    ¡°thanks¡±(prince)


    The prince could understand the silver coin since the place was kind of luxurious but not the best since that type probably cost 1 gold coin to enter at least.


    She saw an almost naked girl in what probably was the reception desk so he went there. He notice some girls trying to grab his attention(and a boy) probably looking for a new client, but he didn¡¯t come here to have fun and he wasn¡¯t sure how safe this place was. He had money so if he wanted to hire a hooker, he could afford the best in the city, and even if this place wasn¡¯t bad, it wasn¡¯t the best either


    ¡°So, you are looking for a girl a boy, elf, dwarf, beast?¡±(Receptionist?)


    ¡°I am looking for Roxanne¡±(prince)asked the receptionist


    ¡°She is available right now but there are other girls and boys available if you are looking for something different¡±(receptionist?)


    ¡°That''s fine, a friend recommended her and he said she was great¡±(prince)


    ¡°Fine, second floor, last door to your left¡±(receptionist?)


    ¡°thanks¡±(prince)


    ¡°Come back if you change your mind and enjoy your stay¡±(receptionist?)


    The prince went to the second floor and walked to the door while looking around since it wasn¡¯t a bad sight. Some doors were open showing the merchandise, and the prince had to admit there were some pretty girls there, of course some doors were closed with noises inside but some were open while being occupied with the ¡°clients¡± that probably liked being seen.


    Strangely, the last door was close, it was of better quality than the others and the room looked bigger than the rest. The prince could guess why and that was probably a good sing that he wasn¡¯t in the wrong place. He decided to first knock the door and see if someone was inside


    ¡°Roxanne?¡±(prince) asked through the door


    ¡°It¡¯s open¡±(Roxanne?)came a voice from the inside


    The prince open the door and found a girl within 16 and 20 resting on a double bed with only lingering. She had red hair and blue eyes and in prince standards she was probably a 9 with a c cup, so she probably was a premium in the place, if she also worked as an ¡°entertainer¡± here.


    ¡°Roxanne I presume¡±(prince)


    ¡°Yep! looking for some fun?¡±(Roxanne)


    ¡°Nope, information¡±(prince) a little tempted


    ¡°pity, I don¡¯t usually get young a cute clients¡±(Roxanne)pouting a little


    ¡°The old man recommended you, I hope you are as good as he said¡±(prince)taunting her a little to see how she react


    ¡°The old man eh? He must trust you if he sends you to me here. He knows I don¡¯t usually deal with people I didn¡¯t check first, especially here in my side job¡±(Roxanne)


    ¡°Well, we do get along just fine and we work together quite often. Besides, I doubt this is just a side job if you are what you say you are¡±(prince) smiled at her at the end


    ¡°Well, at least you are not dumb, I give you that. What is your name¡±(Roxanne)


    ¡°Jarvan, nice to meet you¡±(prince) extended his hand


    ¡°Oh! the alchemist! I alway thought you where an older guy¡±(Roxanne) shake his hand


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know my real name was know¡±(prince) a little surprised


    ¡°Well, information is what I do, and it¡¯s not like a lot of alchemists are going around the city. Besides, I doubt that''s your real name¡±(Roxanne)smiled at the end


    "As real as Roxanne probably"(prince)winked back ;-)


    "Well, let''s stop screwing around, do you need something?"(Roxanne)


    "I thought that you loved to screw around considering where we are"(prince)


    "Cute, but that doesn''t answer my question"(Roxanne)


    The prince chose to look for a chair first since it was kind of awkward to start a serious conversation while she laid on the bed while he was standing.


    "Can I sit first"(prince)said while pointing at a chair


    "Go ahead"(Roxanne)said and the prince sit there


    "Well, how much do you charge exactly"(prince)


    "I deal with information as a currency. I get pay if I tell you something and I pay if you tell me something, simple. The amount that is pay change according to the value of the information"(Roxanne)


    So, if I don''t have enough, I need to tell her something or go away(prince)


    "Well, I am looking for any information you know related to the royal family situation since the explosion"(prince)


    "Oh, political information, can you tell me why?"(Roxanne)


    "I thought you paid for getting information"(prince)acted smugly


    "-tsk- Fine, anything specific"(Roxanne)clicked her tongue


    "Do you know anything about their whereabouts?"(prince)


    "Besides Prince Julian right?"(Roxanne)


    "Of course"(prince)


    "100 gold coins if you want to know more"(Roxanne)


    "Expensive!"(prince)was surprised at the price


    He didn''t know how much the usual rate was, but 100g was a lot of money, and who knows how much would have to pay for more details.


    "Remember that finding 1 alive is worth 5000 gold coins, you can live comfortable for years with that amount of gold"(Roxanne)


    "Still, how do I know it is useful or you won''t demand more after telling me some of the information"(prince)


    "I take pride in my judgment of the value of the information, and I never scam my clients. If the information I give you doesn''t please you, I will return the money or part of it if you think I over charged"(Roxanne)


    "Fine"(prince) took 100g from his pockets


    Roxanne took the money and after counting it, she put it on a table near the bed.


    "Thank you for your patronage"(Roxanne) Gave the prince a big smile


    "And the info"(prince) a little annoyed


    "There is a rumor that a strong warrior is doing all kind of difficult missions for the adventure guild in the north"(Roxanne)


    "That''s it? for 100 gold?"(prince)


    "Well, I don''t have his face description since it looks like he usually wears a helmet, but his body build looks like Prince Paul and he started to take request 10 days ago and already killed a cave full of goblins and a dragon alone"(Roxanne)


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    Interesting, it is possible for the adventurer to be him, but why is he doing adventure work instead of coming back(prince)


    "and no one ask him if he was the prince or tried to take his helmet?"(Prince)


    "No one thought about it since what most people think is that a strong adventure suddenly seem to make a name for himself, why would they think he is the prince?"(Roxanne)


    What she said made sence to the prince. If you didn''t know the strength of the prince, that the explosion could have sent him miles away(or that the theory he have being working the last few days), how long have he being working as an adventure and a way to know what was happening miles away, it would be impossible to think about. And that make the prince wonder how could she thought about it


    "And what makes you think he is Prince Paul? It makes no sense"(prince)


    "Because the adventures strength, timing and description matches. I don''t know why he would be there and since I am not 100% sure because of that, it only cost 100g. The price should be at least 1000g otherwise"(Roxanne)


    It makes sense(Prince) agreed with her way of thinking but she could know more that what she was saying or so the prince thought


    "Can i have the name of the city he was last seeing?"(prince)


    "Sure"(Roxanne) wrote in a paper something and handed it to the prince


    The prince saw a new, probably of a city but since he didn''t know it, he just put the paper in his pocket


    "And do you know anything more?"(prince)


    "Of the Royal family whereabouts? sorry but not right now"(Roxanne)


    "and the explosion?"(prince)with a little hope


    "Sorry, nothing there also"(Roxanne)


    "sh*t"(prince)


    The prince was happy to finally find a clue to someone from his family, but he wouldn''t have complained if he found even more information. He was thinking of getting out of there, but Roxanne stop him


    "Wait, before you go, I think I have something else that might interest you"(Roxanne)


    "Oh! how much?"(prince)


    "I will give it for free, prince Julian"(Roxanne)


    The prince almost have a heart attack when he heard the last sentence. He did manage to smile while trying to feign ignorance with a poker face, but he was panicking inside and was thankful he didn''t sh*t his pants


    "Eh? What are you talking about?"(prince) trying really hard to play dumb


    "No use in playing dumb, your reaction confirmed my theory"(Roxanne)


    "It makes no sense, why would you think I am prince Julian"(Prince)refusing to admit it


    "Well, your look is really similar to his description, both of you have an interest in alchemy and both of you have the same age"(Roxanne)arguing


    "So? you can probably find at least 4 guys with similar looks in this town alone, and just because both of us like alchemy doesn''t make me the prince"(prince) counter arguing


    "True, but you also have a real interest for the crown whereabout, enough to come and visit me, and you pay an enormous amount of money to guisu just to know about some stuff he stole, that just happen to belong to Princess Rebecca"(Roxanne)


    "How do you know about guisu and Rebecca?"(Prince)


    "where do you think guisu expended all that gold? and lets just say the coroner has a hard time finding a girlfriend"(Roxanne)smiled


    Sh*t, can''t those idiots keep their d*ck in their pants and their mouth close?(prince)


    "Fine, I am prince Jorge body double"(Prince) Refused to go down without a fight


    "nice try, but you can''t fool me. I have being paying close attention to your body language and not only do you move like a noble, the reactions you showed to the information I gave you would only make sence if you were prince Jorge instead of an errant boy"(Roxanne)


    The prince was f*cked, she was sure he was the prince, and the prince couldn''t think of a way to convince her other wise. He could tell the truth and try to get something out of it or deny it, and he didn''t like either option.


    "And what would you do if i was the prince?"(prince) testing the waters


    "Well, for starters, I would tell you some information that the prince REALLY should know as soon as possible"(Roxanne) put empathise in the "really" part


    "And then?"(prince)


    "I would try to become your good friend, since for an information broker there isn''t a better friend that someone in high places"(Roxanne)


    "Fine you win, I am the prince"(prince)Give up


    There was no point in playing in playing dumb any more, she already knew and if he didn''t make some kind of deal with her, she would sell the information to the highest bidder


    "Yay! I knew it!"(Roxanne) make a celebrating dance


    "Good for you, now tell me the information"(Prince) Annoyed


    "Fine, just go to this address at 18hs  today"(Roxanne)stopped dancing and wrote something in a paper


    "Thanks"(prince) grabbed the paper and after watching the address, he put it in his pocket with the other paper


    "No problem"(Roxanne)


    "Now what?do I need a new alias to go around?"(Prince) find it annoying losing 3 years of reputation but it was better than getting exposed


    "Don''t worry don''t worry,if you promise to come visit me from time to time  and come here if I ask the old man to fetch you, and I will keep your secret"(Roxanne)


    "Fine, but don''t betray me, I do have the power to send you to prison"(Prince)warned her just to be safe


    "Scaryyy"(Roxanne)acted scared and then laughed at the prince since threatening her with prison wasn''t really a treat to her


    "Laugh all you want, I am use to it"the prince shrugged "but don''t screw me over" warned her again and Roxanne took it more seriously now


    "No sense of humor"(Roxanne) complained


    "Well, this humorless guy will leave the girl alone now, unless you got something else?"(prince) get up from his chair but waited for her to respond


    "Na, I have nothing else right now but if you want anything else, you know where to find me"(Roxanne)


    The prince said goodbye to Roxanne and left the brothel before he could help himself and follow the example of guisu and the mortician. He was happy that he found 2 pieces of information, but a little mad at himself that someone found his real identity.


    He was thinking what to do know until 6 pm when suddenly all went black


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 Chapter 28: The merchant prince

    14 days after the explosion - ???


    The prince suddenly woke up, but didn''t understand what was going on since he didn''t even notice when he fall asleep. He started to think and the last thing he remembers was getting out of the brothel and then all went black


    Still, he could guess what happen after checking his situation. He knew someone use his powder to knock him out since he tasted it himself quite often(sometimes to gate away from responsibility''s and others by mistake while making it) and knew the side effects. He also knew it wasn''t just a robbery, since not only was in his trousers, he found himself tied up and with two bracelets, one in each hand.


    Why could also guess why did he had the bracelets, even if he consider it overkill. One probably disrupt inner mana and the other outer mana. The prince didn''t know how they worked, he only knew that to make them, you needed expensive materials and a magician and a blacksmith skills.This makes them quite expensive, probably 5 gold coins each or maybe more.


    Finally, seeing 3 guys going through his stuff and taking out everything they found told him he wasn''t in a good situation.


    "So, can someone explain me whats going on please?"(prince) talked to the 3 guys


    "Oh! Is the sleeping beauty awake? and we thought you would only wake up by a true love''s kiss"(guy a) and the 3 started laughing


    The prince waited for the 3 guys to stop laughing since there was no point in talking until he knew what was going on. Still, it was starting to get really annoying for the prince before they stopped after a while.


    "We are going to sell you to slavery boy"(Slaver b?)


    "why?"(prince)almost went pale since that would be one of the worst things that could happen to him


    "Besides the nice profit of selling a mage? revenge of course"(Thief a)


    And that''s when it hit him, these 3 idiots were the fu-king thief he has been dealing since he met them at the old man place


    "Seriously? It wasn''t enough that you tried to steal my stuff 3 times, you are also selling me to slavery?"(prince) Regretting going easy with this a-s holes


    "DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE WENT THOUGH THANKS TO YOU!!"( thief b)got up while shouting at the prince


    "Calm down, we finally are getting our revenge and more money than we hoped for"(Thief a)


    "fine"(thief b) sit down


    "Be thankful that we aren''t beating the crap out of you since your value would drop"(Thief c)


    "Great, not only are you stealing everything I got and selling me to slavery, I should be thankful that it is only that much?"(prince) expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation


    "Shut up or we make you shut up"(Thief b)


    Prince didn''t say another word and glared at them but let them keep searching his stuff. He needed to find a way out of this since it would get really dangerous otherwise.


    He knew trying to convince them to let him go wouldn''t work since they hate his guts and telling them he was the prince was a no no since it would make this kidnapping into a worse situation probably. Instead, he chose to appeal to their greed


    "You know, if you sold me to a slaver it would be your loss, you know?"(prince)


    "What do you mean?"(Thief c)


    "Think about it, it''s true that you can probably get 50 gold coins for me since I can use magic, but you can get at least 10 times that if you use my skills instead of selling them"(Prince)


    "Skills? even if you are a great mage, it would be better to just sell you instead of sending you on missions or something since a 100 things could go wrong"(Thief a)


    "Not that, I am talking about my alchemy skills, you can get a lot of money from selling the stuff only I can make, like the sleeping powder you throw at me"(Prince)


    "You are the one that makes that stuff?"(Thief c)


    "Of course, why did you think I used so much in the fights? It is cheaper for me since I make it"(Prince)


    Thief a and c had been surprised at the revelation and were considering the offer but thief b...


    "Are you guys serious? after everything he put us through, you are considering his offer? we should sell him to a big fat guy so he can become his sex slave so he can get the punishment he deserves!"(Thief b)


    "If you use me instead of sell me, you can also punch me, you know?"(prince) sweeten the deal


    That make thief b starting to consider the offer but made thief c a little suspicious


    "Why are you offering this? what do you get out of it?"(Thief c)


    "simple, it is better than slavery and I can probably negotiate a better deal than with a slaver"( prince) lied


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I don''t know guys, maybe it''s better to just sell the guy and be done with it"(thief a)


    sh-t! think think(prince)


    "Why don''t I show you how much you can profit and then you can decided"(prince)


    "What do you mean?"(Thief c)


    "Simple, I have a stash of sleeping powder in my laboratory, you can send a guy to sell it for you and see how much he gets. Since I can make more later, you will be able to see if keeping me is worth it"(prince) started to think he should become a merchant for how well he was selling himself


    "What do you guys think?"(thief a)


    "Well, at least we will get more money this way even if we sell him later"(thief c)


    "Fine, let''s go"(thief b)


    The prince could see their personalities after interacting with them. Thief a was the defacto leader of the group, thief b was the violent type with a serious grudge and thief c was simply greedy. As long as he offer money and make it look as he was miserable, they should be easy to manipulate


    The place the prince planned to take them was the laboratory he builds in the city to make stuff when he couldn''t do it in the palace. What he brought wasn''t as good as the stuff in the palace and it wasn''t a complete set yet, but it was enough to make the powder and some stuff else.


    He also stored large quantities of the powder there and in the palace. The reason he didn''t sell the stuff was simple, he was the only supplier, so if he sold a little at the time, he got a better price than if he sold in large quantities (supply and demand)


    There were other sleeping drugs in the marked, but one the prince made was one of the best and the price was reasonable in comparison with the best ones. Basically, it had a great price/quality value


    How the prince got such a good recipe was a mix of luck, practice and interest. He found a recipe in the palace, but since some materials weren''t easy to find, the prince had to experiment with different ingredients to try the effects. And the reason he was so interested in finding a cost/efficient balance, was because it helped him to escape his obligations if he perfected the recipe and after a lot of trials an error, he succeeded.


    Since the powder was really useful, most people on the shady side of the business knew of it, including the 3 thieves, and they knew the value of it. Since the prince was practically giving the revenues of it on a silver plate, the thieves couldn''t waste the opportunity to get huge profits from it, and the prince took opportunity in that


    They gave the prince some cloth, and with a knife in his back, they ask him where the laboratory was and he went there with 2 of them while the other one watched the prince stuff.


    The room with the laboratory that the prince rented was in the main street since it had less chance that someone would come inside and steal his stuff. It had a guard in the front door and a reinforced door in the back that could only be open with a key, so the prince found the place convenient, well at least until he was forced to use the back door at knife point


    "It''s in the second floor"(prince) told them when they got inside


    "lead the way"(thief b)


    There were other residents there but no one was outside their doors at the moments so they got to prince room with out anyone seeing them.


    The room had a bed, some books and notes, the alchemy equipment and a safe. Of course, he kept the powder inside the safe and some other stuff


    "Well, here we are"(prince)


    "Yeah, I can see that, where is the stuff you promise"(thief b)


    "It is over there in the safe. Give me second and I will open it for you guys"(prince)


    "And let you touch the powder?nice try kid"(thief b)


    "Give me the combination"(thief c)


    "Fine, its 72 52 72"(prince)


    The thief went to the thief and started to move the dial in the safe. As soon as he put the last number, a click could be heard from the safe so the thief put his hand on the handle and open the safe.


    A Small explosion was heard and the sleeping powder filled the room


    Note: started using the program gramamaly, I think it should be more readable now


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 Chapter 29: Pay back

    14 days after the explosion ¨C prince lab


    Just before the explosion happens, the prince holds his breath and used the back of his head to hit thief b. He managed to move to the side just in time when all the powder in the safe blowed up and filled the room with it, hitting head on at the 2 thief in the room and making them pass out.


    The prince took the opportunity to leave the room, try to take out as much powder as possible from his body and then he started to breath from the mouth. The prince knew from experience that breathing from the mouth diminish the effect from the powder, but knew that it still worked in large quantities, so he would wait outside for a while until the powder in the air fell to the ground


    Still, he was glad for the face ¡°just because you are paranoid, it doesn¡¯t mean you aren¡¯t right¡±. He knew that even if the place had a guard, was in a place hard to steal from and no one knew that something valuable was inside, there was always a chance someone would try to steal his stuff. That¡¯s why he put a trap in the safe that would make a lot of noises and disable the invaders. It was important both the noise and the knockout since¡­


    ¡°What happen?¡±(guard)came after hearing a loud noise


    ¡°Oh, just a bad reaction to some experiment we were trying¡±(Prince)lied


    ¡°Let me see¡±(guard) demanded


    ¡°Sure, just hold your breath while looking or you will fall sleep¡±(prince)


    The guard opens the door to the lab and found two guys on the floor surrender by powder. He checked their pulse and after taking another quick look around the room, he left it and closed the door


    ¡°Should I call a doctor?¡±(guard)


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the stuff is harmless. They should wake up in a couple of hours¡±(prince)


    ¡°Ok, be more careful next time, I got worried for a second¡±(guard)left the prince alone after saying that


    The prince didn¡¯t tell the truth for many reasons. Fist, he didn¡¯t want to get the police involved, second, it would cause problems with his landlord if he finds out he brought thieves inside, and finally, because he wanted to take care of them himself, since he was getting sick of their constant interruptions.


    But before he would deal with them, he had to take care of the other guy back in their base, so he tie them up with their cloth just to be safe and left them there since they should stay asleep for a couple of hours.


    Since they didn¡¯t bother in covering his eyes, he remembers the way to the hideout by backtracking, and after half an hour, he finally found the place. Of course he decided to sneak in to catch the guy by surprise, so he slowly open the door with the key he got from the other 2 and came inside.


    The place was a poor house in a poor neighborhood. Since it was already the afternoon after everything that happen, he couldn¡¯t rely on the shadows to move around. Instead, he went slowly from door to door peaking from a corner and paying attention to any sound.


    It didn¡¯t take the prince long to find the guy relaxing on a chair with a beer in his hand. The prince thought of using his powder to make him fall sleep and deal with him after he had been tied up, but since it would take too long for him to wake up and he really wanted to take his frustration on someone, he just grabbed a ceramic lamp he had near and while slowly approaching the guy, the prince swing the lamp horizontally to hit him in the head with it


    The thief fell from the chair but wasn¡¯t knockout on the impact. Sadly for him, His head had being hit with the lamp and he was kind of drunk since it wasn¡¯t his first beer, so he couldn¡¯t react fast enough when the prince follow-up by grabbing his left arm and dislocating his shoulder(a move Paul teach him)


    The thief started to scream, but the prince didn¡¯t miss a beat and dislocated his left knee since he fell to his right side. The thief was cursing and screaming, but the prince hadn¡¯t finished yet. He moves his body to the side so he would face up, he went on top of him and started to punch him left and right on the face


    He struggles at first, but since the prince didn¡¯t let him use his right hand properly and he could use his left, after a few punches the thief lost consciousness.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Feeling satisfied by this stress relief, the prince tied him up to a chair and throw water at him to wake him up.


    ¡°So I will make this simple, I will keep asking you to promise me to never bother me again, and if I don¡¯t believe you, I will take a nail from your fingers¡±(prince) said while putting a knife under the thief fingernail


    ¡°Wh..?AHHHH!¡±(thief a)felt the pain of losing a nail


    The prince had been taken to an interrogation by his mother, so he knew this was an effective method. He waited a minute for the guy to calm down and put the knife on the next fingernail


    ¡°Now, I ask again, will you leave me alone or do I have to take more nails?¡±(prince)


    Since the guy sends him an angry glare, the prince just took out another nail without giving him time to think, making him scream again


    ¡°I promise I promise¡±(thief a) said, but the prince didn¡¯t believe him so he took another one, making him scream again


    ¡°Why?¡±(thief)


    ¡°I didn¡¯t believe you, so look me in the eyes and make me believe¡±(prince)


    ¡°I promise!!¡±(thief a)was crying and his voice was rough for all the screaming, but the prince still took a 4th fingernail


    ¡°The last one was a warning to never approach me again, do you understand?¡±(prince)


    The guy just nodded while he kept crying, so the prince left him there. He grabbed all his stuff, changed to his old cloth and grabbed the key to his bracelets on a table so he could take them off(since he found them annoying).He funded annoying that 15 gold coins were missing, especially since they were probably used to pay for the bracelets and maybe something else.


    The prince brought more rope on the way back to the lab and basically repeated the process, but this time putting some cloth in their mouths so the guard couldn¡¯t hear them scream. In the end thief c lost 5 fingernails and thief b 12(2 from his feet). When he was sure after knocking them out again with he powder, he throws them into an alley (using the back door) tied up and left them there.


    After that, he grabbed something to eat since he hadn¡¯t eaten something since yesterday, and cleaned his lab since the floor was full of powder.


    He wanted to move his lab to another place but sadly, it was already quite late, and Roxanne told him to visit a place at 6pm


    After leaving the place relatively clean, he searched for the place the note said, and found an abandoned factory but filled with people inside.


    No one stop him when he tried to get inside so he just blended with the crowd to see what his was about. The place was full of people of all ages, genders and social standings. There were bakers, police mans, house wife, kids, etc.


    At the back of the factory was an empty podium that the prince was sure someone was going to speak soon, and he was right. After waiting for a while, a man got up in the podium and after waiting for every one to stop talking he addressed them


    ¡°Thank you for coming to another meeting of ¡°WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE PRINCE¡± ¡°(orator)


    All the people around the prince cheer in agreement, making the prince really worried about the situation and why they were there


    ¡°Today we keep last meeting discussion ¡°Should we kick the bastard from the palace?¡± ¡°(orator)


    ¡­¡­¡­¡­.. sh*t!!!(prince)


    Note: thx nightmares</a> for pointing the mistake. The worst part is that it made sense without the correction


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 Chapter 30: Rebellion?

    14 after the explosion - abandon factory


    "For those that are new, this meeting started after the royal family disappear after the explosion to check how prince Julian was managing the kingdom. We have been paying close attention to the prince and most of us aren''t pleased with the situation"(Orator)Started to explain the reason for the meetings


    "He started making a full of himself by having his face all blue for days, confirming what everyone knew that he was incompetent. Or so most of us thought"(orator) kept going, but the prince seriously didn''t like how things were developing


    " Not only did he managed to get the support of the most important people in the kingdom almost instantly,with preferable treatment and offering their daughter to please him,  he even managed to beat the strongest knight in the kingdom twice, without mana and easily, showing he was more capable that he made us believe"(Orator)


    This made the prince a little proud since at least he looked capable of the people, even if he got their support since he was easy to manipulate according to them, and he almost died twice in the fight against Aria


    "And not only did he beat the strongest knight, he made her his slave and got 4 more beautiful girls to follow him around all over the place, showing off his personal harem!!"(orator) showed a little grudge in this part, and most men in the factory agreed with him(the other were probably gay or with their wife''s)


    Still, the prince wanted to complain that 1 was mad dog, another showed fewer emotions than an automated doll, his fiance constantly beat the crap out of him, the maid was too old and the last was his niece for god sake. But he could understand the feeling of most men, even he would want to punch a guy followed around by 5 girls, even if he was miserable on the inside


    "But his wickedness doesn''t end there, oh no. Strange occurrence have been going around the palace since the mysterious explosion. Not only a maid from the palace had been killed the same day of the explosion, a guard, and his fiance also got dispose of a few days later"(Orator)


    This made the prince sick in the stomach, he got to remember the incident with the guard from the other day, and even if she Elena wasn''t dead, he did feel responsible for it.


    "Don''t you think guys think all this mysterious occurrences are extremely convenient for the prince"(Orator)


    wait!!WHAT!!??(prince)surprised at the leap of logic he just heard


    "The explosion got rid of his competition, and since he looked so incompetent, no one suspected he did it. But would someone incompetent get the support of the powers of the country so fast?I say no"(Orator)


    The prince remembers now what the barkeeper told him the other day, but he could guess it got worse with time, adding even more rumors


    "And what about the maid? Some people said he knew who she was before the police even knew it. How would be possible unless he was responsible for the death, and killing a maid to shut her up since she saw something she shouldn''t, wouldn''t be something new in a place like the palace"(Orator) Looked at a woman crying, follow by all the spectators


    The prince could guess she was the mother since she looked around 40-50 and probably everyone else in the factory. This definitely didn''t look good for the prince since most people in the crowd could feel the pain in the poor woman


    "There is no evidence that he did it, but there is no culprit or even a suspect and who else but someone with connections could make all evidence disappear? Besides, he did meet with the police chief multiple times, probably to pressure him to drop the case. The police chief even assigned a rookie detective to the case after the prince visits him"(orator)


    You could see the shock in most people, even the prince himself since he asked for the best detective, not a fu-king rookie. But that explained why she was so young and made so many mistakes


    "And even worst, I am sure he got rid of his fiance and the killer to shut him up"(orator)


    This made the prince feel a mix of emotions that he didn''t know how to process. It was a mix of anger, rage, guilt, hopelessness, fear, and more. He couldn''t believe that not only had he suffer tremendously from the incident, he even got blame for it and the people around him believe it


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Everyone knew that the prince didn''t get along with his fiance. There are multiple witnesses of her screaming or shouting or complaining at him for years, and he completely ignoring her. Let me ask you, if you had someone constantly annoy you,that you had to marry because of your family decision, that you would have to spend the rest of your life with, especially when you could get any woman you wanted. Now if you were this person, and you not only had the power to get rid of her, you already got rid of other people before, wouldn''t you do it?"(Orator)


    Everyone around him agreed with the orator, but this only made the prince to seriously consider kill all the people around him. Did they seriously believe he was capable of something like that?


    "And he did it wonderfully. He used a guard that he later accuse of being involved in the murder of the poor maid,  he even had his slave kill him "accidentally" and even stop the police from interrogating her. He killed 3 birds with one stone masterfully. not only did he got rid of his fiance, he killed the killer and made the police look for a false trace for the maid murderer with the dead guard"(Orator)


    "I have no doubt that someone so capable got rid of his family to take the throne and become king to do whatever he wants"(Orator)


    In other circumstances, he would be amused by how imaginative the people were and the power of rumors and assumptions, but now the prince was really pissed at the people around him.


    He could tolerate been looked down, insulted, ignored, consider worthless, etc. He also could tolerate working really hard for a couple of days so he can enjoy a carefree life latter since the alternative would be to work hard for the rest of his life. But he did have a boiling point


    He had worked his ass off the last few days, putting his life in danger and suffering all kind of sh-t. In this 2 weeks he had been slashed, punched, his ribs broken, assaulted multiple times, drugged, kidnapped, threatened, insulted, robbed, locked in paperwork hell for a week, manipulated, his childhood friend/fiance almost died in front of his eyes and much more. Well, his family was also missing, but except for Jorge, he didn''t care much for the rest


    Still, after going to all that, after years and years of looking down on him and treating him like sh-t, this idiots were blaming him for all happen until now, making him a super mastermind capable of killing multiple people to accomplish his goal. And to make it worse, he was getting blamed for killing one of the few people he cares about, even if she was obnoxious most of the time.


    In any other circumstance, the prince would have taken the money in the castle and fled to who know where, but he wouldn''t be able to live with himself if he didn''t do something about this. The kingdom could burn to hell for all he cared, but before that, he would teach this paranoid a-s holes them not to mess with him


    "Now people, I ask of you, what do we do with him?"(Orator)


    "Kick his ass for all the people without a girlfriend!!"(men a) follow by the approval of a lot of people


    "Kill him!!!"(maid mother) follow by some people that also approved


    "Can I say a few words!?"(magician?) Shouted a young person with a magician robe, black hair, a pair of glasses, a bag on his back and a utility belt


    "Sure, we are all here to express our opinion"(orator) gave permission to the supposedly young magician


    The young magician moved to the crowd and went up to the podium. The orator moved to the side and gave room for the magician to speak, no one knew what would he said, but he looked pretty serious, so they let him speak


    "LET''S MAKE A PROTEST IN FRONT OF THE PALACE!!!"(magician?)


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 Chapter 31: Preparations

    14 days after the explosion - Abandoned Factory


    All the people looked at the magician with a dumbfounded look but he was expecting this kind of reaction, so he kept going


    "Let me ask you this, after everything you head, are you happy with the prince! yes or no!?"(magician?)


    "No!!"(some) answered


    "Do you want him to keep doing whatever he wants in the castle after everything you heard?"(magician?)


    "No!"(more)answered


    "Then why are we discussing, let''s go and protest in front of the castle! do you guys agreed!?"(magician?)


    "Yes!"(a lot) agreed


    "Then gather everyone you can find and gather them around the palace tomorrow at 9 am and let''s protest against the prince, yes?"(Magician?)


    "YES!!"(almost all agreed)


    "Then what are you waiting for!?GOGOGO!!"(magician)


    "Let''s go!!"(random guy a)


    And with that, all of them left the place with a mission, and the magician follow them behind. Of course, the poor orator lost the chance to say anything else, just like the magician planned, or to be more exact, the prince


    Since they were angry enough, it was easy to rile them up against him, they only needed a push. And why he did it? simple, it was best to gather all the people in discomfort in one place at the same time, and at the same time stop them for increasing the number of people and make a plan he wouldn''t know about


    And of course it was better to choose a ground he was familiar with and give them as little time as possible to gather, so they can''t make a complex plan, just follow the current


    "know your enemy and know yourself and you will always be victorious" was a quote his mother loved and he agreed. He knew how many, where, when and why they will come, but they didn''t know he knew that and even worse, they were thinking he would be caught by surprise. This gave him plenty of choices and opportunities to strike back


    If the prince was honest with himself, he wanted to yell at them right there, but he knew it was too dangerous to yell at a crowd of angry people without any preparations, especially when they were angry at you. Besides, he suspected that someone may be plotting against him and even if he suspected the orator, he may only be a puppet and there were probably more people behind him


    He may be paranoid, but it was too strange the leap of logic the arguments had, and it looked more like they twisted every little thing he did and found it an angle to make him look evil. He could be just imagine it since people love rumors and making them go over the top, but even if he was angry at them, he was cool-headed enough to recognize the dangers of his revenge


    For now, he would carefully make preparations for tomorrow, and teach a lesson to this a-s holes and may be the culprits behind it, and the first step involved buying 2 cakes


    14 days after the explosion - Magic university


    The prince didn''t have a problem to enter the magic university with his disguise, so he could easily sneak into the sacred zone where his sister was


    "why are you dressed like that? you can''t become a magician if you dress like one, you know?"(Rebecca)


    "Usually I would joke that it is kind of obvious why and I that it is surprising you didn''t figure it out, but I came to ask a favor"(prince) showed the 2 cakes he brought before coming


    "Of course I know why, but I love making fun of you"(Rebecca)


    fu-king S, no wonder I worried more about Elena or Lina than you guys(prince)


    "Well, point been, I need a favor so I brought the tribute to the goddess of madness"(prince) trying to flatter her


    "If you are going to call me a goddess, at least make it of magic"(Rebecca)pouted a little


    "Well, I would call you the goddess of sadist, but you don''t use leather much"(prince)And strangely, that make her smile instead of get angry


    Well, at least she knows she is a big S(prince)


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


    "Well, what do you want? If it is annoying or boring I won''t do it, even with the cakes"(Rebecca)


    "Ho! I promise it won''t be boring at least, here is what I want you to do"(prince)


    And then, he started to explain what he wanted Rebecca to do tomorrow at the protest


    "It looks fun but are you sure? It will make a lot of people hate you"(Rebecca)with a sinister smile


    "they already hate me. Besides, I got use to it"(prince) also had a sinister smile


    "Fine, I will do it. It should be a great practice for my magic, but I want at least 20 more cakes, it is annoying to wait in line"(Rebecca)


    "deal"(prince) shake his sister hand and was happy to complete step 2 of his plan


    He said goodbye to his sister and left the university. On the street, he went to a dinner to eat something while thinking the different ways he could approach tomorrow. After finishing his dinner and his plans, he brought some materials he needed on the marked and went to his lab to prepare them for tomorrow.


    After he finishes his preparations around midnight, he put everything in his bag and returned to the castle through the secret passage in the sewers.


    He changed his cloth in his parent room and after making sure no one was on the other side, he went out to the hallway. He found a maid on his way but before she could sound the alarm, he stopped her with a hand signal


    "Look for the annoying old man and tell him to meet me at my room as soon as possible"(prince)


    "old man?"(maid)


    "The butler that always wear a monocle on his eyes that boss everyone around"(prince)


    "Ah! Sebastian, I will look for him right away, he told us to inform him as soon as we saw you anyway"(maid)


    I am sure he did, annoying bastard(prince) still hold a grudge for hell week


    The maid bowed and quickly left the prince alone. He knew it would take long for him to appear, so he went to his room without worry. He left his bag on the floor and sit on a chair while waiting for the servant to appear. It didn''t take long for the old guy to appear


    "We have been looking for you all day sir"(servant)


    "I just wanted to take a day off, I am sure you understand"(prince)played dumb


    "I understand sir, but even if you take the day off, your responsibilities doesn''t"(servant)


    And that''s why I am trying so hard to get rid of these responsibilities(prince)


    "What is done is done. Besides, I call you because I need something from you"(prince)


    "What do you need sir?"(servant)


    "yes, I wanted for you to do 2 important stuff. First, make a podium in front of the palace right now and it must be finished before sunrise, ok?"(prince)


    "It should be possible, but why?"(servant)


    "It doesn''t matter, the other thing I want is for you to meet me here today at 7 am sharp, no matter what, ok?"(prince)


    "yes sir"(servant)


    "If you don''t mind, I want to sleep. so go make the podium please"(prince)


    "good night sir"(servant) left the room, leaving the prince alone


    The prince makes sure he had everything he needed in the bag and went to sleep. He had a busy day ahead and he wanted to be as rested as possible


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 Extra Chapter - Ex fiance

    ?? days after the explosion - ????


    Elena found herself trapped in an unknown villa for a couple of days now. She was constantly followed by either a maid, guard or doctor, so she was almost never alone. Well, even if she wanted to escape, she wasn''t strong enough to do it right now


    After the stabbing, she was in a coma for a while(they refuse to tell her how long) and when she finally woke up, She had to go trough a number of check ups since she may have suffered permanent damage.


    After some doctors checked on her to make sure she was ok, they told her that she wasn''t at 100% right now, but with some rehabilitation and the help from her inner mana, she should make a full recovery


    If she had to be honest with herself, she didn''t like to use her inner mana. In this day society, it was considered barbaric for a woman to use inner mana, especially among nobles. Besides, since the men usually wanted to be the strongest one, thanks to a stupid misconception that a woman would need to be weak so she can be protected, it was hard for a woman to marry if she openly uses her inner mana.


    On the other hand, outer mana was ok for a woman to use since usually mages were always considered weak, and needed a strong warrior to protect them. that''s why the standard adventures party have a man as the shield and a woman as the firepower. It''s not like there were a lot of parties with the man as the fire power and the woman as the shield, and what was consider the best party was a tank, warrior, mage, and healer, and it usually was a mix of both male and female


    Still, most men dreamed of becoming adventures and have a mage to protect, and most girls dreamed of having a strong knight to protect them from any harm, so the idea was for the men to be the warrior and the woman to be the mage.


    But it wasn''t only because she worried about most people opinion, it was because she didn''t want to brag in front of the prince. She knew the prince suffer a lot because he didn''t have talent in magic, or almost every other subject, unlike his brothers. So showing off that her fiance was stronger than him would probably depress him even more since it would  hurt his man pride.She knew he would probably don''t care enough, or at least act like he doesn''t care, but she wasn''t THAT interested in her inner mana so she didn''t want to pointlessly hurt the prince(beating the crap out of him when he did something stupid wasn''t pointless to her)


    She did practice a little when she was alone, since it would be a waste if she at least didn''t know how to use it, and she was thankful to have it since it would have been impossible to become his fianc¨¦ otherwise since the minimum requirement to marry royalty was to be able to use mana in some way. Besides, she probably would have died and it would have been impossible to have a full recovery if she didn''t have it


    And right now, she was using it to the fullest. It seems that when the guard stabbed her, her inner mana helped restore her body and kept helping her during the coma. Right now there wasn''t anything else to restore, but since she had some problems reconnecting her nerves with her brain and her muscle were a little weaker, after waking up she needed her inner mana to restore her stamina when working out


    There were a lot of things the inner mana was useful for. For starters, it improved the power of regeneration in one''s the body. Unless you were a monster, it was impossible to regrow an arm, but even a beginner could close a small wound with it and the better you were, the more damage you could recover.


    It also makes you stronger, faster, tougher, improved your reflex, improved your stamina and extended your life expectancy. In ideal conditions, an inner mana user could live to around 300 years old if they trained enough, so even if you were a woman and even if you don''t openly show it, they always trained it to some extent.


    Since she could recover her stamina faster, she could keep doing her physiotherapy longer, and since she could use her inner mana to make her muscle stronger, she could move easier than otherwise. Thanks to this, she was making a fast recovery and it wouldn''t take long for her to be even better than ever, since she never practices 12hs of inner mana every day before. Besides, it looked like her father wouldn''t let her out for a while, so practicing was the best way to kill time for her


    Still, she was far from an expert, and even if she kept training every day, she wouldn''t reach the level of an expert warrior. A true warrior practice at least 6 hours every day since they were young, and the more mana you use, the more you have later in your body and the faster it regenerates. That is why training near a mana vein, and the better the mana vein, the stronger you become, since the mana in your body regenerates faster, allowing you to spend more mana faster, and increasing your mana and mana regeneration even faster.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Well, there were other things to consider like maximum capacity, talent in how to use your own mana, the effort you put in increasing your mana and efficiency in increasing it.


    The maximum capacity was the limit of how much mana one can store in the body, and increasing that amount was incredible hard. The limit was almost the same for everyone, with some rare exceptions, and then you had to train 10 harder to increase the same amount than before reaching your limit. And after a while, it becomes 11 times harder, and then 12 etc. Most give up at their limit and then just do little training to keep in shape.Well, in case of Elena, she didn''t even reach her maximum capacity, but that was the case for most nobles, woman or non-adventures


    The talent depended on what you were good at. Some were extremely good at healing their body, others at increasing their strength and others at hardening their body. All could improve every aspect of their body to some extent, but it only increased the power they already have, and even if they have the same amount of power without the mana, how they use their mana changed the level of power. For example, if a normal person used mana to increase their strength, they would have the same strength of a trained soldier without mana, but if the soldier use it, he would have the strength of 5 soldier or 10 soldiers, depending on his talent in increasing his strength. In Elena''s cases, she would barely reach the power of a weakly trained soldier if she used her mana, but she had a better regeneration power than most mana users


    As for effort and efficiency, the amount of mana a person had would be the same if he or she trained 1 hours every day instead of 2, but at the same time, even if 2 persons trained 1 hour every day, one would have more mana than the other, simply because his rate of training was higher. And in Elena''s case, since she barely trained 1 hour a day before, her mana shouldn''t amount to much, and since she didn''t compare with others, she had no idea of efficiently she learned.


    Still, since she was under house arrest, all she could do was read, train and think, and it depressed her every time she thought about something, so she mostly read and train.


    And that was because every time she let her mind wander, she would think about the prince, and then she would get worried since she knew he was in constant danger and there was nothing she could do. She already had nightmares for the stabbing, and she doubted that would be the last dangerous situation he would be involved with, or she wouldn''t be put under house arrest by his father


    Well, she would also worried and get depressed about his romantic affairs. The last time she saw him, every day he was with a new beautiful girl, and now that they were no longer engaged, there was nothing she could do about it. She knew that she would easily get jealous every time he was talking with a beautiful girl, but she could help it. And besides that, she knew that she constantly nagged him about everything he did, but it was really frustrating how he always did whatever he wanted and had no ambition what so ever.


    And because she knew that she was constantly jealous and nagging, she wouldn''t find it strange that the prince would jump at the first beautiful girl who treat him nice and do whatever he wanted, and she had no one else to blame than herself. All she could do was wait there with nothing to do but read, train or get depressed in her own thought


    Well, at least that how it went for a while until a maid she was close to went to talk to her with a pale expression


    "Elena, your father found out something today and he wasn''t sure he should tell you but I think you must know"(maid)


    "What is it Margaret"(Elena)asked while getting anxious since it didn''t look like they were good news


    "Prince Julian is dead"(maid)


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 Extra chapter - Female Knight

    14 days after the explosion - The palace


    Hell week for the prince was actually heaven for Aria. Since she couldn''t read or count really well, not because she couldn''t learn, but because she wasn''t interested in learning (her family tried for years but give up in the end), she could do whatever she wanted while the prince was busy with the paperwork


    And not only did she get a lot of free time to train during that week, she also got her first disciple. Of course she wasn''t sure how to train her since she had never done it before, but after consulting with a couple of people, she did manage to make a proper training regimen for her and was quite pleased with the result


    At the start of every day, she would go to Lina''s room and when Lina was ready, the two of them would to the training room to start their practice. Aria would do her normal training while keeping an eye on Lina since what Lina had to do was pretty basic. First, Lina would do a light run around the training room while trying to use her inner mana without running out of it, and after she would rest a little while and do some swings with a practice sword while also taking proper form and using as much mana as possible without running out


    This exercise was made to both improve her mana control, increase her mana capacity and train her body without  hindering her growth since training too much in a young age could have adverse effects.


    After around an hour or 2 of training, they would take a quick bath and go to the dinner room to have breakfast with everyone else. Unlike herself and Lina, the prince and Susan were deadly tired and with a miserable face that grow worse every passing day. Of course, she felt a little guilty, especially with Susan since she mostly made her do all the work, but she would be lying if she says she wasn''t enjoying her freedom right now.


    In the end, after breakfast she would keep her training while Lina went to her normal classes with her maid and prince and Susan went back to Paperwork Hell. She heard that prince tried to escape multiple times, so she also had to help with guard duty at night since they had to increase his room security, but she enjoyed her training the rest of the day.


    Well, at least she kept that routine until the prince managed to escape after one week of hell. That''s when the whole castle went into a frenzy trying to find where the prince was, but no one could find him after searching every corner of the palace and even Sebastian, that knew most secret passages, couldn''t find him. So in the end most people did they normal jobs and Susan and most people in Hell paperwork took a day off, without anyone complaining


    Most people in the palace understood why he ran away since that much reading and signing and reading and signing would drive most people insane after a while. They weren''t too worried that he would run away since they checked that he hasn''t taken anything valuable from the palace and they doubt he would work for money since he was a useless leech NEET


    In the end, the prince returned around midnight and with the help of some more guards lend by the duke, he had 8 guards guarding his room, with no chance of escape from now on


    15 days after the explosion - The palace


    Aria found her room a little empty now that Elena wasn''t around, but she still got up every morning to do her regular training and tried to not think about it. In her way to Lina''s room she heard from some maid that the prince returned yesterday and filling like a weight had lifted from her shoulders, she realized she was more worried than she had realized herself. Even so, Aria dismissed as an afterthought and went to Lina''s room to give her the good news since she was really worried yesterday


    Lina was really happy that the prince was back, but since he was probably still asleep, they went to do her regular training and planned to talk to him at breakfast like every day.


    But the prince shows up with Lina''s personal maid by himself before they went to the dinner room.


    "Uncle!"(Lina) went to the prince and give him a hug


    "Hey Lina, is Aria making you work too hard?"(prince) said while stroking her head


    "No, I am having fun"(Lina)


    "good good, but sadly I need Aria''s help with something so you will have to cut today''s training short"(prince)


    "can I come too"(Lina) asked with a little hope in her eyes


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Sorry"(prince) didn''t want to explain, but didn''t want to lie also


    This made Lina really sad but went to her maid without throwing a tantrum


    "So, Go to Susan room right now, she will explain what you had to do"(prince) Left them alone after saying that


    Aria was a little confused for the strange turns of events, but after saying goodbye to Lina, she went to Susan''s room and when she went inside she found Susan in regular clothes instead of her usual magician cloth


    "The prince told me to come here, do you know why?"(Aria)


    "yes, he told me to found you some normal cloth you could wear outside"(Susan)


    "Then why didn''t he ask me to change myself instead of coming here?"(Aria) asked since she didn''t understand why she couldn''t change herself


    "He doesn''t trust your common sense, that''s why he told me to choose for you instead"(Susan) responded as if it was obvious


    Aria felt a little angry at the prince for how little trust he had for her taste, but still chose to wear the cloth Susan chose for her since they were nice. She took a quick bath since she was sweaty after the training and changed her cloth to the ones Susan recommended


    When she finished getting ready, she refused the offer from Susan to wear makeup since it was a bother so Susan took Aria to the room the prince told them to meet him. It was an empty guest room that was usually locked, but what surprised them was who was waiting for them inside


    It was the magician they were chasing the other day. Aria didn''t understand what was he doing there since they were expecting the prince inside but after taking a closer look


    "Prince?"(Aria)


    "No, just a random guy.......... Of course prince! Why would I call you here otherwise!?"(prince)


    "Why are you dressed like that, and weren''t you the guy we were chaising the other day?"(Aria)


    "We don''t have the time and I am not in the mood to explain, just follow me"(prince) didn''t bother to explain and just kept going


    He went to the closet in the room, and after doing something, he removed the wooden panel at the end of it and a tunnel could be seen behind it.


    "Susan, wake up!"(prince) clapped his hand in front of Susan''s face and pull her to the tunnel


    It seems she was really surprised at the prince disguise and hadn''t moved since he revealed himself. Still, both of them follow the prince through the tunnel until they reached a rock wall and after the prince uses a lever, the wall moved, revealing an access to the sewers of the city


    "Where are we going"(Aria)


    "Just follow me"(prince) still didn''t bother to explain and kept going to the sewers until they reached a ladder. He went up, follow by the two of them, and they reached the outside, in the middle of a street


    Some people gave them a strange look, but what surprised Aria was the great amount of people in front of the palace. She wonders why, but when she saw the prince push some people to go through the crowd, she and Susan follow him behind


    The prince kept going until he reached a podium at the front of the palace and after moving some people who were standing there just watching, he went up there while telling them to go to his side and he gazed at the crowd


    And when Aria realized that all the people here were there in a protest against the prince, what shocked her the most wasn''t the amount of people in front of her but that the prince, the person all this people came to protest against, was about to address them with a smug face full of confidence


    The only thing Aria knew was that she really wanted to join the crowd in protest right now.......


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 Extra chapter - noble magician

    7 days after the explosion - The palace


    Susan felt like sh-t when she "woke up" since she barely slept. She may had accomplished her mission by forcing the guard to react and letting him knock her out, but the consequences of her actions hunt her all night


    Every time she tried to sleep, she would have a nightmare of Elena bleeding to dead, or she blaming Susan for her dead, Susan ending up on the dungeon for treason, etc. She even end up throwing up a couple of time when awoken and felt really sick most of the time.


    With the help of makeup, her inner mana and outer mana, she managed to hide her physical state for most of the day, but no matter how good she was with healing magic and how much she  fixed her body, she couldn''t fix her guilt.


    And, of course, her "father" didn''t help her guilt when he gave her a new mission when she visit him in the evening. If it wasn''t for the DNI check she did when she was young, she would dream that he wasn''t actually her father, and her mother was only taking advantage of him


    First Susan reported her activities, including her "attempt" to stop the guard, her failure at finding out what was he doing at the magic university and that the prince knew that she was spying on him. The duke didn''t find it strange that he knew she was reporting to him, since he had realised this last few days that the prince was more competent than everyone thought, so he didn''t blame her for not managing to convince him to let her come into the magic university, besides it was more a curiosity than something important, or he would have told her to find out no matter what


    Since he was really pleased with her success at letting the culprit go so he can kill him without the prince notice(he had to pay both a contract killer and some guards to dispose him and make sure he wouldn''t talk) the duke told her of her new "test". Since the paperwork for the prince had accumulated for days now,  the prince would need help to manage all the work, and her job would be to help him


    If she manages to get him to help her, the duke would give her some especial glasses and after changing some of the paper, he would have them mark and her job would be to make the prince sign them without him notice the content. The danger would be low at the start but depending on how thing proceeds, he would be able to slip more dangerous papers, and of course he would be really pleased if she accomplishes this task without problems


    She, of course, accepted her "test" and promise to carry it out flawlessly, making the duke really pleased with her attitude. Still, even if she acted confidently, on the inside she was a complete mess.


    When she decided to work for the duke, she imagines she would do dirty work, but the worst she could ever imagine was seducing a disgusting man, finding dirty secrets or help ruin someone''s reputation. She never imagines she would help in the dead of two people(almost 3) and betray her country multiple times


    8 days after the explosion - the palace


    Another night of nightmares, but this time they include her father stabbing her while saying good work or the prince with a sword of his back cursing her to dead. The extra pressure the duke put on her and having to betray her country again wasn''t helping her state of mind. Thanks to all this, she was worse than yesterday and she even slip on her magic "fix" while eating breakfast but she managed to blame it on menstruation


    And in the end she confirmed what the duke told her yesterday and understood why he was so sure the prince would need help. When the old butler with the monocle took them to a room, she found In front of her a mountain of paper that would take a lifetime to clear alone.


    So as soon as the prince requested help, she made sure to be as useful as possible while searching for the mysterious market papers in the pile. She did find a couple at the top, but there was nothing too strange there, just to omit some little stuff, probably to see how the prince reacted


    In the end, she spend all day helping with the paperwork and even managed to slip the papers without problems


    14 days after the explosion - The palace


    After a week of work, she was a mess. Even with her magic and makeup she couldn''t hide her sorry state, but she did manage to blame it on the paperwork since everyone else was also tired, but the real reason was different. Of course, the constant reading tired her a lot, but each passing day, the amount of marked papers also increased, and each time was more obvious of the criminal activities. Each time the prince sign the paper, cold sweat was running behind Susan''s back and she was constantly worried about when she would get caught


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    To make it worse, she could barely sleep thanks to the nightmares and the guilt, so she was a completely mess after the long hours of work, the constant stress and the few hours of sleep every day for a week. So the prince escaping the palace was a blessing for her


    She went to report to the duke since she had missed a week of reports thanks to all the work, and she confirmed that all the paper passed without a problem. To her surprise, the duke asked if she was ok since she looked ill, but she said that she was only tired of all the work and with a day off she would be ok. In the end, the duke told her that her dedication to the family pleased him, but she should take better care of her body. Of course she told him that she would, to make sure he wouldn''t have doubts about her ability to manage complicated stuff and left the mansion after saying goodbye(and getting some "pocket-money" from the duke)


    Before returning to the palace, she chose to go an apothecary and buy something to help her sleep before she breaks. She asked the receptionist what was best to sleep without dreaming and she recommended an aroma tea bags. She paid 2 silvers gladly and as soon as she got back to her room, she use it and felt asleep


    15 days after the explosion - the Palace


    She woke up the next day after someone knock at her door, but since that someone kept knocking unlike the usual waking knock, she wore a robe she kept around and open the door, to find the prince on the other side


    "Sorry to wake you up so early but I need you to do something for me"(prince) said with trying discreetly to catching a glee of her slightly exposed boobs(he was human you know)


    "what is it?"(Susan) said while grabbing her robe better with one hand to cover better her exposed parts


    "I need you and Aria to dress in casual cloth since we are going out, I will send Aria in a little while, so pick something for her since I don''t really trust her taste,can you do it"(prince)


    "Sure, I should have something nice she can wear"(Susan) couldn''t argue with Aria''s taste since she probably only had training clothes and armor


    "Ok, meet me in the room at the end of the hallway when you are ready"(prince) left after saying the directions


    Susan wondered what was the prince planning but still got her''s and Arias cloth ready and went to change. She found her complexion a little better after a good night of sleep, but she still wasn''t a 100% ok and still felt like throwing up went she thought all she had done and would have to do from now on.


    When she finish getting, it didn''t take long for Aria to arrive and after she was also done, the two of them went to the room prince mention, but her mind went blank when she saw who was inside


    She had suspected that the guy that helped/robbed her in the past was the prince, but when she saw him in front of her eyes, her mind couldn''t process.


    What was he doing here?was he the prince? why was he dressed like that?why did he help her?why would he rob her? what was he planning? what would he think if he finds out what she did? etc....


    All this questions made her go in an eternal loop, and even when the prince tried to wake her up, all she could do was follow them while trying to process this information.


    She managed to follow them until they reached the podium without been completely aware of what was going on around her until the sound of an explosion woke her up


    Note: thx nightmares</a> for pointing the mistakes


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 Chapter 32: Adressing the crowd

    15 days after the explosion - the palace


    The prince was deep asleep when he heard the knock at the door. He wanted to keep on sleeping for at least 12 more hours, but he forced to move his body out of bed when he remember all the stuff he had to do today


    He dressed normally and open up the door to find the annoying servant outside, waiting for the prince to get up. The prince told the servant to go inside his room and close the door so the guards outside wouldn''t hear him


    "I woke you up as you asked sir"(servant)


    "yes yes, I can see that"(prince) answer a little annoyed


    "Do you need something else sir?"(servant)


    "a couple of things, First I want you to prepare a couple of griffon for riding"(prince)


    "Do you plan to go somewhere?"(servant)


    "not really, It''s just a precaution"(prince)


    "A precaution for what?"(servant)


    "that''s the other thing I need you to do, take this package"(prince) went to his bag and took a package and a note, handing them to the servant "And follow my instructions step by step"


    The servant took the package and started to read the note, turning a little more pale the closer he got to the end


    "what does this mean?what''s going on? "(servant) confused at the meaning behind the instructions


    "Doesn''t matter, just follow them to the letter and make sure you destroy the note when you finish memorising. Don''t fail!"(prince) warned him


    "But if what is inside this package? why do I need to pull the cord in the middle of a crowd?"(servant)


    "It''s nothing dangerous, it is only a warning signal, nothing more"(prince) half lied


    "Warning signal?Isn''t this really dangerous? I can''t let you do anything that would put your life at risk sir"(servant)


    "don''t worry don''t worry, everything is fine, it''s just a prank"(prince) lied like a champion


    "All this just for a prank?"(servant) didn''t buy it


    "An important prank, just do it and I promise I will keep doing the paperwork later"(prince) kept lying like a champ, or at least wanted to believe it was a lie


    "Ok sir, I hope you know what you are doing"(servant) left to do what the prince asked


    me too(prince)


    When the servant left, the prince went to Susan''s room to wake her up. He knocked the door and was glad that she at least looked better than 2 days ago, probably thanks to a good day of sleep. He told her to dress casually and prepare some casual clothes for Aria(while discreetly taking a glance at her ....) and when he told her where to meet him when she was done, he left her to prepare since he had more stuff to do


    Prince then went to Lina''s room since he had another precaution to make. He knocked the door and the personal maid of lina was cleaning the room like the prince thought she would


    "Hi! I need you to do some for me"(prince)


    "What do you need prince"(P maid)


    "At 9 I want you to take lina to the stables with some excuse like petting the animals or something like that, and if some people enter the castle, I want you to take lina in a griffon to the generals mansion, you know where it is right?"(prince)


    "yes, I went a couple of times after the general invited Paul to his mansion, but what''s going on? Is Lina in danger?"(p maid)


    "not really, it is just a precaution if things go south at the protest"(prince)


    "WHAT PROTEST!?"(P maid)


    "calm down, it''s just some angry people complaining about pointless stuff, I have everything in control"(prince)


    "if you have everything in control, why do we need to get ready to run at any moment?"(p maid) made a good point


    "In case I lose control?"(prince) tried to play dumb


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    This makes the maid turn a little pale and worry for Lina''s safety, but the prince tried to reassure her


    "don''t worry don''t worry, nothing should go wrong, it is only to make absolutely sure nothing bad will happen to Lina no matter what"(prince)


    This calmed down the maid a bit, but she still was worry


    "let''s go to Lina"(prince)choose to finish his business fast since he didn''t have a lot of time left


    They found Lina and Aria training like he expected, but he make them stop and send Aria to Susan and Lina to her maid(the last one a little disappointed). And since he had a couple of minutes before the two girls were ready, he went to grab his bag in the room and went to the kitchen to eat something before heading out. When he finished his breakfast, he went to the empty guest room and changed into his magician robe(with the armor under it)


    After a while, the two girls arrived at the room and the prince had to admit they looked nice in casual clothes. He dismissed Arias questions and went to the secret passage Jorge show him when he was young. After opening, she told the two girls to follow him after he woke up Susan since she was completely stunned (Leaving prince wondering why the big shock).


    He didn''t have a problem getting outside, but it did kind of shock him how many people were here to protest. He counts at least 30 thousand, and there was probably a lot more. Still he didn''t let this put him down and went to the podium while going through the crowd


    He found the orator on top of the podium ready to speak at any moment, with some people around him. The prince asked the orator to let him speak and without complaining or making a fuss he agreed, probably since the prince was the one that started all this and he wanted to see what he had planned(or maybe he was happy as long as someone did it)


    The prince was glad to get to the podium without problems, and after telling the two girls to go to each side(he brought them as a precaution) he took a magic tool that amplify sound and started to address the crowd


    "Hello Everyone"(prince) spoke through the amplifier, making it possible to be heard by all the people that came


    "If everyone would quiet down a little, I have a few things to say"(prince) tried to make everyone listen to his words


    He waited a little for everyone to quiet down(or at least stop talking loudly)and kept talking


    "Some of you may remember that yesterday I proposed this protest, and even though it is surprising that so many came, I brought you here for a good reason"(prince)continue


    "And that reason isn''t to protest against Prince Julian but a different reason"(prince)


    This confuse  some people and started to talk with the person next to them to see what was going on, but most of them stayed quiet to see what the magician? meant


    "And the reason was  to trap you all in one place and not only teach you guys an important lesson but to say 2 important words, FU*K YOU!!!!"(prince)


    and when he said that, an explosion could be heard, and some powder flew all over the place, making fall sleep a lot of people


    "And, by the way, I put wards all over the place and traps like that one, so if anyone tries to leave they will get hit by it and if you guys try to cause problems, I may activate some or all traps, and let me tell you I brought enough for all of you"(prince)


    this makes everyone turn pale, and some at the end of the crowd did try to run away, but they instantly fell asleep, making everyone realised there was no place to run and nothing to do but see what happens now


    "Soooo, let''s have a little chat, ok guys?"(prince) said with a smug face


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 Chapter 33: lets complain a bit

    15 days after the explosion ¨C In front of the palace


    The prince was kind of bluffing, he couldn¡¯t make that many traps and there were no wards on the place. The only trap he could make had been the one he gave to the servant inside the package that morning, and the only way to activate it was manually so he ordered the servant to activate the package the moment he said f*ck you


    He only told him to breath from the mouth to diminish the effect, but he still would fall asleep with the rest. The only advantage was that he should wake up first thanks to breathing through the mouth. He really didn¡¯t explain much, just step by step on how to get there and how to act, nothing more. It was kind of revenge for hell week, but he was also the only working staff he could relay on, since he was the person his parents trusted the most, and he knew the guy from years, even if he never really like him or bother to learn his name


    But it¡¯s not like he had come unprepared, for starters, he had his sister covering him from the shadows, sending a sleep spell to anyone that tried to hurt him or run away, and he knew that since the mana in front of the palace was great, she shouldn¡¯t have a problem in casting a massive sleep spell, since she really was a monster


    Well, the prince really didn''t trust her with his life just because he believes in the goodness of her heart, but he doubted she would betray him. First he already paid his tribute and made a deal with her, and she isn''t the kind that breaks off an agreement she makes, no matter how Sadist she was inside. Besides, this was probably fun for her and it wouldn''t be good for her if something happens to the prince


    Besides, he had a meat shield and a healer besides him and if things went south, he could order aria to grab him and Susan and jump the fence and run to the griffons and ask Susan to heal him if something happen.


    But he doubted he would need all that since the explosion and the people falling asleep around them should  keep everyone in check


    ¡°Now, you are probably wondering why I am doing this, and the answer is simple, I am prince Julian¡±(prince)


    Everyone was absolutely shocked at the statement since it was weird on so many levels. It was already surprising to have a prince in front of them, but all those people came here because of him, and they came to complain and catching him by surprise with this sudden protest, so having him appear just like that made no sense. Besides, HE WAS THE GUY THAT BROUGHT THEM HERE


    ¡°I know it makes no sense, but it¡¯s the truth. I am the reason you all came here, so here I am¡±(prince)


    ¡°And the reason I appear in front of all is to deal with all of you at the same time. I heard what you guys say behind my back and I felt disgusted with all of you. Seriously YOU.GUYS.DISGUST.ME!"(prince)


    Most people  showed contempt or anger on their faces but before they could say something the prince made a stop sign with his hand


    "Remember remember the bombs at your feet"(prince)said with a smug smile and some small dancing while waving his index finger, freezing most people


    "now, like I was saying, I felt really piss off when I heard all you people whining and complaining about my actions. Aria, bring that guy over here"(prince) said while pointing at the orator from yesterday


    This surprised Aria for a second, since she didn''t expect to be suddenly called by the prince, but she quickly reacted and after watching who the prince was pointing at, she went to grab the guy. The poor guy was pale as a sheet but was too scared to run and in the end he got caught by Aria without problems


    "Now mister, what were you saying yesterday about me?"(prince) said with an evil smile while Aria brought him just beside the prince and stayed behind his back


    "                          "(orator) didn''t know what to say


    "speak!"(prince)  raised his voice a little bit to make him react


    "Ehhh! don''t hurt me!!"(orator) covered his face in fear


    The prince understood that he wouldn''t be able to make the orator speak, so he decided to face the crowd


    "fine, if you don''t want to say it then let me help you with that. If I remember right, you said I murdered that maid, am I wrong?"


    and like the prince suspected, the orator kept quiet


    "well, since you want to keep quiet, even when it''s the bull s-t you tell these people what brought them here, let me explain all of you little sh-ts what really happened"(prince)


    surprising, instead of bhuuing or cursing, the crowd paid more attention to what the prince was saying


    "Simple, she stole stuff from Rebecca''s room and got killed by the buyers. The guard that got killed helped her get the stuff out of the castle. If you guys did a little research instead of believing the first thing they tell you like idiots, you would find out the truth. by the way"(prince) prince stoped talking and punched the orator in the face causing the crowd to gasp


    "That''s for blaming me for Elena''s attack, and by the way a-s holes, she is still alive"(prince) said while pointing at the crowd


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    "Besides, that mad dog over there didn''t kill the guard, we had at least 100 witness that can confirm she beat the crap out of him without killing him" (prince) said while pointing at Aria


    "And the people who hate me for a harem, even if I understand the envy, you should know that this one is a mad dog, the other show fewer emotions than an automated doll and the last one got stabbed in the heart, so it''s not a dreamy situation like you guys thought"(prince)


    "And finally, after years and years of treating me like sh-t and looking down on me, you complain when I step up and try to keep everything in check while putting my life at risk instead of just taking everything valuable I can carry and run away, leaving you to fend for yourself like you deserve? and to make it worse, I am actually risking my life since no one knows how the explosion happened and if they are trying to kill all the royal family. But besides having to keep the empire running, watch for any assassination attempt and doing mountains of paperwork, I also have to deal with the unjust complaint of people who believe simple rumors instead of actually finding out what is going on in the country? "(prince) tried to make the crowd feel guilty, with absolute success


    " Anyone has anything to say?"(prince)said and waited for anyone to say something


    and since no one said anything,he decided to pull his last little revenge on the complaining a-s holes


    "Figures, easy to complain when you have an excuse and your a-s isn''t in the line, but when it comes to actually steping up and do something ballsy, no one dares. Well, since I don''t have anything else to say and no one else dares to step up"(prince)said and then the prince clapped his hand 3 times


    This confused the crowd since it made no sense(like everything that happen till now) but a few seconds later, all the crowd felt asleep


    By the way, the reason the mother of the maid didn''t show was because he instructed the servant to activate the trap near her, since he knew how she looked like and the prince instructed him to follow her from her home. The prince did it this way since if she started to cry or act in rage, it would be harder to control the crowd


    "Priiirirince, whaa aats goiing on?"(Aria) was too surprised to speak properly and couldn''t process what has just happened


    "I just activated the traps, nothing more"(prince) lied, he told Rebecca to make them all fall sleep at the end, but the end result was the same


    "buut, how did you do it?"(Aria)


    "secret"(prince)winked at her


    "well, grab the guy I punched, I am still not done with him"(prince)


    The only people not affected by the spell were the ones inside the palace, the prince and his 2 bodyguards, so Aria would need to carry the guy


    "and put him at the palace prison"(prince)


    "prince, what do we do with all those people"(Susan) wondered what was his plan with all this crowd of unconscious people


    "Just leave them there, they will get up eventually"(prince) answered without a care


    He did feel a little better after taking out his frustration with those people, but it was time to get some answers from thise guy, even if he doubts that he knows much


    The prince entered the palace from the front door and they let him come inside since it was kind of obvious he is the prince. He told the guards not to worry about the people sleeping and just keep guarding and when he came inside, she told two maids to look for the head butler(the servant) around the people hit by the white powder and bring him inside


    Lastly he went to see if Lina was ok, and after confirming that she was just petting some horses and didn''t realise that there was a commotion outside, the prince was glad that everything went alright


    It was a shame he couldn''t dress as the magician anymore since everyone knew how he looked, but a wig should do the trick if he needed to go outside again. For now, the prince would go to the prison and see if the orator knows anything useful


    Note: thx nightmares</a> for pointing the mistakes and other chapters, and thx  zenla</a> for the really extensive one


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 Chapter 34: The letters

    15 days after the explosion - Palace Prison


    Luckily for the prince, Susan knew a spell to wake up the Orator, so they didn''t have to wait for him to wake up normally. Of course, he was inside the cell when he woke up and he didn''t understand what was going on at the beginning until he saw the prince face and the cell bars


    "Whaaats going on?"(orator) ask while fearing for the worst


    "Isn''t it obvious? you are in jail"(prince)smiled at him


    "Why? I didn''t do anything"(orator) shakes his head and hands in denial


    "Starting a rebellion is nothing? you must have a different sense of right and wrong from the rest of country if you really believe that"(Prince)


    "I didn''t start a rebellion!!!"(orator)was panicking


    "What would you call a person that  feeds false information and spreads lies and half-truths to instigated the people if not  someone trying to start a rebellion?"(prince)acted smug with an evil smile


    "but but I wasn''t trying to start a rebellion, I was just telling what I heard. I am just a concern citizen"(the "concern citizen")


    "Riggght, concern citizen. Would a concerned citizen bring hundreds of people to a secret meeting in an abandoned factory to spread lies?"(prince) use the extreme sarcasm card


    "It wasn''t a secret meeting, anyone could go if they knew about it, and I didn''t spread lies"(the "concern citizen") acted innocent


    "of course not, ii was just a meeting that anyone that showed hate for the prince would be invited to, and what you said there wasn''t a lie, it just happens to be it wasn''t true"(prince)kept the sarcasm


    "I never said that I was telling the truth, they were just rumors on the street and speculations, that''s all. And I wasn''t inviting the people, it was for each person to decided who they bring" ("concern citizen")


    "And where did you heard those "rumors" "(prince) went to the real reason he imprisons the guy


    "everywhere, In bars, market, the street etc. Every time you talked to someone about the prince, a new story pop up"("concern citizen") said, and the prince didn''t think he was lying since even him had heard a rumor when he talked with the barkeeper by chance


    "Fine, It may be true that there are all kind of rumors out there but how come you not only find out the ones that were close to what really happened while also changing them in a way that made me look like the bad guy"(prince)confront him


    "Ehhh, it was just by chance"(orator)lied, and the prince knew it


    "You know, there is a lie detector in the room"(prince) also lied, but started to really consider finding one in the future


    "No way"(orator)turned a little pale


    "yep, so no bullsh-t, tell me the truth"(prince)smiled with a smug face


    "I don''t know what you are talking about"(orator)acted dumb


    "lie"(prince)


    "I am not l"(orator)


    "lie"(prince)interrupt him


    "let me finish"(orator)


    I already explained at the start that I could charge you with starting a rebellion, and it shouldn''t be too hard to sentence you to dead, so start talking or......"(prince)threatened the guy


    The orator understood that he was screw, he couldn''t lie, and the prince would force him to speak or sentence him to dead if he didn''t talk, and after what he saw the prince do outside, he knew he could find a way to do it


    "If I tell you, would you promise not to kill or imprison me?"(orator) tried to bargain


    "If it''s the truth and you didn''t do anything too bad, yes"(prince)


    "Do you really promise, without any tricks or deceptions?"(orator)


    "I promise in the name of my family"(prince) promise, but he didn''t care much for his family honor. Still, it did sound  serious that way


    "I got paid"(orator)


    "???"(prince)with a questioning look


    "Someone paid me to talk about the prince"(orator)


    "Who?"(prince) curious


    "I don''t know"(orator)


    "what do you mean you don''t know, how did you get the money then"(prince)


    "I got a letter in my house one day with an address and some money. It said I needed to find bad rumors about you and talk about them there"(orator)


    "And you just did it?"(prince)


    "Well, I do this kind of stuff for a living, and I always take a job as long as I get paid"(orator)said proudly


    "Even if it''s is against the law?"(prince)


    "It''s not against the law to talk about someone, even if it''s badly"(orator) tried to defend himself


    "I think I already said multiple times that starting a rebellion IS against the law"


    "I was just talking, and you promise to let me go!"(orator)


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    "Fine, keep going"(prince)


    "Well, first it was a small crowd, and even if most were against the prince, I didn''t have much information to go on"(orator)


    "I feel a but coming"(prince)


    "But the next day I got more money, with a new address and new information, so I went more prepare this time"(orator)


    "and?"(prince)


    "And it went better. But the next day I got even more money, so I did a little research and find more stuff to talk about. This kept repeating every day, with more money each day, and when I showed more initiative, I got more money send to me. Sometimes I found interesting stuff by myself, and other times they send it by the cards, that''s how the speech ended like that in yesterday meeting"(orator)


    "Did you kept the letters?"(prince)


    "Yes, I kept them in a safe place"(orator)


    The prince deliberate for a second. He could question him a little more, but he doubted he would have anything else important to say and he knew that the moment he asks him to giving him the cards, he would have to let him go


    "and you don''t know anything about who hired you or have any clue or suspicion, right?"(prince)


    "sorry"(orator)


    "Fine, Aria, take him to his home and bring me the letters. IF he lied or tries to run, break his legs and bring him back"(prince)said it with a serious face, and the orator gulped and looked at the mad dog with a worried face


    "and don''t eat him"(prince)said, and for a second, the orator believe she was capable


    "Hey!(Aria) got offended


    "I am joking I am joking, just take him, but do break his legs if he doesn''t behave"(prince)


    "Fine, let''s go mister"(Aria) grabbed the guy and push him out of the cell


    The prince would have wanted to keep him longer, and wouldn''t have minded a little torture to find out everything he knew, but he was a key figure in the rebellion, and whoever was behind it would use any harm that came to him from the prince, and keeping him for long wouldn''t help


    For now, his best bet would analyze the letters and maybe speak with the information broker again. And now that the prince thought about Roxanne, he still needed to find if the warrior she talked about was his brother Paul


    So in the end, the prince, the orator and the two bodyguards got out of the palace prison and found the servant awake waiting for the prince


    "Oh, great timing, I need you to do a couple of things for me. Aria, take this guy home and get the letters"(prince)


    Aria kept pushing the guy and the two of them left the place. The prince waited for Aria to be out of sight to talk


    "I want you to find two people to discreetly follow him around 24/7 and see who he talks to"(prince) told the servant


    He doubted he would get much out of it, but it was worth a shot


    "No problem sir"(servant)


    "And I also need to go to this city soon. Make the proper preparations for five"(prince) handed the paper Roxanne gave him yesterday


    " Can I see the place?"(Susan) ask curiously


    "Why?"(prince) wonder why the sudden interest


    "I want to know where we are going, is that a problem?"(Susan) answer defensively and razing an eye brow


    "Fine, show her the paper"(prince) Told the servant since he didn''t remember the name


    "Here miss"(servant) Handed the paper to Susan


    "Thank you"(Susan) Took the paper and after memorizing the name of the city, he returned it to the servant


    "Do you know it?"(prince)


    "No, Sorry"(Susan)


    "I think it is a city in the north near the border"(Servant) answered


    "Oh, That sounds about right, make the preparations for going there then"(prince)


    " Of course sir, bur first you must fulfill your duty"(servant) said while smiling at the prince


    "Wuuuaaat do you mean?"(prince) fear the worst


    "Guards, take him you know where"(servant) Snaped his fingers and two guards appear at each side of the prince and lift him from the ground


    "Wait wait, please not there again!!!!"(prince) was almost shouting to the heavens


    Susan send a small pray to the gods and reluctantly follow the prince to another session of hell


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 Chapter 35: Ready to travel?

    15 days after the explosion - Hell room


    It was paperwork hell, paperwork everywhere, and since he didn''t work yesterday, the pile that was slowly disappearing was full again, making the prince feel a sense of despair with no hope of getting away. And to make it worst, 2 of the helpers quit and the servant was busy with what the prince asked, so extra work for him and everyone present.


    He was starting to regret not running away when he could


    16 days after the explosion - Hell Room


    Any attempt to run away was useless. There were 8 guards outside the room and even 1 each at the adjacent rooms, so there was no point in making a hole in the wall. And to make it worst, he was follow 24/7, not giving him a chance to slip away as soon as he was out of sight, not even in the bathroom.


    So in the end, he had to keep working with no hope of escaping. It also didn''t help his mood when he saw the letters.


    The letters not only were perfectly made to hide all traces of where did they came, the information they had made the prince feel really paranoid. The letters showed not only that the makers were extremely careful and had great knowledge of the different investigations tools, they were also well-informed, too well for the prince taste.


    What had been written showed that they knew everything that he had done in plain sight and had a lot of connections on the palace and/or police force. Luckily, they didn''t know of his activities as the alchemist or he would really start to worry he had a tracker or a ghost following him


    Still, this confirmed two things. First, there were at least one or more moles near him, and whoever send the letters had great power and wanted him out of the palace, but not necessary dead. So far, he had five different attempts against the crown, but he couldn''t be sure they all belong to the same people. The first one was the explosion at the temple


    The first one was the explosion at the temple, but sadly he had no clue about who did it or why


    the second was the priestess murder in the hotel. He knew that an expert had done it and it was probably related to the explosion, but until he found his brother Jorge, he doubted he would find more about it


    the third was the dead maid and the stealing of Princess Rebecca''s stuff. For the timing, the stealing was probably related to the explosion, but it may be possible that someone was just taking advantage of the explosion. Well, it was possible that the ones that killed the maid were the same ones that killed the priestess since they looked like assassins, but he couldn''t be sure yet


    The fourth was the guard, but he obviously got killed before he could spill who hired him, and the way he was murdered showed connections with either the police, the guards or Aria was a great liar.


    And now this letters were the 5th one. But unlike the rest, he couldn''t properly connect it with the others since it was  a little different from the rest. If he had to find some similarity with each one, he would say that the 5th and 1st attempt looked similar, the 2nd may have some connection to the 1st, the 3rd could be involved to the 2nd, and of course the 4th happen to cover for the 3rd.


    It was all speculation, so the prince couldn''t be sure if it was all a big conspiracy or just different people taking advantage of the situation. And knowing full well how this world full of scum worked, he wouldn''t be surprised if it was different people taking advantage of a bad situation instead of the obvious big bad conspiracy


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    17 days after the explosion - Hell Room


    With no hope of escape, the prince kept working none stop and wishing he could get away from all this or he would go crazy.


    The servant did manage to make a proper route for the prince to reach the city where his brother was last seen(not like he told anyone about that) but he wouldn''t let him go until he finishes his papers for the day at least


    The city was a 4 days travel by griffon, so it would take him at least 8 days to come back so the servant wanted for the prince to finish as much paperwork as possible, and the prince only managed to convince him by telling him it was urgent to go there


    In the end, he spends most of the day doing as much paperwork as possible and promising to himself that he would find Paul no matter what


    18 days after the explosion - The Palace


    Most of the work was done by the servant, so he didn''t need to even pack his clothes. Well, he did prepare apart his adventures plate, armor, magician clothes, utility belt with some extra sleeping powder in his bag(the little he had left) and gold coins, just to be sure


    He stepped outside his room and went to the stables where his bodyguards and niece were waiting for him. Everything was packed and ready to go,  and since they had a light breakfast a little while ago, they were ready.


    "Uncle, where are we going?"(Lina)asked a little excited since it was her first time traveling in a griffon


    "A secret ;-)"(prince) didn''t want to get her hopes up since he wasn''t sure it was Paul


    But he needed to bring Lina for two reasons. First, even if the travel was dangerous for more than one reason(specially since the plan wasn''t just to look for Paul), he didn''t want to leave her alone in the castle since not only she would get depressed, he didn''t trust the people in the palace. The other reason was to use her to convince Paul to come back if he was the adventure they were looking for


    If everything went as he hoped, the travel to the city would go without problems and they would find Paul at the adventures guild with a good reason for why he didn''t come back and easy to solve. But he knew it wouldn''t be that easy, and he wasn''t even sure he would reach the city safely


    He chose on purpose to stay one day in each of the of the factions residences(adding an extra day to the travel) to act as bait and see if they do something. Besides he requested the servant that only he knew the way the would go, and not anyone else, and to make sure no one would be able to intercept them


    Even if no one did nothing, he wouldn''t be absolutely sure of their innocence since a lot of strange things have gone on, but it would calm him a little bit. And if someone did make a move, he had an ace in the hole that no one should know


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 Chapter 36: A good day, finally

    18 days after the explosion - The Palace


    The griffons were expensive monsters to raise, so only rich people could afford them. They were fast and strong, but since it was a dangerous job to tame and keep one, only people with ample resources were capable of having them.Even inside the palace, they only had eight in the stables.


    Of course, they were worth every copper since they were one of the fastest and safest ways of travel. Unlike land were a lot of creatures could benefit from the mana veins, the sky had a lot of less mana, so flying creatures were usually weaker than land creatures. Of course, there were a lot of strong monsters that could fly, but the mana regeneration was lower when they flew, so they weren''t constantly flying, making it harder to find a strong flying monsters just flying around.


    And the griffons are one of the strongest flying creatures out there, so unless you were unlucky enough to find a dragon flying around, you were pretty safe


    And, of course, the prince was secretly excited since he almost never had an opportunity to travel in a griffon before, and the times he did were really fun. Not only were the griffons extremely cool, the feeling of the wind in your face and the wonderful view was excellent


    "Well, let''s put everything over the griffons and lets depart"(prince)trying to hide his excitement in his voice


    "Yes!"(shoutsx4)said the 4 girls excited on the rare chance of flying on a griffon


    "Ehh sir..."(guard a) tried to draw their attention


    "what?"(prince)


    "We are going by carriage"(guard a) crushed everyone''s expectations


    18 days after the explosion - Carriage


    It''s turn out there was too much luggage for the griffons to carry, a side effect of taking 4 womans on a trip. The travel time took in consideration the resting time of the griffons, and they were traveling in horses capable of using mana, so they didn''t have to spend extra time traveling, but it wasn''t the same.


    You could see the disappointed faces of everyone inside the carriage since it looked like all of them wanted to travel in a griffon. Well, at least they were happily stroking the cat and enjoying the view, even if they were a little down because of the lost opportunity


    Luckily, since one of the policies in the wise king rule was to pave all the important roads to flourish the commerce(and army movement), so they were quite comfortable inside the carriage with the smooth terrain, preventing the travel from ben a pain in the a-s(both figurative and literally)


    "So lina, enjoying the view?"(prince) tried to start a conversation since he had nothing else to do


    "Yep! it''s the first time I go so far away from the capital"(lina) excited since all this was new to her


    "Where are we going prince"(Aria)curious about the destination since the prince had been pretty secretive to not ruin the surprise (the prince said)


    "Well, today we are going to a laboratory from the magic university. They think I am a rich noble the archmage is trying to impress, so don''t tell them the truth"(prince)didn''t want for them to find out the truth since it would get annoying otherwise


    So they chatted the rest of the way and arrived at the laboratory in the evening. The prince wasn''t expecting an ambush on the way(even if he did prepare just in case) since he made sure only 3 people knew the travel path, him, the servant and guard A, that was also the coachman


    But like he expected or at least wanted to expect, they reached their destination without problems. They got themselves well received by the people in the facility(since they thought they were money bags) and the prince was pleased that the servant chose a nice place to stay


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    Usually when you think about a laboratory, you wouldn''t think as a good place for a prince to stay, but since this was a special kind, it was a great place to stay


    First, it had great security since it had important research that the empire was afraid to get stolen or leaked. Second, since important people stay from time to time, like the king or archmage, there were some special luxurious rooms for important guest. Finally, the mages treated them really well, so the stay was pretty enjoyable


    Susan wasn''t specially captivated since she study at the university, but the others(including the prince) enjoyed the different research that the university were conducting, and ou could see sparkles in the eyes of both Lina and Aria.


    Well, the prince almost felt like killing the archmage when he found out this was actually laboratory that specialises in the research of dangerous materials, and that''s why it had high security and was outside the city, since if an accident happened, they wanted to diminish the casualties as much as possible. But they also told him that no really dangerous research was conducted right now, so they were safe


    In the end, they had a great time, and probably the first peaceful day the prince had in weeks.


    19 days after the explosion - Carriage


    They left early in the morning since they had a long day of travel ahead. The prince went to sleep a little later than the rest since he was curious about some alchemy research they were conducting, so he went to sleep inside the carriage. Meanwhile, the other girls chatted excited about what they saw yesterday(especially Lina and Aria) and hoped that they could come back on their way back to the Capital


    They did stop to eat in a small village, and the girls found out where they were going now. It looked like this time they were heading to a villa from the Duke, and like the Laboratory, the would spend the night there and leave in the morning. Susan offered this villa the day after she found out where they were heading, and this gave the prince the idea of testing all his close associates


    Since too many leaks have been going on lately, the best thing he could do was to give different information to each one and see if something got leaked. Depending on what got leaked, he could guess who did it, but even if no information got leaked, he couldn''t afford to completely truth them until he finds who was leaking the information, or until he finds someone to stick all the responsibility


    At least for now  he could trust the Archmage, and the prince hoped that his stay in the duke was as pleasant as the one at the laboratory, but just in case, he would keep an eye open since a villa was an easier target to strike, even if it wasn''t the duke the one behind it. But like always, he would play the fool card like a champ


    note: tried to upload it yesterday but the server was down


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 chapter 37: and it happened again

    19 days after the explosion - duke''s villa


    The staffs inside the mansion were expecting them and like the laboratory, they were treating them like important nobles instead of the crown prince. Since the prince didn''t want rumors of him leaving the palace to start spreading around, and he find it annoying the "special treatment" royals usually get, since the suck up is super extra and it''s always to get something from him.Well, since they were important guest, the staff did treat them like royalty


    Still, the villa was almost big enough to be a small mansion and had 20 people working there. 10 guards, 2 chefs and 4 maids and butlers. It seems the duke have this place fully staff for parties, and when he wanted to please important guest(like the prince) since it had a lake, was pretty far from any city and the view was excellent. Besides, it had a wonderful hunting place for sports, without any dangerous monsters around(in theory)


    The reason it had so many guards was to create a perimeter so dangerous monsters don''t get inside the hunting grounds, and for protection when the duke wanted to throw a party


    The staff inside the place told him all this, but the prince wasn''t really interested in hunting and they were leaving the next day, so he didn''t particularly care. They also showed him around the villa, including their rooms for the day, the dinner, the recreation room and the communications room. Lina Aria and the personal maid stayed inside the recreation room and Susan used the communications room since a maid told her that her father wanted to speak with her a minute


    The prince did find it interesting that the duke had a communication room, but he didn''t find it weird. The item was useful but expensive and hard to manage. It was really useful since it allowed to speak in real-time within two people from far away places, but it only worked as a set, meaning that you needed 2 items, and they only worked with each other.


    The kingdom had a room with a hundred of those that were connected to each fort, so they could get regular reports in the capital, and most rich nobles had a similar set up. So when he heard that the duke had one communication tool here, he wasn''t surprised since he had the money, but it also mean that this place was important enough for the duke to include it in his network


    The prince also asked about the basement, since it was the only place they haven''t seen but the butler that was showing him around told him that they keep important stuff there so guest weren''t allow to visit. The prince hoped that the duke use the basement for the nasty and naughty stuff, but he wouldn''t be surprised if it was


    Since he wasn''t interested in find out the dukes little secrets, he went back to the recreation room and started to play some of the games they had there with the three girls


    19 days after the explosion - Dinner


    it wasn''t until dinner that they saw Susan again. Shew as pale as a sheet, and looked really ill, so when they saw her, all of them got really worried


    "are you ok Susan?"(Aria)showed a concern expression in her face, something the prince rarely saw


    "why do you ask?"(Susan) grabbed a chair in the table, but the sudden question surprised her


    "You look really pale, are you sick?"(Aria)


    Susan took out of her pocket a small mirror she kept around(something her mother demanded she always carry) and took a look at her face. What she saw in the mirror shocked her, since she really looked sick, even if she didn''t notice until it was point out


    "see?"(aria) pointing with her index finger at her face


    They waited a couple of second until she finish checking herself, but since she didn''t tell them the reason the prince decided to ask


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    "So? are you ok?"(prince)  tried to get a response since she was to immerse in looking at the mirror


    "uh? a yes, I was just shocked at the news I got from the duke"(Susan) blurred out in response


    "What did he said?"(prince) got curious, but at the same time Susan went a little paler


    "Something personal, I prefer not to say it"(Susan)


    "Fine, just take care of yourself"(prince)  got a little annoyed but decided not to press the matter


    "Come on, can''t you tell us? it looks pretty important"(Aria)


    "Sorry, I don''t want you guys to worry"(Susan)


    "We are already worried, just tell us"(Aria)


    Susan hesitated a little, since it looked like she really didn''t want to talk about it but in the end


    "It''s just that the duke informed me that my mother was sick. She should be fine now, but it was a close call"(Susan)


    "oooh"(aria)said with a dejected tone


    "So, are you going back? be should be fine with just Aria"(prince)


    "no, my mother wouldn''t like it if I leave my duty, she is really strict"(Susan)


    "are you sure? I don''t mind"(prince)


    "It''s fine, that''s why I didn''t want to worry you guys"(Susan)said with a dejected smile, looking even worst than before


    The rest didn''t believe her after seen that smile, but since it didn''t look likes they could change her mind, and pressing her on would only make it worst, they didn''t press on the matter


    So, they kept eating their dinner while changing the subject but Susan barely eat, even refusing the desert. The others were a little worried about her, but since the desert was pudding and looked delicious, none of them refuse it and gladly enjoyed every bite


    And that was the last thing they remember


    20 days after the explosion - ????


    When he woke up the next day, he found himself in a dark room with his hand tied. The last thing he remembers was eating the pudding and suddenly feeling really sleepy. Before falling asleep, he saw that Aria and Lina were already sleeping on the table and Susan looking at them with a pained face. He could guess for the situation that both him, Aria and lina had been caught and the maid and guard were either in a cell or dead since they weren''t baluable hostages


    He knew what this meant, or probably meant. For the looks of it the duke caught them for unknown reasons with the help of Susan and the working staff. If the prince had to be honest, he purposely lowered his guard so if they tried to do something, he would get caught instead of killed since he did have some value as a hostage, but he didn''t expect for the duke to be so bolt to go with it


    For now, he would play the poor and clueless hostage until and see what''s really going on


    Note: 2 chapters today since I couldn''t upload yesterday, careful with the mix up


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 Chapter 38: Some answers

    19 days after the explosion - ????


    The prince couldn''t believe that the duke would do this, not because it was ballsy, but because it didn''t make sense according with what he knew of him


    It''s not like the prince just let the duke, general and archmage do whatever they wanted because he was lazy or because he trusts them. The prince didn''t believe in trusting people. He preferred to know them.


    And for what he knew of the duke, he wasn''t the type to just sell his country for profit or something like that since even if he was a lust pig, he was also a great patriot


    If he only was a lust pig interested in fu-king women and going up in the ranks, the prince mother would have disposed of him ages ago. It didn''t matter how powerful he was, for a monster like the queen, disposing of someone and getting a profit was as easy as breathing


    No, the reason he was still alive even with his power-hungry schemes and constant lusting for women was not only because he was capable, but he really cares for the country and his people. Well, the reason he cared was because he hated seeing miserable woman, both nobles, and commoners, as long as they were pretty


    He was even of great help during the first years of the prince father rule, since he saw potential in him and agreed to support him in his quest to restore the empire. Still, the prince father told him that a few years later the duke confessed that the real reason he helped the king was because he had great taste in women since he went the extra mile to marry the prince mother, a great woman even the duke had his eyes on her. He even told the king that for a woman like that, he would be capable of getting rid of his harem and go for monogamy without regret


    So for someone like him, that worked really hard to make the kingdom what it is today, and hated for beautiful women to be miserable, to suddenly kidnap him and probably help in all that happened until now was strange. He may be mistaken, but the prince doubted this was just trying to seize power since the duke wasn''t interested in it. He was more the type to enjoy power without the responsibility so he could enjoy his time with the ladies, and the duke knew that becoming king would suck up all his free time


    For what he knew of the duke, there should be something more or someone else behind all this, and if he played his cards right, he may find out something


    So, the first thing he did after waking up and gathering his thought was to look around. As soon as he woke up, he realised that he had his hands tied, but when he looked at his feet, they were also tied, and he find the situation kind of annoying, since he felt really uncomfortable. The problem was, he didn''t want to waste them until he knew more about the situation, so he couldn''t use them yet


    Instead, he chose to look around and see where he was. It turns out he was on a bed in one of the villa''s rooms(not his), with the windows curtains closed. He wasn''t particularly hungry or weekend so he could guess that he didn''t sleep for long, and he could hear murmurs outside


    "Hey, what''s going on!?"(prince) yelled, trying to catch the people outside attention


    The door to the room suddenly opened and a guy in armor entered it.He looked around and smiled when he realized the prince was still in the bed with his hands tied


    "Oh! You are awake, great"(armor) said that while approaching the prince


    "Soooo, can you explain what''s going on?"(prince) said, kind of annoyed


    "Sorry dude, I don''t know sh-t"(armor)shrugged


    "WELL, what do YOU know!?"(prince) insisted


    "I was told to guard the door and not let you out, nothing else"(armor)


    "And what about the others?"(prince)


    "Nothing much, I think they have the little girl and the blond girl in other rooms, that''s all I know"(armor)


    "Wait, and the guard and maid?"(prince) got worried


    However, instead of answering, armor looked grim for a second and shut up. That didn''t look like good news, and he probably could guess what happened


    "So?What happened?"(prince) wanted to confirm his suspicions


    "I don''t know, sorry kid"(armor)lied


    The prince wasn''t in the mood to press the armor guy anymore, and the armor guy wasn''t in the mood to keep talking, so he left the prince alone by leaving the room and closing the door


    After a few minutes, Susan came into the room, probably called by the armor guy after leaving. She was wearing a sad smile with a pale face and tired eyes, almost like one of those woman''s in ghost stories


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    "Hey prince"(Susan) not sounding much better than how she looked


    "Hey Susan, so how long have you been stabbing me in the back?"(prince) said pretty bluntly


    Susan flinched for a second after hearing that but managed to keep her composure


    "Since before I met you. I was the one that opens the hole in Rebbeca''s wall"(Susan)


    "Ooooh! That''s why you were acting suspiciously that day! I found it really strange at the moment but I never thought it was because of that"(prince) was a little glad he solved a few mysteries


    "Yeah, I tried really hard to stop you from looking at that hole, it''s surprising I wasn''t found out"(Susan) confessed


    "Well, I probably didn''t care enough at the time, it''s not like i didn''t have enough on my mind. By the way, what else were you involve in"(prince) was hoping to finally getting some real answers


    "I mostly reported what you did to the duke, like you already suspected, and helped him with some stuff, nothing more"(Susan)


    "Was the duke behind the explosion at the temple?"(Prince)


    "I don''t know, he only told me what to do, not why do it, or what his plan was"(Susan)


    Sh-t, I hope it was him and only him. More people would be annoying(prince)


    "So, what happen to us now?"(prince) said while trying to keep his cool


    "I am supposed to keep you here until the duke decides what to do with you, Aria is definitely a hostage for the general, but I am not sure what his plans for you and Lina are"(Susan)


    "And The maid and guard?"(prince) Hoped to get a better answer from her than armor


    But what he got was a paler expression from her and a moment of silence. It surprised the prince that she didn''t fall unconscious right there


    "So?"(Prince) expecting the worst


    "They weren''t necessary, do I need to say more?"(Susan) told him the truth


    "No, I get it"(prince) felt dejected


    He knew it was his fault for involving them in all this and he was partly to blame for what happened to them. As for Aria and Lina, they were in danger no matter where they were


    "Can you at least untie me? My hand hurts"(prince) tried to appeal to her pity


    "Sorry prince, you are too dangerous to be left free"(Susan)didn''t budge


    "Why? I am weak. Everyone knows I am useless"(prince) played the fool act


    "I don''t buy it, you have done to many moves behind the scene to be as incompetent as they say. Better to be safe than sorry"(Susan) didn''t buy the act


    -tsk-(prince) clicked his tongue. What''s the point of being looked down when it was useless when needed


    "So, what happens now?"(prince)said without hiding his annoyance


    "Well, you will stay here tied up until further instructions"(Susan)


    WAIT! WHAT ABOUT MY HANDS AND LEGS!?"(prince)


    "didn''t I just say? you will remain tied up until further instructions. I wouldn''t feel safe otherwise"(Susan)


    "Isn''t this overkill!!!? I am not dangerous, I promise"(prince) Tried to act weak


    "Sorry, we are too busy with everything going on, I can''t also worry about you. When we have more manpower I will let you go, but right now you will have to deal with it"(Susan)


    "Wait! what''s going on?"(prince)


    "faking your dead of course"(Susan) left the room while leaving those parting words


    He was left alone in the room, but the prince was glad of what he find out. Not only did he finally resolved a couple of mysteries, they were quite busy right now (unless Susan lied) so it was a great moment to strike


    He did felt bad for the maid and guard, but moping around wouldn''t get him anywhere


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 Extra chapter – Female Knight

    15 days after the explosion - The palace


    After taking the orator to his home and retrieving the letters, Aria returned to the palace and handed them to the head butler. Since she had a pretty busy day and need to process everything that happened that day, she decided to go to bed early since she was at her limit


    16 days after the explosion - The palace


    The next day, Aria got up from bed and went to get Lina for her morning training. She still couldn''t believe how many people went to protest against the prince


    Well, not really since after knowing him for this last 2 weeks, she almost joined the protest, but still surprised her the amount of people who were there.


    And if she had to be honest with herself , what surprised her even more was how he dealed with them. She didn''t know if she was more afraid, surprised or confused on how he dealed with all that. Not only did he knew about the protest(and even make them go there for what she heard), but he even managed to knock out everyone effortless, or at least it looked that way


    She really wanted to ask him a lot of questions,but since she knew he would probably try to dodge the questions, she would first train Lina since she really enjoyed doing it, and would try questioning him in the afternoon


    16 days after the explosion - Hell Room


    As soon as she came into the office, she could see the prince making a miserable face as he signed paper after paper. But instead of feeling sorry for him, this caused a perverted pleasure inside Aria''s heart (since she was tired of always been in the receiving end of misfortune) so seen him suffer a little made her smile, happy that there is at least some justice in the world


    Still, what surprised her a lot was the smile that suddenly appeared in the prince''s face when he saw her, making her almost blush


    "Aria! great timing. Everyone, take a 15m break while I talk with Aria for a minute"(prince)


    As soon as he said that, everyone''s eyes in the room went from dead to something resembling the eyes of a dying man in the middle of the desert finally seen an oasis


    Without waiting for the prince to say anything else or change his mind, everyone left the room and after seeing their faces, Aria wasn''t sure how many would come back "Well, at least it seems I am not the only one suffering here"(prince) shrugged and shake his head, probably surprised at how fast everyone left them alone


    "Well, at least it seems I am not the only one suffering here"(prince) shrugged and shake his head, probably surprised at how fast everyone left them alone


    "Did you need something prince?"(Aria) wonder what was so important that they needed to be left alone


    "ah yes, give me a second"(Prince) said while grabbing a paper and started writing something in it


    Her curiosity almost made her take a peek at it, but since the prince would probably complain or do something if she tried, she hold herself back


    Even so, Aria didn''t have to wait long for the prince to finish writing, putting the content inside an envelope and sealing it. He made sure it was properly sealed and handed the letter to Aria


    "I want you to take this to my sister, as soon as possible and without telling anybody"(prince) said with a completely serious tone and a stern look


    "Anything else?"(Aria) since it looked important, preferred to act properly in this case(like she normally should)


    "Do whatever my sister tells you and make sure to bring her some cakes like always. You can go now"(prince) warned her, and got back to reading the documents at his desk


    Aria made a small salute and left the prince alone in his personal hell so she could finish the job as soon as possible since she wanted to go back to train. She also wanted to get rid of the task, hoping that nothing bad happens to her, since who knows what the prince wrote inside the envelope


    Instead of leaving it for later, she preferred to finish the job as soon as possible since she wanted to go back to train. Hoping that nothing bad happens to her, since who knows what the prince wrote inside the envelope, she went to the university to get rid of the troublesome task


    She was sure of one thing, she would find out soon enough how bad it would be


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    16 days after the explosion - Magic University


    She handed the cakes and the envelope like she was offering tribute to a goddess since she knew how dangerous she could be(she was almost as infamous as the prince but in a different way). Aria was kind of worried since she showed an annoyed face while reading it


    "little girl"(Rebecca)suddenly said


    "yyyes?"(Aria) almost s-it herself


    "come here a second"(Rebecca) Aria got closer to Rebecca, really hoping in her heart that the prince didn''t request anything weird and went completely pale when she saw Rebecca casting a spell and pointing at her


    Luckily, after a small flash of light, nothing happen. Aria relaxed a little and waited for Rebecca to say something else


    "Well little girl, did you tell anybody about me or where were you going?"(Rebbeca)


    "No, madam!"(Aria)


    "Call me Rebecca, please. And what do you think of the prince?"(Rebecca)


    "He is an a-s hole!"(Aria) answered without hesitation


    It took a moment to process the words, but Rebecca couldn''t contain her laugh at the unexpected answer, and didn''t stop for a while. Aria didn''t dare to move  or even flinch until Rebecca finish laughing for what looked like an eternity to her


    "You really got me girl"(Rebecca) still smiling and giggling a little


    "but at least it looked like you are the honest and straight forward type" Aria didn''t know if it was a compliment or an insult, so she chose to wait what else Rebecca had to say


    "Well, go back and tell him I said ok, and that he really should stop bother me all the time or else....."(Rebecca)didn''t finish the sentence, but it didn''t take a genius to figure it out what she meant


    Without waiting for Rebecca to dismiss her, or saying anything else, Aria saluted her and left the room as fast as she could without looking like she was running(even if she wanted to)


    18 days after the explosion - The Palace


    After telling the prince what Rebecca told her, the prince smiled and dismissed her. She later find out that they were going away from the palace for a couple of days, and she was secretly excited since she never left the capital


    In the end, she barely slept from the excitement, but still managed to keep herself awake(unlike Lina, that looked really tired). She even was a little glad that they were going by carriage since even if she really wanted to travel by Griffing, she was afraid she would fall from it


    Luckily, she managed to sleep  in the carriage(everyone else also noose off except for the maid and guard) and spend the rest of the day without a problem


    19 days after the explosion - Duke Villa


    Aria and the rest had a great time at the research facility yesterday, and for the looks of it, their visit to the Duke''s Villa would be a similar wonderful experience


    Or at least she kept that thought until she finish her Pudding, and then she stopped thinking altogether


    19 days after the explosion - ????


    The first thought that came to her after waking up was that he wanted a second serving, but after realising she was in a bed with the lights out, she figure out she probably fell asleep at some point and they brought her to bed.


    Aria was planning to go back to sleep again since the sun wasn''t up yet  and tried to get undressed so she could sleep more comfortable, and that''s when she figure out her hand and legs were tied


    Of course, her first thought was to curse the prince since she was 99% sure the prince played a joke on her again and since she couldn''t use mana(the prince doing according to her), all she could do was wait there until someone get her out and hope she can land a punch in the prince''s face at the next opportunity


    Note: chapter to help remember what happen last, I won''t do the almost daily chapters like before but more like 1-3 chapters a week. Sorry for the long delay


    note 2: sorry about the repeats, I spend an hour trying to fix it on WordPress but I still miss some

 Chapter 39: Inner mana

    19 days after the explosion ¨C ????


    Since he wasn¡¯t sure in what kind of troubles he would get, the prince asked Rebecca to make him a small figure that if it was destroyed or got too far away from him, it would call for her


    She reluctantly made it and personally hand it to him the day before the departure(she teleported to his room in the middle of the night scaring the crap out of him)with a warning to not bother her unless he was half dead, because if he wasn¡¯t she would personally leave him that way


    Thanks to the warning and previous experience, he REALLY didn¡¯t want to use it, but it was a security measure in case he got into an ambush or kidnaped and since he was acting as bait, he needed as many aces as possible


    The problem was that after being kidnaped, there weren''t any sounds of explosions around him....


    This meant the security measures he asked Rebecca didn¡¯t activate, but the prince wasn¡¯t sure that it was because the item didn¡¯t work, it was sealed, or Rebecca was too lazy to help. Worst part was that there was a good chance it was the last one


    The idea was to carry the small figure around, and if he was in danger, break it


    The distance part was in case a sudden kidnapping happen, so when they separate it from him, it would activate alone. but since nothing happened so something went wrong probably


    Still, he could only blame himself for been kidnaped. He really had his guard up constantly but sadly, pudding was one of his weakness. So he ended up lowering his guard when they brought it to him, resulting in this predicament


    But was he the kind of guy that would trust his fate to a whim of his sister or the reliability of a mad dog and taciturn magician?(that turn out to be a traitor)


    The answer is nope. He still had another trump card that no one knew and was saving for a special occasion


    He slowly gathers mana around his arms to increase his strength, and after struggling a little, the ropes broke. He checked his hand since they were in pain, and found small burn marks because of the ropes frictions, but nothing serious


    Learning from the mistakes just now, besides increasing the strength, the prince made sure to increase his legs resistance so he wouldn''t feel pain later(he was still a noob in inner mana)


    After freeing himself from the constraints and looking around the room just to be sure no one was there, he secretly smiled to himself since his paranoia was well-founded


    He had been able to use inside mana for a year, but he keep to himself how since he was planning to make a killing in the black marked, and it would be helpful in a dangerous situation. So basically, not telling not only save him from a dangerous situation, it stopped his family from trying to "get the recipe for the good of the country", earning him some praises and 0 gold


    He already had a whole business plan to get the greatest profit possible, and was in the middle of acquiring the necessary capital when the Explosion occurred, but he still kept it hidden and prepared so if/when he run away, he had a secure income, capable of buying a small villa far away of all the conflicts


    Still, the prince stopped thinking about his plan b, something that may be used in the REALLY near future if he gets away from this place


    He fist got out of the bed really slowly and was about to put his shoes on when he realized it would be quieter without them. The next step was to turn off the magic lamp so the light wouldn''t tell someone was opening the door, and if a guard came inside the room, he would take advantage of the darkness to take him out


    So he slowly approached the lamp and when he was about to turn off the light, he saw why Rebecca wasn''t burning the place. The figurine was in the nightstand


    Someone probably put it there after checking his pockets(now completely empty), and since it wasn''t far enough, it didn''t'' activate


    This brought new solutions to the problem he found himself right now, but the prince really didn''t want to use it. Besides the obvious problems like he would turn half dead after using it, it wasn''t his last option. Instead of using his last trump card now, it was better to use it when he had no option left


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    So the prince chose to put the figure in his pocket and get after turning off the light, he approached the door to try to hear if someone was outside


    With mana he could increase his senses, so he could listen to the noises outside the door without a problem, and since he didn''t hear even the sound of someone breathing, he decided to slowly open the door


    After he took a small peek outside, he decided to slowly come out since he didn''t  saw anyone around


    The prince was glad that so far everything was going great(considering the situation he was in) and started to look around to get a better sense on where he was


    The first thing he notices in the darkness was that he was in a hallway with a lot of doors around him and a set of stairs at the end


    Since the stairs went downstairs, the prince guessed that he was at the 2 floor of the villa


    After thinking for a second what his next step would be, he decided to check the rooms to see what was inside


    Well, that was his plan until he heard the noise of wood cracking under heavy weight coming from the stairs


    The prince almost sh-t his pants, since he understood that someone was coming upstairs and he was in the middle of the hallway


    move idiot(prince) said to himself


    And after trying to find a place to hide unsuccessfully, the prince went back to his room and hide behind the door


    breath in, breath out( prince) tried to slowly and quietly breath to calm himself while trying to listen what was going outside


    The prince could hear the steps slowly approaching, and since they sounded heavy, he guessed they belonged to one of the guards


    The foots steps suddenly stopped near the door and a moment later, someone knocks at the door


    " hey! Why is the light out?"(guard?)said a rough voice


    The prince didn''t answer but instead calm himself and started to think how to take him out


    It didn''t take long for the door to open, and a person in leather armor(probably a guard) step inside the room


    Since it was really dark, the guard couldn''t see if the prince was on the bed, so he approached the night stand to try to turn the light on and that''s when he felt a tap on his shoulder


    The guard turned around a little startled, expecting ti find someone behind but found no one


    We will never know if he would scream, sh-t himself or panic since before he could properly process the information, the guard felt a great pain on the chin and fell to the floor. Then he felt another blow to the head and felt unconscious


    Of course the one that knock him out was the prince, and even though he panicked for a second since the guard made some noise when he fell, since no one reacted, the prince was pleased with himself since everything went according to plan


    After checking that the guard had been properly knocked out, the prince decided striped the guard and changed to his clothes. Luckily they had similar builds, so they managed to fit properly after some adjustments, even if they were a little lose all around


    If he was lucky, with the disguise he may be able to fool someone long enough to approach him and take him out


    Now the problem was what to do with the guard, should he slit his troth with the knife he got from the guard(and a sword, but that would be overkill) or should he simply tie him up and risk it?


    He disliked killing, but he wasn''t in a place where he could hold back and hope everything would turn out ok


    Note: In case you are wondering, the inner mana didn''t come out of nowhere. I have thrown hints since he sneaks out of the castle at the beginning. How it happens.... alchemy accident obviously, and it will be explained how exactly latter.

 Chapter 40: lucky encounter

    20 days after the explosion - Duke''s villa


    In the end, the prince chose to be pragmatic


    He broke the guards neck(the sound almost made him vomit), put his old cloth on the dead body, and after making it look like he was properly tied up, he put the body on the bed and to make it look like it was him


    The prince really hated having to kill, for the obvious reasons like it was wrong, he really didn''t want to get used to killing, he was always taught that killing was wrong(even if his own mother "took care" of A LOT of people),etc


    But unlike before with the thief that killing them could bring all kind of problems like police investigation or bad reputation on the underworld, in here except for feeling bad afterwards, it was a great idea


    Not only he had one less person to worry about, he didn''t have to worry for him to suddenly wake up and sound the alarm. Besides, he would probably make a better body double as a corpse than a living person


    The only problem would be if he gets caught since the other guards may retaliate, but since he would be screwed if he gets caught, anyway, it didn''t matter


    And the reason he broke his neck instead of cutting his throat was the blood of course. Besides being messy and disgusting, the smell of blood may give it away that something happened. Besides,  since it was a wooden floor the blood may slip the cracks, or tell something happened if someone decided to take a peek inside the room


    So in the end, after making sure the guard looked like him sleeping on the bed, the prince left his room without trying to sneak around since not making any noise would be even more suspicious


    But even if he didn''t try to sneak around, the prince made sure to pay attention to any noise while trying to not been too loud just in case


    While moving around and making sure no one was near, the prince decided to check each door in the second floor. If he was lucky, he may not only find some guards sleeping( that he would "take care"), but he may even find Aria and Elena


    Sadly, the first room he checked was empty, and the next 3. It wasn''t until the 4 door that he hit the jackpot


    When he open the door, the prince was secretly glad when he find out that unlike other rooms this one had personal stuff inside it


    Of course, this meant that someone was using. Sadly, it looked like no one was inside since the light was out and no one was sleeping on the bed


    Or at least that was what the prince originally thought until he heard a strange noise at the side of the room


    At first he almost panic and almost launched himself at the direction of the noise in hope of taking out whatever made that noise, but instead what the prince found out in that direction astonished him


    The prince couldn''t see that well in the dark, but he could see a small humanoid form crouching down on the floor, making him panic again but for a different reason


    <em>please don''t be a ghost, please don''t be a ghost</em>(prince) prayed while approached the figure slowly


    And after getting close enough, he let go of his breath he didn''t even notice he was holding, and was secretly glad it was only a person puking on a flower base


    But what astonished the prince was that the person puking was Susan!


    A mixture of anger, disgust, pity, curiosity and even sinister joy mix up on the prince mind


    But since it was a great opportunity, he paused for a second to properly decide how to proceed in this situation


    He could act like a guard and see if he could fish for some information, but even if she looked like sh-t and was in the middle of "something", she was likely to notice it was the prince talking


    And the other option he could think was threatening her with his knife(stolen from the guard) and question her


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    The prince tried to come up with an alternative since both came with some risk. In the end, he chose threatening since he would get information faster and she looked too weak to fight back


    Soo, after gathering some courage, the prince took out his knife and grabbed Susan from behind while aiming the sharp part of the knife to her neck


    " If you try to scream or do something, I will slit your throat, do you understand?"(prince) whisper to her ear while concentrating to the max for sudden movements


    "Prince?"(Susan) said with a hoarse voice


    "Yep, sooo if you don''t behave, I won''t feel too guilty when I finish you off, are we clear?"(prince)


    "I don''t understand, how can you be here?"(Susan) thought that it should be impossible for the prince to be here


    "You know, I didn''t put a knife in your neck to answer your questions"(prince)made a sinister smile(that no one could see) since he felt a little smug


    And since Susan was processing the new information, they stayed in silence for a while


    "Whhaat do yoou want?"(Susan) finally comprehended in what kind of mess she was in


    "Finally we are getting somewhere. All I want is for you to answer honestly and behave. As long as you do this, you may live, do you understand?"(prince)prince said


    "You promise?"(Susan)really doubted his word after everything she did and knowing prince personality


    "I did say "may", and you don''t have a choice if you want to live"(prince)warned her while avoiding the question


    Susan stayed quiet for a second deciding how to proceed, but in the end give up


    "what do you want to know prince"(Susan)said reluctantly


    "Is Lina ok?"(prince) asked first what matter him the most rigth now, since he really cared for his niece


    "Last time I checked, she was still sleeping with the cat by her side. We put her in a room up hear and the cat follow her all the way"(Susan)


    "And her maid?"(prince) Remember what she said while he was tied up, but he had to make sure


    And he confirmed his worst fears when she puked again on the vase, almost slitting her throat accidentally with the sudden motion


    "So dead, right?"(prince)


    "yes"(Susan) didn''t beat around the bush


    "and the guard?"(prince) knew the answer but asked anyway


    "also dead"(Susan)


    "and Aria?"(prince)


    "tied up on a room with her mana suppressed. Since she is a valuable hostage she should be unharmed"(Susan)


    He already knew this, but double checking didn''t hurt, or more like it did hurt since it made him feel like sh-t, but it was something he had to make sure


    So now it was time to think how to proceed from here, and that''s when he came up with an idea


    It was a great idea if everything went great but involved trusting a mad dog that wanted to beat him to a pulp. He hoped that she wasn''t a complete idiot since it was a life or dead situation but if he had to be honest.......Still, he made up his mind and


    Still, he made up his mind and decided to gamble it


    "sooooo where is the ring that controls the slave collar?"(prince)


    Note: by the way, I plan to enter the mystery contest. I was planning to have the prince in a mystery and make it a side story or a main story if I manage to advance the story enough to make it to the deadline. I will make it in a way that new readers don''t need to read the previous chapters to understand the plot


    Any advice or preference?like revealing the bad guy at the end or not, any special situation you wanna see the prince, etc

 chapter 41: godly glare

    20 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s Villa ¨C Susan¡¯s Room


    Susan was wearing the slave collar ring, so she could make sure that Aria didn¡¯t use her mana, solving the prince issue of having to search around the villa for the ring


    So, after taking the ring from Susan¡¯s fingers, the prince chose to force Susan to take him to Aria¡¯s room. The reason was really simple, the prince was planning to take off Aria¡¯s slave collar and put on Susan. This way, he would be able to use both her ice and heal magic(really useful in any kind of situation)while securing her ¡°loyalty¡±. Besides, the prince asked Rebbeca to add a lie detector function to the ring when she send Aria with the letter, a function he planned to fully take advantage off when he kept interrogating her


    The only tiny little problem with the idea was the mad dog. By taking off her collar, he would lose his only way of properly controlling her, and there was a good chance that she would beat the crap out of him or at least demand a rematch


    And worse, she may even make a scene and make everyone in the castle realize they were trying to escape


    but like it or not, the prince had to take the chance, and if she went into a rampage, at least he would fulfill his end of the deal by been half dead when he calls for Rebbeca


    20 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s Villa ¨C Aria¡¯s room


    Getting to the room wasn¡¯t too hard. Susan told the prince which room had Aria, and since the prince already took care off the guard on duty, he only had to drag aria to the room while keeping the knife to her neck and the other hand on her mouth just in case


    When he instruct her to open the door to the room, he prepared himself for a trap(basically use her as a shield and maybe slit her throat if necessary) but it was pointless, Aria really was there all tied up with her mouth gagged


    Well, the prince was relieved when he saw her until he catches a glimpse of her eyes¡­..


    Let¡¯s just say that if eyes could murder, he would be even a good wouldn¡¯t get away unharmed from that look


    And obviously, this made his plan REALLY hard to accomplish, specially since as soon as he takes the gag, she would throw more cursed at him that a sailor, bringing every person in the villa  to see what the heck is going on


    Having a mage with a knife in her throat also didn''t help to the situation, since a moment of distraction could be fatal


    HIs best option right now was turn the light on and show Aria this wasn''t a joke or something like that, since she probably couldn''t see him holding a knife to Susan''s neck in the darkness(or at least he hoped that was the reason she was still glaring at him)


    "Susan, turn on  the light and remember, no sudden movements"(Prince)instructed Susan while still holding the knife and covering her mouth just in case


    While going to the night stand where the light was, he closed the door with his foot just in case. Besides, a villa of this caliber probably had noise reduction walls so they could have "fun" without disturbing the rest.But even if it probably had those, it was better to be safe than sorry and try to be as quiet as possible


    Susan did manage to turn on the magic lamp without causing a disturbance, and as soon as Aria saw the situation, there was a reaction on her face, proving that at least the situation wasn''t hopeless


    "look, whatever you are thinking the reason you are tied up, you are probably wrong, we have been kidnaped by the duke"(prince) tried to reason with Aria


    Sadly, Aria gave the prince a diff believing look instead of  a shocked one, probing she needed more convincing


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Fine, command: don''t shout and use your mana to get free from your ropes"(prince)


    Of course, as soon as the prince said that, Aria easily got out of those ropes and got out off the bed


    "Fine prince, explain the situation, and can you take the knife from Susan''s throat?"(Aria) said while barely holding her fury


    "Nope, the duke betrayed the country and his dear daughter over here helped in all that. I managed to escape unnoticed and I am trying to get out of here with her "cooperation",and as you can see, the knife is the persuasion tool I need for it  "(prince) explained it like he just went for a walk in the park


    "Do you really expect me to believe that!!????"(Aria) almost shouted after hearing what he said


    "First, lower your voice, if someone downstairs hears you we are dead. And second.... yep, since it''s the truth"(prince)


    "What you are saying doesn''t make any sense, why would someone like the duke betray the country!? According to my father, without the duke''s help, your father would never have rebuilt the kingdom or even succeeded to the throne. Why would he betray the country now?"(Aria) said a common knowledge fact


    "How the f-ck would I know? that doesn''t change the situation we are in. Besides, I have a way to get that information"(prince) after saying that, he took off the ring from his finger(with his mouth) and handed it over to Aria


    "put it on and take off the collar"(prince)


    Aria was really confused since it was almost unbelievable, the prince actually doing something nice???even the duke betraying the country sounded more plausible


    That didn''t mean that Aria put the ring and took off the collar faster than the speed of light as soon as she realised it wasn''t a prank or something like that


    "why did you do that?"(aria)


    "Give me the ring and collar back if you wanna know"(prince)extended the hand he used to cover Susan''s mouth


    "Fine, here"(Aria)handed over the stuff


    The prince grabbed the stuff with his left hand while still keeping the knife with his right hand, and with some difficulties, the prince managed to put on the ring with just one hand


    Now, what he did next made both Susan and Aria a little pale. with his free hand, he put The collar around Susan''s neck(and some help from his mouth) and after securing it, he finally could stop pointing the knife at her


    "congrats to both of you, one is no longer a slave, and the other keeps on living for a while longer"(prince)said with a pleased smile


    "why did you do that?"(Aria)stutter


    "........"(Susan) didn''t say anything but was also a little confused with this development


    "I need the firepower to get out, besides I can trust what she says now since it has a lie detector function"(prince) said in a tone like it was obvious


    Well, originally the collar could only prevent the "slave" to not harm the user and follow some commands, since the general wouldn''t allow any more than that or the prince would pay. Problem was he needed people he could "trust", so he asked Rebbeca to upgrade it a little to be safe


    "now, would you mind answering some questions?"(prince) send a charming smile to Susan with a deadly glare


    Note: sorry it''s short, but since it''s a good moment to stop, I will release the next one tomorrow or the day after

 Chapter 42: necromancer

    *warning, this chapter is a ¡°little¡± heavier than average so read at your own risk


    20 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s Villa


    In the end, the interrogation didn¡¯t bring new information about the duke¡¯s motive. It turns out she was telling the truth when she said she wasn¡¯t told sh-t and only did what she was told. Well, the prince did found out all the activities she did as a spy of the duke


    She already told him about the Wall, but he also found out about the fake documentation he signed(the prince turned a little pale there) and the request from the duke to hinder the police investigation in any way possible, but in the end she didn¡¯t manage to do anything there


    Still, whit this  information the prince confirmed the involvement of the duke in the attack to the royal family. Since he dared to steal from his sister before the explosion happened, he had to know something was going to happen later, or else he risked the chance of getting caught. The prince suspected that the duke also took care of the guard, but since Susan wasn¡¯t directly involved there, she didn¡¯t know for sure


    One thing the prince was sure off was that the duke went full traitor now, and may even be the mastermind in everything that happened so far


    But the prince decided to leave everything related to the duke for later since he was already in deep sh-t with the kidnapping. He really couldn¡¯t worry about something he had no way of solving right now


    So instead the prince focused on finding out everything related to the castle defence. After asking more questions to Susan, the prince finds out that the Villa was understaffed since most of the people were busy covering the tracks


    The idea was to destroy the carriage and blame it on the magicians. The duke had some indisputable ¡°proof¡± that it was the magicians fault and planned to suppress them with that. As for the general, he had his daughter as a hostage


    Of course he wouldn¡¯t show it was the duke who kidnapped her, but she would be used as a collar for the general(this made Aria almost go on a rampage, but the prince managed to calm her down)


    The problem was that not a lot of people could be on the know of all this, and since falsifying the evidence needed some people, right know the villa only had 4 guards(2 sleeping) and a ¡°guest¡±


    ¡°Guest?¡±(prince) was curious with the phrasing of Susan


    ¡°yes, a ¡°guest¡± ¡°(Susan) repeated


    ¡°And what does he do?¡±(prince) pressed


    ¡°He was the cook¡±(Susan)


    ¡°Then is he the villa¡¯s cook?¡±(prince)keep asking since she didn¡¯t say cook the first time


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­no¡±(Susan)


    ¡°Then what is he?¡±(prince)


    ¡°a guest¡±(Susan)


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..¡±(prince) wanted to punch her


    It almost looked like she was screwing around with him, but he managed to hold himself back and kept pressing


    ¡°Stop beating around the bush, what are you not telling me!¡±(prince) turned a little red


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡±(Susan)kept a poker face


    ¡°want me to make it an order? you will end up talking anyway¡±(prince)


    But what surprised the prince was that instead of spilling the beans, she turned really pale and almost throw up on the floor. It took her a couple of minutes to regain her composure


    ¡°He is a necromancer¡±(Susan)finally said with a pale face


    It didn¡¯t take long for the prince to realise what she mend


    Necromancers specialize in controlling dead bodies, but they also could do more stuff. Most necromancers were also doctors, since knowing human anatomy helped in controlling the dead bodies, so knowing how to knock out someone with the proper dose wouldn¡¯t be too strange


    The problem was they also got another skill that the prince was familiar with thanks to his mother. If the necromancer was skilled enough, they could extract vital information from a dead body if they were fresh enough(24hs tops) and with their brain intact. For that reason, it was standard to blow someone head or poison them if they knew vital information


    Still, it was illegal to extract information from dead bodies since it violates civil rights, and any necromancer catch practicing it would be severely punished, but it¡¯s not like that make people stop doing it, it¡¯s just done in secret


    And of course, knowing that information, the prince could figure out what was his job in the villa, since bringing him here just to put them to sleep would be stupid


    ¡°So that¡¯s the reason the maid and my guard are dead?¡±(prince)deduced after processing the information


    ¡°he interrogated the guard first and then he killed him to make sure he told him everything, as for the maid¡­¡±(Susan) throw up before she could keep going


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°What happened to her!?¡±(Prince) wanted shakes her to see if she answered but decided it was better to give Susan a minute


    It took Susan a couple of minutes to get a hold of herself, but she finally gather her courage and answered the question


    ¡°She was his ¡°reward¡±, and he likes them fresh and obedient¡±(Susan) said with a disgusted face, with a hint of shame


    It didn¡¯t take a genius to get what she meant, and something inside the prince snapped


    ¡°where is he?¡±(prince) asked with a ¡°calm¡± voice


    ¡°He should still be in the basement enjoying his ¡°reward¡± ¡°(Susan)


    ¡°And where did you put Lina?¡±(Prince)


    ¡°She should be in the room next to this one¡±(Susan)


    ¡°one more thing, Aria¡±(prince)called Aria since she was in la la la land after getting tired of hearing complicated stuff


    ¡°mph? eh? did someone call me?¡±(Aria) snapped out of it


    ¡°Yeah¡­. I will get to the point, have you ever killed someone?¡±(prince)


    The sudden question surprised Aria, but still answer back


    ¡°My father took me to some bandit hunting and force me to kill a few. He did it so I don¡¯t choke if I ever need to kill someone¡±(Aria)


    Prince sends her a small nod to express his understanding and made preparations in his mind on how to proceed


    ¡°Ok, this is what we are going to do, you guys go kill the remaining guards, I will take care of the necromancer¡±(prince) told the two of them after making up his mind


    Since the two of them shouldn¡¯t have a problem with 1 guard and 2 sleeping, he wanted to ¡°take care¡± of the necromancer personally.Besides, he wasn¡¯t sure if he would be able to control himself there, so it was better than the girls didn¡¯t saw how he deals with the situation


    And as for Lina, it was better to let her sleep in peace until they resolved everything


    ¡°A necromancer is here? can you really take him alone? they can be pretty nasty¡±(Aria) was worried for the prince since it was really dangerous


    And it really looked like she was in la la  land when they were talking


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will pretend to be a guard and stab him in the brain when I get close¡±(prince) lied


    ¡°Fine, but be careful¡±(Aria)


    Usually, the prince would these her a bit since she usually didn¡¯t worry about him, but he wasn¡¯t in the mood. Instead the three of them got out of the room and went downstairs


    Susan pointed at the basement door and lead Aria outside to where the remaining guard should be(prince made sure to send a couple of commands for safety)


    Meanwhile, the prince went downstairs and¡­¡­¡­ let¡¯s just skip the details in this part


    In one room, he found what remained of the guard, which didn¡¯t improve his mood, and in other room he found the necromancer enjoying his reward


    To the prince credit, he did manage to keep calm long enough to get close to the guy and stab him. But he didn¡¯t kill him in one strike let¡¯s just say that the prince made he suffer for what he did


    let¡¯s just say that the prince made he suffered for what he did


    And even though he felt the necromancer deserved it, as soon as he finished, he went outside the room and threw up.. Also, this small revenge didn¡¯t take care of his guilt, sorrow or disgust for everything that happened, only a little of his anger


    Note:thx Elohim</a>  for the help, and in case you are wondering, the main abilities of necromancers are animating and moving dead bodies at will. The numbers and precision depends of the ability of the person

 Chapter 43: New place

    20 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s Villa


    After getting a hold of himself, the prince psyched himself up by telling himself that this wasn''t the time to mope around and instead of wasting his energy in pointless loathing, he should get out of this sh-ty situation. And that''s what he did


    First he reunited with the two girls, and after making sure Lina was alright and only the four of them were the only people alive on the mansion, they started to make preparations to leave


    The prince asked Susan what happen to their stuff, but it seems they took all their luggage inside the carriage to make the con more believable. So basically, they had nothing but the cloth they were wearing


    So he went to plan B, steal anything valuable, which ended up pretty successfully. They could have stolen the paintings and some of the decorations, but since it would help the enemy found them faster when they start searching for them(since it would be pretty obvious it was them who sold the stuff), so instead they stole the money and cloth the people on the mansion had


    Since there were a lot of people working there and the duke have some cloth for guest in case they ever need them, they got quite a nice haul


    And even though the guards and servants weren''t rich, they got quite a few silver and copper coins. Still, what helped the most to their monetary problems was  Susan''s savings


    In the end, they had a lot of clothes to choose for, 120g, 23s and 76c coins


    So after craving some bags and preparing cloth, food, some necessary stuff, the money and some horses, they were ready to leave. They all changed to their respective disguises, and after waking Lina and changing her cloth to her disguise, they only had one more job to do


    They went to the cellar, grabbed all the alcohol that was left(since they carry a few) and started to spread it around the villa. Lastly, they light some of it and got away from there as fast as possible


    The prince and the rest got on their respective horses(Aria carried Lina on her while the prince and Susan ride alone) and left the place to the nearest city while the villa burned behind them


    Of course, among all this Lina asked what was going on and it could be said that the prince did his best. He basically told her that some bad people were after them since they were royalty and that they needed to disguise themselves to slip away and get to safety


    And obviously, she also asked about her aide, and to prince credit, he had his best poker face and told a lie that even a politician wouldn''t be able to pull it off better.  He basically told her that since they were in danger, he send her to get some help and rally their allies since she was the only one not marked by their family background


    Not the most believable lie out there(and it''s not like politicians tell the most believable ones), but it was the best one he had at the moment, and she did buy it.


    So even though she was hugging Aria''s back harder that she needed, at least she wasn''t crying


    And without much problems and thanks to a map they found in the villa, "a warrior, slave warrior, magician and a little boy" found their way to the closest city by sunrise


    The city was relative big, with a moderate population of around 100.000 and with the standard facilities like inns, general stores, blacksmith, adventure guild, slave market etc.  It wasn''t exactly one of the biggest cities in the kingdom, but it was above average


    The interesting thing about this city was his source of income since the city has an artificial dungeon.  An artificial dungeon was a completely cleaned up dungeon that was later filled with specific creatures and resources that were later harvested by the resident or adventurers according to the difficulty


    There are cities like this all around the world, since specific creatures are extremely useful to harvest like the telepathy wolf headstone that allows long distance conversations among multiple people up until 1km and even among people of different speaking language


    There is also the interdimensional frog that has a stomach that it''s bigger that what it looks like from outside(it''s later dissected and make into a bag) or a lizard with a glowing scale useful to make lamps, etc. There are all kind of monsters and plans artificially breed since they have something useful for selling


    And because of the usefulness, this kind of city brought all kind of people, making this kind of place ideal for people trying to not caught attention to themselves, like this party


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    But even though this city was interesting, what they needed was to get away from here as fast as possible in a "natural way. That''s why the first place the party went was the adventure''s guild


    The "warrior" was lucky enough to carry his adventure ID in his cloth(in case he had to run away and needed a source of income) and even though some people saw it, they were either dead, or a slave. Besides, according to the "slave warrior" no one else knew so the "warrior" could use it without been found out later (in theory)


    So as soon as he went inside with the other 3, he started to look for a mission that allows them to get out of town with his "c" rank without driving attention to themselves


    There were a couple of options like subjugation requests or exploration, but in the end "the warrior" chose a simple escort mission for a caravan. It was Ideal since it would leave the city in a couple of hours and still accepted more adventures for protection


    It included food and payment at the end, with a bonus for anything that bothers them on the way. The caravan wasn''t traveling directly to the capital, but in a round way since they collected merchandise from different settlements


    Still, in "the warrior" opinion it was better this way since it would b easier to escape a manhunt since they would b able to blend in naturally with the rest(in theory)


    So "the warrior" went to the reception desk while carrying the request and asked while showing his ID


    "I want to take this escort mission, can I?"(warrior)said while handing over the request and his ID


    "Since you are "C" rank, there shouldn''t be a problem as long as you are satisfied with the reward, just go at the designated place and talk with the merchant"(receptionist)said while taking a look at the paper and ID and then handing him a certificate


    "Thanks"(warrior)


    "No problem, and good luck"(receptionist)


    So the four of them when to eat something and went to the meeting place a little early to arrange some things. Of course, the "warrior" warned the other 3 to only use the alias they made up on the way


    When they reached the destination marked on the request, they saw wagons, people, merchandise, etc. For the look of things, they were almost ready to go, so the warrior asked around until he found the man responsible for the caravan


    "Hello, my name is Jarvan, a "c" rank adventure and I was wondering if you were still hiring for the escort request"(warrior)said to the leader while showing his tag and the certificate


    "Sure, we could use some extra bodies, those 3 come with you?"(leader) said while looking at the people behind him


    "Yes, one is a magician and the other an inner mana warrior, sadly one is a rookie and the other is a slave so neither have an ID, so  let''s make a deal. Pay for the food and logging of the four of us plus triple the "c" rank reward at the end, without the extra. What do you say to this?"(warrior) bargain


    "Mmm, if they are the real deal, let''s make it double without the extra, food and lodgings included"(leader)


    "I can show it to you no problem but if it''s double, include the extra or no deal"(warrior)pressed


    "Fine, but they better be above average or no extra"(leader)


    "no problem there"(warrior)smiled at that


    And the warrior told the 2 to show their abilities and after showing them, the leader was really surprised but not only at their power level


    "Shouldn''t they exchange gear? they don''t match up"(leader)said confused


    "Naa, they prefer it this way since one has lower defense, it''s better to wear armor, and the other doesn''t like the restriction in moment that comes with armor"(warrior) explained


    And since it made sense to the leader(to some extent) he didn''t press on the matter and welcome them to the caravan


    And that''s how the "warrior", the "slave Warrior" that was actually a magician, the "magician" that was a warrior and the little "boy" started their journey back to the capital


    Note: I plan to make a murder mystery during the caravan travel, so any request?

 Side Story: Naked Man

    Day 0 - Sky


    Have you ever dream about flying in the sky?


    I don''t know if I ever dreamed that or do it for real(probably not since I don''t have wings) but I am doing it right now


    I am completely naked for some reason, and I can fell the wind all over my body. I must admit that it''s an exhilarating feeling and I can feel my adrenaline pumping up from the excitement


    Besides, the view is Amazing


    The only problem will be the landing. I mean, it''s common sense that if you fall from a really high place, you will end up as a squashed tomato, so I am probably going to die, yep yep


    But for some strange reason, I am not worried. Do I have suicidal tendencies?I am enjoying this ride so much I don''t care?  maybe I know I will survive, or worst, don''t care if I do or not


    For whatever reason, a reason I don''t know, I am not worry and instead enjoying this


    And I lied a second ago since the fall isn''t my only problem. And my other problem isn''t that I am enjoying this(well maybe it is since I am enjoying something that it''s going to kill me, probably)


    Nope, my problem is that I don''t know why I am flying through the skies right now, or anything else for the case


    The first thing I remember is my thinking if this was  a dream or not, and if I ever dreamed of flying through the skies


    I do remember stuff like how to speak(or I think I know since I don''t remember ever talking to anybody), or that I am in the sky, and down there is land. And of course, I also know that I am a human and that humans shouldn''t be able to fly, especially naked


    I also know a lot more, or I think I do at least, but I don''t know why I am flying or how long have I been flying


    I know it could have been for a while now, since I have been having this monolog for some time now I am still flying for the moment


    I wonder how long will I keep flying


    Some time later - Sky


    I am bored


    Excitement and adrenaline can last so much, and the amusement of talking to myself already wore off(not like I have anything better to do)


    I wonder how long will I keep flying?


    Oh well, at least the view is nice


    Even later - Sky


    oh! looks like I will crash soon


    I can see a mountain over there, and it should be directly in my flying path, this is it?


    I thought I would at least feel something near my impending doom, but it looks like I am still as cool as ice


    bye bye world.....


    A second later - land


    or not


    I admit that I rotated my body in the last second since I didn''t want to hit my face on the earth since it looked painful, but.....


    "WHY IS THERE A CRATER NOW AND I AM COMPLETLY FINE!!!!!"(me)


    Seriously, something is wrong here, definitely


    I mean, there is a f-cking crater on the floor and not a scratch on this completely naked body. I am either dead and this is heaven(I hope not) or the knowledge on my head is wrong


    Maybe besides losing my memories, I also lost my mind?that would explain why I am naked and in the middle of nowhere after falling from the skies


    Maybe I was on some serious drugs and they made me think I was flying?


    Now that I think about it, that would explain everything, except maybe the crater


    mmm, for the sake of my sanity, let''s just say the crater was already here


    yep yep, I took some serious acids, got naked and ran to the woods, losing my memories as a side effects, I am sure that''s what happen


    So let''s just get out of this mountain and ask someone from help


    I hope I don''t run into any danger


    Some time later - mountain


    Now that I think about it, wasn''t saying something like "I hope I don''t run into any danger" a death flag?


    At least I know there is a famous line that says "if something can go wrong, it probably will" or something like that


    So should I blame my own stupidity or my bad luck


    I mean, there is a 5 meters red dragon in front of me, and its looks hungry. He has wings a tail and sharp teeth so yep, that''s a dragon


    It also doesn''t help that I am completely naked, with no weapon or armor to protect myself


    But what surprised me even more is that I am not scared again


    WHY THE F-CK NO!!!!????


    I AM STILL ON THE EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS!!!?????


    I really wanted to scream that, but at least I have the common sense of not shouting to a dragon since it could piss him off or something


    but come on! this is ridiculous, first I wake up without memories while flying trough the skies naked, then I land without a scratch after what it should have been a death sentence, and finally I find a dragon.....


    Maaaan, if I wasn''t so sure I am stone as f-ck, I would think someone REALLY wants me dead, seriously I gotta give my imagination some credit, I don''t think it would be possible to imagine a dragon with this level of detail, it''s even breathing smoke like it can throw fire at will


    Still, I gotta give my imagination some credit, I don''t think it would be possible to imagine a dragon with this level of detail, it''s even breathing smoke like it can throw fire at will


    And now that I look more carefully, it seems he is busy with something. The dragon is staring at something


    Let''s see.......


    Oh! I can see some guy with armor and a sword. I thought for a second he was alone, but since there are some smoking charcoals near him, that probably means he wasn''t alone but is alone now (thanks to the dragon fire)


    RIP


    Well well well, who would have thought my delusions even have a plot, I don''t know if I should fell bad that I am in this confusing state, or happy since it''s high quality at least


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    Probably the first since it''s so f-cking confusing, and the hallucination part is still only a theory I really really want to be true


    I wonder why the dragon hasn''t attacked the armor guy yet?


    mmm, I think it''s because the dragon is playing around with his prey. I can see the guy scared as shit and I think I some amusement in the dragon''s face


    Hell, the dragon even got close to the guy and it''s throwing smoke at him just for fun


    Man, I am glad I am not that guy. I think I should ignore the situation and quietly walk away from here


    let''s slowly walk away, slowly slowly slowly...........


    f-ck


    I knew it, I am cursed! why the moment I try to get away from here, the dragon casually looked this way!!!


    ah no, it was the guy that pointed at me and for some reason the dragon looked


    Isn''t that like the oldest trick in the book!!!!! you don''t look away when your enemy/prey points at your blind spot!!!! even if you are a lizard, think for a sec.......


    The guy even took the opportunity to run away and I can see the dragon suddenly getting brighter for some reason


    Wait a minute.... isn''t that his fire attack?????


    Am I toasted?(literally)


    Oh! well, I guess I am either dead or waking up since I got no place to run and I am naked. I could try to get away, but since it''s an open plain and the breath attack probably has a huge range, it''s pointless. Let''s just close my eyes and pray for a good afterlife


    Here it comes.....


    mmm, warm


    Wait! warm? only warm?? when I opened my eyes, I can see everything around me torched but I am completely fine!?


    I guess I am hallucinating


    I can even see the dragon  staring at me confused, and even the guy stopped moving


    What should I do?


    Let''s get closer and see what happen, maybe it will dissipate like a mirage or something


    The problem is, the dragon stepped back when I started to move at his direction. Maybe it is a mirage!


    Or not


    He gave up after a while and stand his ground. He is even sending me a roar for intimidation


    Wow! It looks so realistic I can even feel the breath of his roar


    I think he is even preparing for a charge attack, I can see him grabbing the floor with his fingers for a big jump, probably to bite me or something


    aaand, he jumped


    That think can really jump, but for some reason, he is moving really slowly, is he flying?


    No, I think it''s a side effect of the hallucination or something since it''s following the jump trajectory


    what to do, what to do


    Should I move, punch, or stay?


    Mmm, I don''t know why but I feel like punching the dragon, it kind of piss me off that he throwed a breath attack at me, and this should help release some stress


    I wonder what will happen


    A second later - mountain


    Answer, a mess


    I have brains and blood all over me....


    I know I wanted something on me to wear, but at least don''t make it disgusting. Besides, it''s not something I can exactly  wear on the streets unless I want to be mistaken for a psychopath


    But seriously, what does this mean? It''s too realistic to be a dream or hallucination, but too impossible to be real


    mmmmmmmmmmmmmm


    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


    I got nothing


    "Hey naked guy, how did you do that?"(??)


    "uh?"(me)


    I turn my head and I see someone there. Oh yeah, that guy staring at the dragon


    "Hellllllooo, Somebody there?"(guy?)


    "Ah yeah, what''s up"(me)


    "don''t what''s up me!!!! how did you do that!!"(guy?)


    "no Idea I just throw a punch at it and this happen"(me)


    "You just throw a punch!!!!??? it''s a dragon!! You can''t kill it with just a punch!!!"(guy?)


    What does he expect me to say?that''s all that I did


    Mmm, now that I think about it, I think he is a beast man, not like I remember ever seen one but I can see some dog ears on his head and a tail, so he is probably one. Or more like she, since I think I can see some round things on her chest and a higher pitched voice


    Still, kinda hard to tell with the leather armor, and since she is a beast man, maybe it''s standard, so let''s play it cool


    "So, who are you?"(me)


    Looks like I caught her off guard, since she suddenly reacted


    "Ehhh, I am Liza, an adventurer"(Liza)


    "Ohhhh, why were you fighting a dragon?"(me)


    "well, some said they saw a dragon on this mountain, so the guild had a request to scout and report. Me and some friends decided to take a look. Sadly the dragon found us and not the other way. You can probably guess what happened to the others by looking at that"(Liza) pointed at the smoking charcoals


    yeah, toasted and ready to eat


    "Sorry about your friends"(me)


    "Thanks but I am used to it, it''s not the first time I lost a friend on an adventure, it''s a dangerous job. So wat about you"(Liza)


    "What about what?"(me)


    "Who are you and what are you doing here"(liza)


    "I have nooo Idea"(me)


    Note: trying something new while I think a plot for the mystery. Can you guess who he is?shouldn''t be that hard

 Chapter 44: "Lucky"

    20 days after the explosion ¨C Caravan


    The caravan was pretty big, with around 120 people including guards, merchants and civilians. Of course, there were also wagons, carts, etc, all full of people or stuff to sell


    The reason the caravan had so many people was the danger of the road. Not only by monsters but also by people of course


    Like most caravans, some merchants were transporting a large number of products and materials, so they banded together to travel together and cut the expenses of protection since even though each merchant would need like 5 guards to protect their wagon, when they have like 10 wagons, 30 guards would be enough instead of 50. Well in this case they had 15, so as long as they have like 40-50 guards, they should be ok


    And even though traveling by carriage was faster and cheaper, some civilians preferred to travel by big caravans since  it included protection. Besides, the merchants could save some money by allowing some extra people and charging for the protection, and a merchant never turn down something that can bring profit


    Besides, traveling with a lot of people made the journey more enjoyable


    And this is why the little group of a "warrior", "slave warrior"(that was actually a magician), the "magician"(that was a warrior) and a little "boy" were traveling with some other guards on a wagon


    Of course, this group was the prince and company, disguising themselves so when the pursuers start asking questions, they could pass as a different group


    Each one had a role different from others would expect but in a way that looked natural, making really hard to tell who they really were


    For starters, the prince was dressed as a warrior(inner mana user) and he could even use the inner mana, something that no one knew(literally since he haven''t shown it to the other 3 yet)


    And as for the other three, the prince dressed Lina as a boy and cutting her hair, use the same trick with Susan, and made Aria wear a magician robe with a hood


    Since Lina was a kid, she hadn''t hit puberty yet, finding out if she was a boy or a girl without pulling out her pants would be impossible. As for Susan, she had to cover her chest tightly and needed to act as a mute, since her voice would give her away(not really a problem since she was the quiet type)


    In Aria''s case, a robe that cover her face should be enough since it was common for female magicians to do that(especially on the road)


    As for their cover story, the prince was taking care of his nephew(Lina) while his father was doing a dangerous mission and at the same time, helping a family friend as a new adventurer(Aria). The slave(Susan) came from his savings and a discount for helping the family friend


    And that''s the story they told to the merchant, the people traveling with them on the carriage and anyone that asked


    Not a flawless plan, but the less complicated the better. Besides, taking in consideration he had to take care of a kid, a muscle head and a traitor, this was the best he could come up with


    But for the looks of it, all of them brought it, so at least it was good enough


    By the way, even though Lina cried, and Aria looked really sad and was tempted to break every bone in prince body, the prince told them they must leave the cat in the city since people in the villa knew they had a cat and how he looked like


    It was  a few days later that the prince find out that the cat find his way to one of the wagons and was also traveling with them


    21 days after the explosion ¨C Caravan


    The day was completely uneventful, but the prince did make sure of getting to know everyone and any information they had, just to be safe


    The caravan had 123 people on it, not including the animals. This includes 15 merchants, 47 guards(including prince, aria and Susan) and the rest were civilians


    Since the civilians paid protection money to the merchants, they had the same priority than the cargo if an incident occurred, but at the same time they weren''t more important so if they neglected the cargo while taking care or the civilians or vice-versa, they would get a reduction of the salary at the end


    The prince even felt impressed at how ruthless the merchant were


    As for the cargo, since it was his first time doing this kind of job, the prince asked the other guards if it was ok to know first (he usually did alchemy request and vermin extermination) and they told him that it was rude to ask, and even suspicious


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Because some adventures told the route, number of guards, and cargo to bandits, even if it didn''t happen often, it would cause insecurity on the merchants if someone asked too many questions that could be used in an ambush. For this reason, only the leader of the caravan and maybe 2 or 3 more knew the actual


    For this reason, only the leader of the caravan and maybe 2 or 3 more knew the actual route. As for  the cargo, it was up to each merchant to show what they carried or not


    If they were transporting something illegal, only the merchant owning the carriage(and anyone that help him) would get arrested. The reason the rest of the caravan wasn''t dragged with the perpetrator(except maybe the caravan leader) was because big caravans were a necessity and it would be unfair(and problematic) to drag everyone down for an a-s hole that tried to make a quick buck


    Of course, some people take advantage of this, like making the caravan leader and the carriage owner scapegoats, paying them or forcing them into the role, but it was better than increasing the danger of forming caravans


    Well, at least this information made the prince happy, since it would be dangerous if someone cargo was transporting something illegal and he had to make a "deal" with the authorities


    Not everyone could be bribed, and using his status as the prince would be dangerous


    As for other news, everyone knew about the explosion and the infamy of the prince, but nothing else


    Well, almost nothing else. Some heard the rumor that the prince did it, but no one believes it, and some people talked about his blue face since there was photographic evidence


    There was also the protest outside the palace, but no one was surprised when they heard everyone pass out outside since it wouldn''t be strange for the palace to have a defense mechanism


    Of course, there was also speculation about the explosion, blaming the other human empire, elf empire or dwarf empire(not the beast men since they were muscle heads). Some even blame it on the nobles, church or even the demon race


    As for the royal family in question, the common belief was that they were in hiding while trying to root out the culprit while using the prince as bait


    This last part even surprised the prince, and he didn''t know if he should be amused at the imagination of the people or sad for being treated as bait


    But in the end, there was no news of his disappearance or anything he didn''t know already, but on the other hand, they were far away from the capital, so the knew where a few days old. Maybe in a few days, something would happen


    Happy with the information he got, the prince chatted  some more with the guards, merchants and civilians while traveling, having no problem on the way or even when they set up camp at night


    25 days after the explosion - Caravan


    The next couple of days they also didn''t have any problem and even though they passed a few towns, they kept going and capping at night to save money and time. They only stopped a little while to buy and sell some stuff, eat and leave some of the passengers while adding some more. The numbers stayed practically the same, so there was no problem


    So at the end of the night, like the last few days, they camped on the road


    Of course, since prince group was hired to guards, some of their duties was night watch, and even when they weren''t on night watch, they had to be ready in case of a sudden attack


    Luckily for the prince, he didn''t have guard duty that night, so he could sleep at peace, unlike poor Aria


    Well, "lucky" wouldn''t be the best word actually, because when he got woken up at the middle of the night, he finds out Aria screw up really bad


    Someone turn up dead while she was on watch, and she was one of the suspects

 Side story: Naked man part 2

    Day 0 - Mountain


    I briefly explained to her everything that happen to me and I am not sure why but she looked at me like I was a mental case


    It''s not like it is my fault I am in an insane situation!!!!!


    That''s what I wanted to say when she gave me that look


    Luckily she didn''t run to the woods since it''s know that insane people are dangerous(especially people capable of one punching a dragon)


    Well, I am still not sure this is a dream or an illusion caused by drugs, but I don''t tell her that or I will look even more insane


    Not like been naked, bathed in blood and brains, with the strength to kill a dragon, with no memory and one insane story after the other helped in my plea of not insane


    "Hey, wake up!"(liza)


    "Sorry, I was lost in thought"(me)


    "Yeah, I notice. So what do we do now?"(Liza)


    What do we do now......


    "Good question"(me)


    I guess I should take a bath and get some cloth or anyone that see me bloody and naked will ran for their life or try to kill me


    " I guess I need a bath and some clothes, any ideas?"(me)


    The idea took her by surprise but after taking a second look at me and blushing a little when looking down, she noded in agreement


    "There is a river near, we were camping over there for the convenience wh?en the dragon suddenly appeared, I guess you can take a bath while I look for something you can wear from the remains"(Liza)


    "Sure"(me)


    "Wait a sec, what about the dragon!?"(Liza)


    "We can come back later for it, it isn''t going anywhere"(me)


    <strong>Some time later - mountain</strong>


    Who would have known? dragon blood is really hard to wash off


    And I mean annoyingly hard to wash off


    I have been even using rooks to rubber it out of my skin(after 3 tries since they broke if I graved them a little hard) and the bloody thing doesn''t come off!!!


    I even took so long that Liza found me some cloth and now is looking in amusement


    "Enjoying the show?"(me)


    "Every second of it"(Liza) said while smiling a little


    "At least act a little ashame!!"(me)


    Seriously, does the best man have not decency? Says the guy that walked around naked without a care in the world.....


    Do I really need to answer my own retorts!?


    Maybe I was a comedian in my old life?


    Probably not, blowing a dragon''s head with one punch is more amusement(or scary) then funny


    "Hey, why looking depressed now?"(Liza)


    "Sorry, just thinking about it. And should you be acting a little down!?your friends just died!"(me)


    I kinda felt like an a-s the second I said it, but it was really bothering me


    Aaand, instead of showing a sad face, she just shrugged


    "Like I said, it''s not the first time, we just live that kind of life. If I wasn''t ready, I wouldn''t be doing this kind of job"(Liza)


    Wow! I guess she is though then she looks


    "Besides? Now I don''t have to share the reward :-P"(Liza)


    ............


    Why did you have to destroy my good impression of you!!!!!!!!


    "Did you know? Your face is really easy to read"(Liza)


    ---!!


    Was she messing with me? Or not? It''s really hard to tell


    And for some reason, I even feel a little nostalgic


    Am I getting some of my memory back!?


    Nope, nothing


    sometime later - mountain


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    "I guess this is as good as it gets, at least the clothes fit me"(me)


    Dragon blood is REALLY hard to wash


    "Too bad, I liked seen you naked"(Liza)


    "Thanks, I guess...."(me)


    I really don''t know if I should feel embarrassed or flattered, but I am really starting to feel this girl is a serious pervert, and probably an S, among other things


    "Well, you look nice enough on those clothes but you still look liza a carrot, so maybe we should cover your head with something"(Liza)


    ****** dragon


    "Any ideas?"(me)


    "Well... I do have one, but you are not going to like it"


    after walking for a bit - mountain


    ******* dragon with his ******* scales that needs to be taken by hand because he is a ******** big eater and I need to open his ******* stomach


    "Here is a knife, so open it and careful with the blood"(Liza)


    "Thanks"(me)


    Now let''s see, since I rip off most of his scales, the knife shouldn''t bend


    Let''s start opening from here....


    Careful careful


    Blood!!!!


    Did anything get splashed over me?


    Nope, safe. I really don''t want to change cloth or take another bath


    Now, let see if I can find the stomach......


    Here


    Let''s open it up....


    Ugh!


    Well, I shouldn''t be surprised, it is a stomach in the end


    "Did you find it?"(Liza)


    "Yep. Hey, why so far away?"(me)


    Before I realized, she was really far away from me


    "Well, It''s not like you are opening a present, and I don''t feel like seeing the surprise"(Liza)


    "Thanks for the support...."(me)


    "Sheesh, don''t be so melodramatic, it''s not like it makes a difference if I am here or there"(Liza)


    Should I include shameless on the list of personality traits with a pervert, cold hearted and S?


    Yeahhh, let''s include it


    "Soooo, did you find the helmet?"(Liza)


    "Yep, with what is left of your friend, want me to do something about him?"(me)


    "Just take the ID on his neck if it''s still there, we can get a reward for it, the rest is useless"(Liza)


    At least you could bury him or something....


    Not like I fill like digging graves right now


    "What do we do with the dragon?"(me)


    "The meat is valuable, but we can''t exactly carry a ton over to the nearest city. We should take a proof of the subjugation and the most valuable parts we can carry back"(Liza)


    "What should we take as proof ?"(me)


    "Usually, the head would work, but since you smashed it to the moon, the heart should work as a replacement"(Liza)


    "Why not the scales?"(me)


    "Since they look the same after 20 years, it''s hard to prove they are fresh and not bought from a merchant or got somewhere else"(Liza) said while she shrug


    Oh well, I guess I will have to pull off more scales and take the heart


    Wait wait wait wait


    If I can kill a dragon with one punch, can I carry it too?


    a few hours later - city


    I know I washed my self and put some clothes so I don''t look like a psychopath as soon as I reach a town. I even put on a helmet over my head so it would be harder to see my whole face all red


    But for the looks of things, I think people would have been less scared of me if I showed all bloody and naked instead of dragging a f-king dragon behind me....

 Chapter 45: Murder investigation

    25 days after the explosion - caravan


    ....... Let''s take care of it tomorrow(prince) thought and went back to sleep


    "Dude, wake up. Your friend is panicking while saying she didn''t do it"(adventurer?) Said a voice outside the tent the prince and the rest were sleeping


    "Fine"(price)said while reluctantly getting up and putting some clothes


    When he got ready, he walked outside the tent and saw the guy who just woke him up


    "Steve right?"(prince) asked since mental processing was at 10% at this hour, and it''s not like he memorized everyone''s name yet


    The prince even felt like killing Aria since waking up at 4 am was hell for a lazy guy like him


    "Yep, the chief told me to get you since dealing with your friend is a pain"(steve)said while walking a little ahead to what prince guessed was Aria


    The chief was the way people called the caravan leader, and since there was a murder, the prince wasn''t surprised that he got involved in all this


    still, why the hell must she involve me in her mess....(prince) complained in his heart since he was tempted to go back to sleep and leave her to the dogs


    "-Sigh- so can you tell me what happened?"(prince) reluctantly asked


    "Well, me and some of the guards heard a scream and when we went to where the scream came from, we found your friend Aria with a sword on her hand and a dead merchant on the floor with blood all around him"(steve)


    "F-cking idiot, do you think she did it?"(prince) asked since she looked like the culprit in that situation


    "Well... we did thought that when we saw her there with her sword and the dead body beside her, and it didn''t help that she was waving her sword while saying "I didn''t do it, I didn''t do it" over and over again"(steve)


    "So? What happen after?"(prince)


    "Well, we told her to drop the sword and took her to the chief tent over there, she should still be inside"(Steve)


    "Thanks, I am gonna take a look, see ya"(prince)


    "See ya dude"(steve)


    Prince fist pumps with steve and got inside, hoping Aria didn''t make a mess


    And what he found was an Aria panicking as soon as she saw him


    "Prrrriiiiprrii."(Aria)-chop-


    Prince mercilessly chop Aria''s head(he even put some mana there) to shut her up since she was about to say prince


    "Ouch"(Aria)


    "Calm down and tell me what happened"(prince)


    "I didn''t do it, I didn"(Aria) -chop-


    Prince mercilessly strikes again


    "It''s really early and I am not in the mood to your babbling, calm down and tell me what happened, step by step, or you get another chop tot he head"(prince) warned her


    And while Aria was trying to calm down, the chief was looking in amusement at the interaction within these two


    "Do you know anything?"(prince) said while looking at the chief eyes


    "Not much, we found her with the body and she has been babbling since then, saying things like "I didn''t do it" and "price? is going to kill me", at least it helped that she didn''t have blood on herself or her sword, since there was blood all over the place"(chief)


    "Price" really felt like killing her, since it was by luck that the chief though she said prince


    Or maybe not since he could be lying


    Prince hoped he wasn''t lying


    "Hey idiot, have you calmed down already?"(Prince)


    "Don''t call me an idiot"(Aria)pouted a little


    "Then stop doing stupid things"(prince) acted smug a little, making her turn red


    "Youuuuuu!"(Aria)-chop-


    Another merciless hit


    "Start talking or you get another"(prince)getting annoyed


    "Ouch!Stop doing that! It hurts"(Aria)said with a little tear on her eyes


    "Start telling what happened or you get another"(Prince)Almost chopped her head again, but it would end in an endless loop at this rate if he didn''t show a little restraint, and he wanted to go back to sleep


    "Fine, I was doing my shift when I smelled blood"(Aria)


    "What are you, a dog?"(Prince) retorted at her statement


    " Shut up, I didn''t finish. Besides, my father told me to enhance my senses all the time for weird sounds or smells, since they can warn you of a surprise attack"(Aria) made a pouty face again while answering


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Prince and the chief were impressed at what she said, but knowing her father, it wasn''t surprising she knew stuff like that


    "Like I was saying, I smelled blood so I follow the scent and found a lot of blood on the floor and a dead guy over it.I think I screamed and I was panicking since I thought you would kill me for getting in another mess...."(Aria)-chop- got another chop to the head


    "Ouch!what was that for!?"(Aria)complained while rubbing her head trying to ease the pain


    "A lot of things"(prince) said, annoyed at the trouble she made and her last statement


    "So what happens now chief?"(prince)


    "Not sure, it is the first time I found myself in this kind of situation"(chief) shrugged


    "Well, I don''t think she actually did it and it looks like she is more of a victim of the circumstances. Sadly, right now she is the only suspect, so she will have to stay under observation to make sure people don''t freak out"(chief)


    "And then? Are you going to search for the culprit or leave it to the police in the next town?"(prince)


    No matter what, prince needed to find the culprit as soon as possible since involving the authorities could get then into a mess, for a number of reasons


    So because of this, he really hoped that the chief would look into it before handing the case to the authorities, or at least let him search, so they could find the true culprit and don''t get involved with the authorities


    But all the prince could do was wait while the chief ponders over the question, hoping for a favorable response


    "Well.... I guess we should ask around a bit to see if someone saw anything suspicious, but if we don''t find anything by sunrise, we will have to go to the next town and ask the police for help"(chief)


    Prince finally breath after realizing he was holding his breath unconsciously


    He didn''t like that he had a deadline find the culprit, but it could be worse


    " Can I help with the investigation? I promise I won''t do anything that could jeopardise the investigation later, but I want to help my friend in any way I can"(prince) lied like a pro, showing a face of absolute concern for Aria


    "It wouldn''t hurt to have more people look into it, but the moment you do anything suspicious, I will send you to the cops with the girl"(chief) warned prince


    "Ok"(prince)


    25 days after the explosion - Around the caravan


    After finishing the conversation with the chief, the chief put Aria under the watch of 2 guards meanwhile prince and the chief started to investigate


    The first thing they did was find out who could have done it


    While camping, the caravan was spread in a line where you could find 3 sectors. At the front was the merchants with their wagons, at the back, were the civilians and the middle were the guards


    It was designed this way since the merchants didn''t want the civilians near their merchandise since they could try to steal some of their stuff when they weren''t paying attention


    As for the guards been in the middle, the caravan were usually arranged that way for a quick response in case of an attack at the front or the back


    While moving, the distribution was a little more random, but while camping they always made it that way, and since the murder happened in the merchant camp, it was really improbable that one of the civilians did it (unless it was one of the hookers that moved through the 3 camps all night long)


    Since it was also really hard for the guards that didn''t have a shift that night(like prince), the suspect were all 14 merchants, 2 hookers, and 10 guards


    After getting the names of every suspect, both the chief and prince were about to start the interrogation when....


    "Chief, one of the guards found a bloody dagger in one of the merchants tents"(Steve) told the chief


    "Ohhh! let''s take a look"(chief)


    Isn''t this too easy?(prince) couldn''t believe that someone would be so dumb as to leave the murder weapon on his own tent


    However, not everyone could be a criminal mastermind, right?

 Chapter 46: problem solve?

    25 days after the explosion - city


    Prince was pretty delighted since he got away without problems


    He went with Aria to the police station so she could testify (and he made sure she didn''t say anything about their group)


    After putting the recollection of every witness and the police work, it made a pretty interesting story


    First came Aria''s testimony and her dog nose


    And then it came the testimony of the guard Roger that found the blade


    It turned out that while prince and chief were asking questions, Roger decided to try mimicking Aria''s idea and tried to increase his senses


    Luckily he found a small scent of blood and after following its trail, he found the blade


    And that''s where the police finished the details


    After digging around their wagons and asking around other people in the caravan, It turned out that both of them were drug dealers and competitors


    Almost everyone on the caravan knew they didn''t get along, and some of them found it strange since the dead merchant lended money and sold antiques(where it turn out  he hid the drugs) and the culprit sold soap(where he also hid the drugs)


    Now that it was revealed that both were drug dealers, it made a lot of sense and even give a perfect explanation of why he killed him


    As for why he hid the knife on his own tent, it was because he didn''t have the time to find a better hiding place thanks to Aria quick finding of the body


    Of course the soap merchant denied his involvement on the drug dealing and the murder, saying it was a set up and what not, but no one believe him, especially after the confession of some of the civilians and guards that they brought some of the stuff from both of them


    And they didn''t get in trouble since consumption was legal, only selling was illegal


    So after leaving both the wagons from the dead merchant and the culprit(including the culprit of course) to the guards as "evidence"(bribe), the chief didn''t get blamed for the incident, and the caravan could continue on its way


    <strong>27 days after the explosion - Caravan</strong>


    After the murder, the caravan lost half it''s people


    The civilians that were taking a ride to the last city, plus some more, stayed there and thanks to the rumors, no new people joined


    And since there were fewer people to protect, some of the guards left since they felt uncomfortable there and it wasn''t necessary to stay till they reach their destination


    So even after a couple of days passed, there was still gloom on the air and everyone was quiet


    In a way, this was better for the prince since this kind of situation allowed to draw the attention away from them and save them of answering questions


    Still, even if it was better for them, it was still depressing


    As for the dead guy, the prince didn''t really care who did it, as long as he wasn''t involved in it


    Even though he wasn''t completely sure it was the soap merchant who did it, the way he saw it, there were 2 less scumbags in the world


    So as long as there wasn''t another murder, he didn''t care if the real culprit got away


    And, in a way, he got what he wished for, and in another way he didn''t, since that morning, 2 days later after the murder, they found Roger crying while holding a dead girl on his arms


    27 days after the explosion - woods near the road


    The caravan decided to stop and bury her on the side of the road while performing a small memorial service


    Unlike the murder of the merchant, there was no doubt that there was none to blame since the girl died of overdose of drugs


    She was one of the caravans "companions" and was a known druggie


    Some saw her a little more stoned than usual this last few days, but with everything that happened, no one paid too much attention or even cared


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    As for how they found her, it was Gorge who, after his night watch, went to her tent and found her dead


    No one thought that he did it since people saw her alive before he started his watch, and when he started screaming and crying the moment he went to the tent, the body was dead cold


    As for why he cared so much, simply it was because they were lovers, kinda


    It was known that the 2 were together, as the couple usually worked in caravans


    While Roger worked at night, the girl also "worked at night"


    And if the client got too rough with her, he would get too rough with the client


    So when he found her dead, he wouldn''t stop crying and when he finally calmed down, he asked if they could bury her on the road since she didn''t have a family


    It turned out they were childhood friends from the same orphanage, and when they ran away when they were young, he became an adventure and she became a hooker


    Of course he didn''t like it, but she got hooked on drugs and would go back to the night every time he went on a mission, so he ended up taking guard duties with her as the "caravan companion" to at least be able to watch over her


    A common story with a common ending, but still sad anyway


    33 days after the explosion - City


    After a long travel, the caravan finally reaches their final destination, and after getting paid, prince group left the caravan without any problems


    They even got a bonus for sticking to the end even with the two deaths


    So after eating one last time with some people from the caravan and saying goodbye, they went to the guild to confirm the success on the mission and got ready to head to the capital


    As for the people on the caravan, the prince never saw them again but each kept doing their own stuff


    Steve kept doing his guard duty on different caravans over the years


    The chief was never found as the true owner of the drugs but still lost quite a bit of money and his reputation thanks to all this. Still, this didn''t stop since he knew it was a risky business


    As for Roger, he did a subjugation request the following week since he had to eat and didn''t fell like working in another caravan, but since he wasn''t at 100%, he screw up and lost a leg


    Luckily, he didn''t die and after some troubles, he worked as an instructor, married and have some kids


    Prince never knew all this, or tried to find the actual culprit (it wasn''t worth the trouble) but he had his theory since the guy was found without pants


    For now, he had other stuff to deal with instead of trying to become an ace detective


    Right now, they were at 500km from the capital, the people that were probably searching for him already lost his trail, and he had some stuff to settle over there


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Note


    For those interested, I changed the prolog</a> a little and submit the mystery to the contest</a>


    I hope you guys enjoyed this little mystery, in case you are wondering, the culprit was <del>the dead hooker</del>


    <del>Roger found her all bloody after trying to increase his senses and decided to hide the knife on the other drug dealer tent</del>


    <del>She died because couldn''t handle the pressure of killing someone, so she used the drugs she stole from the dead merchant until she overdose</del>


    <del> As for why she killed him, it was a mixture of rage, drugs, disgust and greed since he was forcing her to have sex with him in exchange from drugs, and when she refused, he told her she still own him money and it was about time she "paid" what it was own, and even when they finish, he told her it only serve to "pay the interest" making her completely flip</del>

 Chapter 47: Hello capital!

    33 days after the explosion - city


    Since they were at 500km from the capital, the prince decided to take a carriage to the capital


    Luckily, prince had his adventure ID, with residence on the capital, and since he had a reputation ans no money on his name, getting inside shouldn''t be a problem


    As for the rest, since they were young, as long as he pays a fee, and he vouched for them, they can get inside without a problem


    Usually, the fee would be enough, but since there was the explosion recently, the security around the capital increased. So unless you had someone recommendation or go through a background check, getting into the capital could be hard


    But since they had the ID, there shouldn''t be any problem


    So after making sure they didn''t forget anything and getting the cat (after getting puppy eyes from Lina, a threat from Aria and an angry look from Susan), they went to a small company in the city that offered rides to the capital, with a recommendation from the caravan chief


    Ironically, thanks to the murder, there wasn''t much demand for carriages since the caravan was had fewer people than usual, allowing the group to choose which type of carriage they wanted


    And after seeing the different options, prince was indecisive among 2


    The first was a normal carriage with normal horses, that would take them to the capital in 12 to 14 hours for 10 silver


    Since it was midday, the carriage would leave tomorrow at sunrise and they should reach the capital reach at dawn


    The other option was to take reinforced carriage with horses capable of using inner mana


    Thanks to the road near the capital been well maintained and with lots of lines, the horses could reach 130km/h, with an average of 100km/h


    This would mean that they could reach the capital in 5 to 6 hours, including a small break to eat and stretch the legs


    But there was a tiny little problem


    Even with the recommendation, it still cost 1 gold coin for the group trip to the capital


    Well, prince did have enough money to pay, but he considered that paying 10 times the price for twice the speed was a waste of money


    If he considered the extra stay in the hotel and food, it would be 5 times the price at worst, and around 8 at best


    But there was also the time to consider


    Is saving a day worth 1 gold coin?And if you consider that they waste around 2 weeks on the caravan, what is 1 more day?


    Sadly, even though he had practically made up his mind to take the cheapest choices, the three girls behind him had a different opinion


    Thanks to spending 2 weeks with him, they had a better understanding of his personality


    So they knew he was cheap, and since he was cheap, he would choose the cheapest one


    And of course, they didn''t want that


    So Susan told Aria something, and after agreeing with her, Aria told something to Lina''s ear


    Well, it was kind of a devious plan, Lina wasn''t confident it would work


    But unlike Lina (that was quite insecure thanks to his father staying away from her) the other two realized something


    Prince was quite sweet with Lina


    So after Aria reassured Lina that it would work, Lina build up her courage and approached the prince


    " Uncle, I want to go in the fastest horse!"(Lina)said while giving him puppy eyes


    ...........(prince)


    <strong>33 days after the explosion - capital city</strong>


    They arrived at dawn without problems, and after paying a small fee, they enter the city easily


    Since the time they left the villa, prince had been thinking how he should do after arriving


    And his first step was visiting an all friend


    So he took the girls to the shady part of town and knocked the door of a house that was connected to a small alley instead of the streets


    "Who is it"(???)said a voice behind the door


    "Open up old man, I don''t have all day"(prince)


    "Jarvan!"(old man) open the door and gave the prince a bear hug


    Usually, a person would be happy to be received so warmly, but with the old man build and strength, prince turned blue of horror, and then red for lack of air


    The moment the old man finally release him, prince was seen a river and a boatman telling him to get inside so they could cross to the other side


    "Jarvan Jarvan, wake up boy"(old man) shakes the price after seen his eyes completely white


    "Uh?"(prince) luckily awoke before getting inside the boat


    "Hohohoho, get inside get inside, and tell me what have you been up to lately, the other 3 can come in too"(old man) said happily while pushing prince inside


    Like always, the place was full of expensive stuff all over the place, which didn''t surprise the prince


    As for the other 3.......


    "Wow, is that dragon''s teeth? And is that a cyclops eye? How did he get all this stuff?"(Aria)said while looking around in awe


    Even Susan and Lina were looking around as if they were in a museum(and some stuff did belong to one)


    "He sells them for a leaving, so don''t break anything"(prince)


    Stolen story; please report.


    Aria got a little offended at the statement, but knowing that she would get a chop tot he heads if she answers back....


    "So Jjarvan, what have you been up to this last 2 weeks? You practically disappeared and now you come back with people who I never saw before. besides, you always come alone, did something bad happened?"(old man) said while bringing some chairs for them to sit


    "Well..... let''s just say some people are trying to kill me"(prince) said casually


    Luckily the old man wasn''t drinking anything unlike usual because he would have spat it all over prince''s face after saying something like that


    "You aren''t pulling my leg, right kid?"(old man) said after processing the information


    "Nope, so I came to ask a favor"(prince)


    "Shoot"(old man)


    "Take care of the little one until I come fetch her"(prince) put her hand on Lina''s head so the old man wouldn''t get it wrong


    "Wha.."(Aria)


    "Noooooo!!!! I want to stay with uncle!!!!!"(Lina)


    "Calm down calm down, it will be for a little while until we settle some stuff, we will right back before you notice"(prince)lied


    "I don''t wanna I don''t wanna I don''t wanna"(Lina) said stubbornly


    "I can''t take you, sorry"(prince)


    "I soon wannda en''d up alhone aheing"(Lina) said while half crying


    And then she started crying for real


    Prince panic and not knowing what to do, he rubbed her head while saying calm down calm down, I promise it will be only for a little while


    The other 2 girls didn''t fare much better trying their best to calm her down


    As for the old man, he got up, leave them alone for a few moments, and came back with a glass of milk


    "Here lad, it will make you feel better"(old man)


    Lina saw the glass in front of her face, and maybe because the intimidation the old man give, she took the glass and start drinking while sobbing


    Aaaaand, she fell asleep


    "Sheesh, drugging little kids isn''t a nice habit old man"(prince)said joking


    He understood why he did it since she would get in the way of a serious talk, but it''s not like he like it


    "If you don''t like it, you can take it somewhere else"(old man)


    "Fine, don''t get angry, I really need your help"(prince)


    "So, is she the reason someone wants to kill you?"(old man)


    "Na, it''s me who they want, so I don''t want to put her in danger"(prince)


    "Her? Why the boy cloth then, your taste?"(old man)


    " hey, don''t even joke about stuff like that, I got a reputation to keep"(prince) acted offended


    "Fineee, why then"(old man) rolled his eyes


    "So I don''t get find out of course. Besides, does it really matter?"(prince)


    "Not really, but I am no babysitter, you know?"(old man)


    "Come on, you just have to look out for her for a day or two tops"(prince)


    "And if you don''t come back?"(old man)


    "Whaa? You think I am going to left her to you and run away? I thought you knew me better than that, I am disappointed in you old man"(prince)


    "I mean if you get killed you idiot"(old man)


    "Really? You think I can die? That''s even less likely than me running away and leaving her to you"(prince)


    Said while hitting his chest to show his confidence


    "This is serious kid, don''t treat it as a joke"(old man) send him a cold stare


    " I am been serious, I won''t die and I will come back for her, so just look after her for a little while"(prince) stare back


    This develops into a staring contest, and the two stared at each other for a while


    But in the end, the old man closed his eyes, looked down and sighed


    "You win, just don''t take long. I am really bad with kids"(old man)


    "No problem, I will be back before you notice"(prince) smiled a little, happy that he got what he wanted


    "Yeah yeah, make sure you don''t die ok? I won''t look after her forever"(old man)


    "Don''t worry don''t worry"(prince)


    And with that, prince said his goodbyes to the old man, and after the other two bowed in thanks, they left the place while leaving Lina and the cat behind


    "Can you trust him with her safety"(Aria)asked after a while


    "He is the strongest person I know after my brother Paul, ya know? And he has a good heart, even though he deals in shady business"(Prince)


    "Wait, he deals in shady business and you leave her with him!?"(Aria)


    "It''s the last place they would look with the strongest person I know, it will be fine"(prince)


    "Fine, I will trust you on this, but if she gets hurt in any way....."(Aria)


    ""Yeah yeah, I know"(prince)


    "Sooo, now what?"(Aria)


    "We are going to a cabaret"(prince) said while smiling


    "WHAT!!!!!!"(Aria/Susan)

 Extra chapter - Old man

    150 years before the explosion - Coliseum


    When the old man was young, he was a one of the first gladiators to battle in the coliseum in the capital of the Dragon Empire. Since he had inner mana but was born in the slums, the best way to earn money was to work in the recently build coliseum


    And since his power, charisma and intelligence were great, he quickly became the strongest gladiator and people''s favorite


    So when he was suddenly asked to meet the current ruler of the colony and 4th prince of the Dragon empire, he was honored, but not surprised


    He went thinking he would be asked(or forced) to do something to entertain the prince, and if he performed well, he would probably get some kind of reward


    IF he had to choose between going or not going, the young gladiator would not go, since he earned quite well in the coliseum and fighting monsters or people in the coliseum was safer than the whims of a noble


    Sadly, refusing a noble (especially since he was the local governor) would be a death sentence. Leaving him with the choice of going or running for his life


    And since he was confident in his ability to get away from any kind of situation, he considered that it was better to try his luck with the prince and run away if things turned south


    Soooo, he went to meet this 4th prince, hoping to safely entertain this spoiled brat, earn some money, and never be seen again


    He got taken to the palace by carriage, forced to take a bath, change his clothes and warned to behave in front of the prince or else...


    Making the young gladiator extremely angry, but thanks to the experience in the coliseum, where anger could lead to an early grave, he managed to keep it controlled


    Then, after been properly dressed and prepared to meet the prince, some guards escorted him to a room, where he found the prince sitting on a chair while drinking something


    The young gladiator fist impression was that he really looked like a prince. Dressed in fine clothes, not a scar on his hand or face, white skin as milk, and an aura of confidence and elegance


    But what surprised the young gladiator the most was his eyes. Not in a sense that they were pretty or something like that, but the look they had


    He couldn''t understand what it was that surprised him, but deep down he knew this wasn''t a spoiled brat, and after getting everyone present away from the room, and getting offered a drink and a place to sit by him, the young gladiator knew his suspicions were worse than he thought


    "So, wanna help me rebel against my father?"(prince)


    At that moment, he seriously lamented not running away when he could


    100 years before the explosion - Battlefield


    After reluctantly accepting the prince proposal, he became the captain of an special corp, entrusted with all kind of missions, going from supply transport to secret missions to key strategic ones. Basically, whatever kind of mission that needed to succed no matter what


    And all of them were carried masterfully


    And for some twist of fate or simple luck, both the prince and the ex-gladiator now captain, got along quite well, so they usually got together and chat about different stuff when they could, forming a friendship that lasted for years


    Of course a lot of people were against this, making it a pain in the ass for both of them, but they still did it since they weren''t the kind of men that would stop doing what they wanted just because other people opposed to it. If they weren''t that kind of man, they wouldn''t fight against the empire while having to worry about the elf, dwarves, beast man, demons and the other kingdom


    But even with all these, their friendship and war went successfully for years, with some minor setbacks here and there. sadly, after 40 years of wars, the prince was killed in a successful attempt at his life, leaving all to his son and his friend to finish what he started


    10 years later, in a final battle in an open plain, the empire, and the colony had their final fight, finally accomplishing the prince wish. That day a colony died, and a new empire was born, the Griffon empire


    "Is it finally over"(soldier) asked the captain after the hard battle they just fought


    "No, we are just beginning"(captain)


    30 years before the explosion - Old man Store


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    After that battle, he became an adventure to get away from politics and help the kingdom stand on his feet after a long war. He accomplished many things as an adventure, but in the end he retired after 50 years of hard work and opened a simple store


    At the beginning it was a place to sell all the stuff he got over the years, but thanks to his contacts, and unbelievable strength, he became a known figure in the underworld by getting rare stuff that were difficult to get, and at the same time, a force you don''t want to mess with


    So he spent most of the time at the store, with his contacts, and a few fights with thieves, or at the coliseum for fun. And It was at the store, 120 years after meeting his old friend, that he got to meet one of his descendants


    It was there that he got the same proposition that he got 120 years ago, and for the same reasons, since this prince found out about him thanks to his fights at the coliseum(even if the was using a mask and a fake name so he wouldn''t get found out)


    But unlike last time, the old man refused without second thoughts


    For starters, he was already an old man, so death didn''t scare him that much. And the other reason was that he didn''t like him that much


    He had his great great grand father''s eyes, his smarts, and his tenacity. All good qualities in a prince, but he lacked something that was, in the old man opinion, his great great grand father''s best trait


    So with the excuse of been too old, he refused the prince request


    Luckily, he wasn''t killed for the refusal, and the prince even managed to restore the kingdom to his former glory, and even surpass it by a large margin, making the old man glad that his old friend wish finally came through


    10 years before the explosion - Coliseum


    Even though he didn''t regret not helping his old friend great great grandchildren, when he heard that his son was the champion of last year tournament and was going to take part again, he couldn''t resist and went as a contestant


    The quality of the participants were excellent since a lot of people entered the tournament to test this young prodigy, and even some to try to kill him


    The old man even had to get a little serious sometimes, unlike the last few tournaments he won, reaching the finals after working out a little more than usual. The hype for that battle was unbelievable, and the price for the ticket went to an unbelievable amount, since everyone knew that the fight would be epic


    And it was even better than they could ever imagine. The battle was an epic exchange of deadly blows that even caused cracks in the land, and no one could predict how it would end


    Sadly, the battle did end, with a victory from the young prince. If the old man was 80 years younger, he would have won for sure, but with his old age, fighting a young man full of vitality was quite hard, even with all his years of experience. Still, if it was him 80 years younger while the prince was 10 years older......


    Let''s just say it would be on the same level as a war within legendary dragons, including the damage they would cause all around


    It was a great fight, probably the best fight of his life even, making the old man deeply respect him as a warrior, and glad that a guy like him  was in line to the throne but that was it


    Even though he had his great great grand father''s eye''s, tenacity, talent, and confidence, he still lacked what made the old man be his friend for 40 years, and the best years of his life


    3 years before the explosion - Old man store


    The old man instantly recognized his old friend eyes. It took him years, but he knew they showed something similar to insanity that was what the old man considered a necessity to archieve great things


    Only an insane person would try something over and over again expecting to get a different result, and only an insane person would succeed at it


    What he didn''t understand was why he was selling sleeping powder to him, and even one of the best he ever saw. It was like meeting a dragon and he suddenly sold you a magic staff


    It made absolutely no sense, and that made the old man smile


    Note: In case you are wondering, what the old man liked about his old friend was that he was fun. He may have been capable, and accomplish many things, but the reason he was his friend was because he always had fun while been with him. Sadly, the rest of his family was too serious


    Well at least until he met the prince

 Chapter 48: Cabaret

    33 days after the explosion - Cabaret


    Prince asked for Roxanne like last time, with deadly looks from behind him, both from Aria and Susan(for obvious reasons)


    He said it before entering that it wasn''t what it looked like, so they gave him the benefit of the doubt, but that didn''t mean that they wouldn''t kick his ass if it turned out they were right


    So, a little scared that if Roxanne teases him too much he may end up dead, prince went to her room, hoping that he would come back alive


    Seen her in revealing clothes while sitting in a seductive position on a bed and adding her gorgeous looks didn''t help his odds


    "Welcome back, did you come to have some fun?I charge extra when it''s a group"(Roxanne)


    Aaaand he was screwed


    "Please don''t say stuff like that or I may end getting kill by these lovely girls"(prince)said while sweating a little and closing the door behind him


    "Fine fine, do they know who you are?"(Roxanne)


    "Yeah yeah, don''t worry about leaks either so don''t hold back on the information"(prince)


    "Ok, what do ya wanna know prince"(Roxanne)


    "Well, let''s start with what has been going on around the capital the last few days"(prince)


    "Nothing much really, after your stunt outside the palace, most people stop going at those gathering afraid of what may happen. Luckily, since everything is going normally even after the disappearance of most of the royal family, most people are waiting to see what happens next"(Roxanne)


    "Oh well, I gathered that much asking around so not much news there. And how about rumors about me"(prince)


    "Two different rumors are going around right now. everyone knows that you took a carriage outside the capital and haven''t come back yet, so most people among the commoners say that you ran away after getting scared of the protest. The nobles, on the other hand, think you were killed or kidnaped by bandits since your carriage had been found broken near the road. I guess both rumors turn out to be false"(Roxanne)


    "Anything you want to know about that? I don''t carry much gold so I prefer to pay with information"(prince)


    "I will give those two bits of information as a freebie since you already bring new ones by been here"(Roxanne)said with a seductive smile


    "Fine, let''s get to the important ones.I want to have a private meeting with the duke without him knowing or anyone else knowing, how could I do that?"(prince)


    "oh!can I know why this sudden interest in meeting the duke secret?"(Roxanne)


    "Only if your information is good enough, since it''s worth quite a bit this piece of information"(Prince)play it cool


    "Mmmm, if you can get into the palace incognito, you can find him in your father''s office doing "your" work in the morning, the other option is sneaking at his mansion at night or a masked party he is hosting the day after tomorrow. Now tell me, why you want to meet him in secret"(Roxanne)


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Nothing big, it''s just that he tried to kidnap me, and I want to know why"(prince)shrugged while trying to act like it wasn''t THAT serious of a topic


    Of course, as an information broker, this bit of information surprised her, and a serious look could be seen on her face


    "You are not lying, right prince?"(Roxanne)said while showing a threatening face


    "Nope, but if you double cross me with the duke, death won''t be the worst that will happen to you"(prince) continue to act indifferent, but showed a deadly glare at the end


    "Well, knowing your mother reputation, I can believe that"(Roxanne)went back to a joking manner


    "So, anything else you know that may interest me?"(prince)


    "Not really, I may have to research a lot more about the duke now, and make some moves since this will have great repercussions.If you don''t mind me asking, do you know why he did it? for all I know about the duke, he should be the last person to revel against the country. The duke had done more for your father and this kingdom than all the nobles and royalty combine, it makes no sense that he would a traitor"(Roxanne)


    "If I knew, I would tell you for a price, sadly I don''t know, so I want to meet him and asking"(prince)


    "Fine, give me a second and I will write everything I know"(Roxanne)said while getting out of bed


    She went for a piece of paper and started to write on a desk. After finishing, she gave it a kiss and hand it over to the prince


    "As a good look charm"(Roxanne)winked at the prince


    "thanks, and see ya"(prince) took it gladly


    "Don''t be a stranger, next time we can even do more than talking, you know? I may not even charge you"(Roxanne) gave him a small kiss on the chick an even whispered the last part to his ear


    Prince turns a little red but managed to keep himself in control(barely) and left the room while trying to keep his cool and failing miserably


    Meanwhile the two girls were a little confused about everything that happen, and for some reason a little upset. Aria even sent a small punch to the kidneys, and Susan sent him deadly looks since she couldn''t harm him


    So they left the cabaret, with the prince having pain at his side and a b--er, making feel like a masochist.Meanwhile, the two girls were upset and ignoring him(not like he was n''t used to it)


    Problem was, the prince really didn''t want to do what came next, since it was obviously a pain in the ass, but if he wanted to successfully reach the duke, he had no choice but to do it


    So he pump himself up and went to buy a cake at a bakery before they close up since it was quite late


    He needed to bribe someone and that was his best weapon


    Note: sorry for been short, but it was a good part to stop

 Chapter 49: Sis

    33 days after the explosion - Magic university


    Of course he didn''t forget to bring the bribe. He had to pay 3 times the price since it was closing time and they didn''t feel like doing it, but he insisted and managed to strike a deal


    Since it was a matter of life and dead, he didn''t try to lower the price (too much). He did have the option of going the next day since he could make an order and get them around 6 am since they started baking at 4 am. The problem was that the information was only relevant for a couple of days, so the faster they get it over with, the better


    This made it an absolute necessity to get right away or things could turn out quite badly


    So he enters the magic university like he owned the place, with the cakes bribes, and went directly to the secret room with the two girls


    "Hey sis, miss m  "(prince)had to dodge a fireball that went directly to his face


    Luckily he was prepared for a welcome like that or his face would have been roasted like a pig


    "whoa sis, you almost hit me"(prince)said while getting inside and carefully watching his surrounding


    "Tsk, I missed"(Rebecca)clicked her tongue in disappointment and returned to work at her desk


    "I love you too sis..."(prince) was already getting used to this kind of treatment, sadly


    "So what do you want? it is quite late you know"(Rebecca)


    She kept working at her desk, but still managed to sound extremely annoyed


    "Here, I brought some cakes"(prince)approached Rebecca and presented the bribe/offering


    "I know, or I wouldn''t have thrown you just 1 fireball"(Rebecca) shrugged while turning around and greedily taking the bribes/offerings


    "Really, can''t you be a little nicer to your little bro?"(prince)


    "Nope"(Rebecca)


    "Fine, let''s talk business then. I need your help in taking down the duke"(Prince)


    This made Rebecca stop opening the cakes and look at the prince


    "Wait wait wait wait wait, what?"(Rebecca)shocked


    "Like I said, I need to take down the duke, he tried to kidnap me"(Prince)


    "No way, the duke? are you sure you didn''t get the wrong person? you ARE a moron anyway, so it shouldn''t be too hard to get a thing or two wrong"(Rebecca)


    ouch, haven''t been called that in a while(Prince)


    "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I am pretty sure he had some involvement with the explosion. It''s the best way to find out who tried to kill us or he may even be THE person that tried to kill us"(prince)


    "Fineeee, you got my attention. Tell me the whole story"(Rebecca)


    So prince told her everything that he found out, including the information he got from Roxanne while omitting some stuff that may bring him troubles like who Roxanne and the old man were and how he knew them. Not like Rebecca cared about that stuff


    "So, our options are to attack at the party, at his house or at the palace?"(Rebecca)


    "Pretty much"(prince)


    "Then let''s get it over with, I don''t want to waste my precious time in pointless stuff"(Rebecca)


    "what do you want to do?"(prince)


    "Shut up for a second"(Rebecca)


    Afraid that Rebecca would send him another fireball, Prince shut up and waited to see what she wanted to do


    Prince thought that she would cast a spell, like usual, but instead she went near a box and started to look inside it and she took two of them out of it. One was a staff and the other something similar a small bird that looked similar to a hummingbird


    She put some mana into the bird and staff, and the bird started moving while the staff started generating a light from a crystal at the end of it


    Rebecca pointed the light at the wall, and prince instantly realized what it was for since the moment the light illuminated the white wall, it showed a projection of Rebecca''s face.


    It didn''t take a genius to see that the projection showed what the bird was watching since the bird was watching Rebecca''s face at the moment, and as soon as it moved, it showed what it should be in his line of sight


    Rebecca then started to concentrate, and the hummingbird started to fly away into the night. Since it was pretty late, the University was almost empty so no one saw the hummingbird move around and managed to reach outside without problems


    The streets were also pretty deserted, and since the hummingbird could fly pretty high and with the help of the night, it reached the Duke''s mansion without problems.Prince thought he would have to give directions to Rebecca to get here, but it seems she probably visit the place before or knew how to get there from the paper Roxanne gave the prince


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    But now that the bird got there came the hard part, getting the bird inside without someone noticing


    There were two guards outside the door to the mansion, nothing strange for someone of duke''s caliber, and they even look like they were warriors(again, nothing strange for someone of duke''s caliber)


    The hummingbird kept moving around the mansion, probably looking for a window open. Sadly, all the windows were closed, so the bird also couldn''t get inside that way, so instead the bird started to look window for window until it hit the jackpot


    Inside was a big room with a really big bed and a really big man sleeping on it. Since the bird had something similar to night vision, it could see that the big fat man sleeping on the bed was the duke.Since it was his own home, the chance of him been a body double were minimal, so the prince and everyone present were sure that it was him


    The bird rested on the window, and suddenly the projection stopped. Prince looked back at Rebecca, and he saw her putting down the staff


    "Nice spying tool, where did you get it?"(prince) wonder since it was really useful and he would love to get one of those. Definitely not for indecent purpose, definitely


    "I made it myself of course"(Rebecca)said it like it was obvious


    nuuuu, I won''t be able to peep at the woman''s bathroom now(prince)seriously lamented


    But he managed to recover and asked


    "Soo, how are we getting inside?do we take down the guards and go from the front door?"(Prince)


    "Eh?that sounds annoying, why not just teleport inside"(Rebecca)


    Prince and the other two girls that were watching on the sidelines were confused at her statement until they saw her gathering the mana around them wich was a really really bad thing, since a person couldn''t normally see the mana around them


    "Wait wait wait, what that''s supposed to mean?you want to go now?"(Prince)


    "Dhuuuu, just shut up, I will perform some delicate spells so don''t distract me or I may accidently open a wormhole again"(Rebecca)


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN!!!!"(Prince)


    "SHUT UP!!!"(Rebecca)glared at him


    And prince shut up since he was sure she wasn''t kidding about the wormhole


    Both prince, Sussan, and Aria waited patiently while praying to god since there was a chance they would die in a horrible way at any moment


    Luckily the spell worked fine since they saw a portal in the middle of the room, and at the other side was the duke''s room


    "Prince, you go first since there is a chance you will explode in million of pieces"(Rebecca) said smiling at him while throwing a bomb


    "wait! shouldn''t Susan or Aria go first then? one is a slave and the other my bodyguard"(prince) tried to wise his way out of it


    This made both Aria and Susan turn pale since they didn''t want to die, especially in such a horrible way


    "Nonono, this is a gentlemen job, how could you leave it to this poor girls"(Rebecca)


    "Sorry sis, but I am pro gender equality, so I believe the right person for the right job, and this is a job for a bodyguard or a slave, not me"(prince) didn''t give up


    "It may have sounded like a request, but it was an order! you go first or I make you, which one do you prefer?"(Rebecca)


    And with that, prince was left with no choice but to go first


    So after gathering his courage(something that has repeated a lot lately), he stepped inside the portal and blow up in million of pieces


    The end


    not


    He crossed fine and Rebecca was laughing her a-s off at him for the face he made. It even took her a while to calm down


    "Can''t believe you fall for that!"(Rebecca)said while shedding a tear after laughing so hard


    "Fine, are you guy coming or what?"(prince)


    "Fine, you two go, I am right behind you"(Rebecca)


    So the two girls went inside and Rebecca follow them a moment later


    And the moment they got inside the room, all four of them turned around and looked at the duke, that had gotten awake after all the noise they made


    You could even see his disbelieve, shock and fear on his face, trying to understand what the f-ck was going on


    Meanwhile, prince smiled at him while cracked his knuckles, it was about f-cking time he got some answers

 Chapter 50: Cornered Duke

    34 days after the explosion - Duke''s bedroom


    The duke was trying to process what was going in front of him


    Not only was his room suddenly invaded by four people, but they were the prince lazy prince, the dead princess, the crazy general''s daughter and his own daughter


    Even a nightmare would have been less terrifying than this, but he was sure he was awake and it didn''t matter how much he wanted for this to be a dream or even an illusion caused by a serious psychological problem


    He couldn''t even scream since he made sure that the room was sound proof and the worst part was that even if it wasn''t, if the girl in front of him was Rebecca(and only Rebecca could open a portal as easy as breathing) making this room sound proof was not only easy, but the least of his problems


    "Duke, my old friend, old buddy, old pal, how is life treating you?"(prince)smiled at the duke like he was seen his best friend after a long time


    The duke graved his sheets a little tighter while turning a little whiter


    "Ehhhh, prince?"(Duke)


    He was really trying to grasp his last remaining chance that maybe he is mistaken and that''s not the prince, because he may be able to weasel his way out of anybody else, but the prince really have a good reason to kill him


    "Oh! you got it right at the first try, not bad, not bad. Since you know who I am, I guess you know why are we visiting you at this sudden hour of the night, right?"(prince)keep smiling while slowly approaching the bed


    Of course the duke knew why he was getting a surprise visit in the middle of the night, he didn''t know how he did it(although he suspected it was thanks to the woman behind him) but he knew that it was better to play along for now and see how it develops


    "Not really, it must be really important if you have to use such an unorthodox method. Can''t we do this tomorrow in a more suitable place and time?you kind of catch me in a bad moment"(duke)tried to play dumb


    He didn''t expect it to work, but since he didn''t know how much the prince knew, the less he say the better


    "Sorry sorry, but we must do it now and if you don''t want to deal with me, I can leave it to my SISTER over there if you want"(prince)


    The duke turned even paler at the statement. He knew her reputation, so the prince would be 100 better than her


    "No!!nonono!nononono, it is fine, let''s do it now"(duke)almost screamed


    "Ok then, let''s start with a simple question, why did you tried to kidnap me?"(prince)said while turning the light from the duke nightstand and looking directly at the duke with a "smile"


    "Kidnaping? what are you talking about? I would never do something like that. I am sure I am been wrongly accused. How can you believe that I would do something like that?"(duke)acted offended


    "Cut the crap, in case you haven''t noticed, we have your daughter over there and she already confessed everything, and let''s just say we didn''t use conventional methods. Unless you want to be asked in an unconventional way, I would start talking if I were you"(prince)lost the smile and glared at the duke


    The duke glared at her daughter, and then he notice the slave collar at her neck. He knew that if he wasn''t careful, he may end up even in a worse situation


    "But are you sure that she wasn''t deceived? It wouldn''t be too hard to alter her memories and put the blame on me. It would even make a lot of sense since not only would they get rid of you, they can put the blame on me. Besides, why would I do it?I have money, I have power, I can have any woman I want and I am already in history as one of the supporting pillars in your father''s ruling, it makes no sense that I would try to do something against this empire that I have invested so much"(Duke)


    It must be said that he was quite pleased with himself, it was a sound argument and it should give him some room to maneuver


    "Look duke, I am completely sure it was you, so you answer truthfully or you get sis, my patience has a limit"(prince)


    That wasn''t good for the duke, he was basically forced to admit he was involved on the kidnapping or deny and be sent to the monster


    "WAIT! Why are you so sure!!!!??"(duke) was starting to panic


    But prince just smiled at that outburst


    "Your choice "duke", You talk or you get sis"(prince) threatened the duke


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Now the duke was really in troubles, he knew the moment he confessed, his options would diminish a lot. Basically, one is innocent until proven guilty, so confusing would end up proving his guild


    However, if he kept bluffing and the prince sends his sister, he would lose everything. His choices were gamble all in a bluff, hoping to scare the prince, or lose half of what he had and hope to earn something later. The duke was starting to REALLY hate gambling


    "SIIIIIIIS the duke wants to have a little chat with you"(prince)turned and with the sweetest sound he could muster, he called his sister


    "WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!I TALK I TALK PLEASE PLEASE DON''T SEND ME TO HER!!!!!"(duke)cracked


    He couldn''t risk it, who could? That monster was known to make the impossible look like child''s play, would you gamble when you knew that if you lost, you would get the devil in person? no way, so the duke surrender


    Now he had to play a different game. He would give as little as possible and get as much as possible back. This was now a fight so the how much he would be able to keep


    On the other hand, the prince was pleased with himself, since he was bluffing. The moment the duke said that someone may have brainwashed Susan and that it was a trap to put all the blame on the duke, the prince must admit that he almost believes it. It actually made more sense than him betraying the country


    Problem was, he already made all this mess of showing up in his room in the middle of the night, so he couldn''t just say sorry, my bad, and go back where he came from, so he bluffed. Besides, until the duke confessed, he wasn''t sure how much Rebecca would cooperate in an interrogation, especially if she believe what he said or considered interrogating the duke to much of a hassle


    And he was half right half wrong. The argument the duke gave was really good, and since it was a hassle, she didn''t feel like doing it and prince would have to bargain really hard to make her moving. The thing is, she was really pissed at the way the duke acted the moment the prince threatened to send him to her(she also didn''t like the way prince worded that, but she was more pissed at the duke) and the scream at the end didn''t help his case


    So, if prince didn''t manage to extract information from the duke, Rebecca wouldn''t mind experimenting a bit with the duke


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Note: Well guys, I have good news and bad news


    2 bad news first


    The first bad news is that I kind of screw up a little thing last chapter. I forgot to describe Susan reaction to prince sister sudden appearance. Not really important but well, let''s just say that the sudden appearance of Rebecca shocked her. since prince liked to play around, of course, he didn''t tell her, and she ended up surprised by her sudden appearance


    As for the other bad news, and this is more important news, The Black Sheep prince is almost at the end. There are around 20 chapters left including side stories, so yeah, it is almost at the end. To be honest, I could have extended the series to 40-60 chapters more, but decided to give you guys the ending sooner and maybe make them as side stories after the ending


    Now the good news


    I already started writing part 2. it is 8 years after the end of black sheep prince and tells the story of a high school class of superheroes(literal superheroes, with super powers since they were born) summoned to the prince world "by god Letho" to "fight evil", and if you don''t realise " " means bull sh-t.


    This story was already planned from the beginning, and SPOILER!!  <del>if you remember what was stolen from Rebecca''s room(chapter 10) you may realize how they were actually summon</del>


    It will be in first person point of view, will have more action and won''t be a mystery(similar to Paul''s side stories) and will follow the story of the only non-powered person in the group


    I have written a prolog and chapter 1 so far, and at the end of chapter 1, there is a major spoiler of this story, so read at your own risk


    If you are curious, you can start reading here</a> now or wait till I finish the Black Sheep Prince since it will have spoilers. I will also upload the story to Royal road when It reaches 5 chapters

 Chapter 51: Duke final Struggle

    34 days after the explosion - Duke''s Room


    The duke gave up, but that didn''t mean he would go down without a fight. He managed to compose himself after the panic scream, and now it was time to make a plan on how to get out off this predicament


    The first thing he had to do was find out how much the prince knew


    "So I confess, I tried to kidnap you, happy?"(duke)


    "Not really, I already knew that. I want to know why"(prince)


    "Because I wanted to rule the kingdom of course"(duke) lie


    And now prince was in troubles since he had no way of knowing what was the truth and what was a lie, and prince knew it. The thing is, now that he got a confession out of him, he didn''t have to hold his punches. IF it was the prince mother who interrogated him, she would probably start torturing the duke right now, but prince had a better weapon at his disposal


    "Sis, can you knock out Susan for a moment?"(prince)


    "Why?"(Rebecca)/"Why!!!!"(Susan)


    "To get her slave collar. It has a lie detection function"(prince)


    Prince had the option of leaving all to his sister but considering she might refuse, or not tell him everything, it was better this way


    "Wait, what!? You want to put me a slave collar!!!!????"(Duke)turned white as a sheet


    "Ok"(Susan) agreed after seen the duke''s reaction


    <i>Well, at least I am not the only one she enjoys bullying.....</i>(prince)was already getting used to her S side


    The duke, on the other hand, was getting whiter and whiter, and using all his brain cells to find a way out of this situation, since it was getting worse by the second. As for Susan, she gave up


    It didn''t even took a second for Rebecca to knock out Susan. As soon as she was out, prince took her collar off and approached the duke with the collar at hand


    "Wait Wait wait!!!!!! Don''t do it!!!DDOOOOON''T!!!!"(Duke) acted as if he was having a panic attack


    The thing is, he had inner mana, so he was secretly glad that it was the prince who was approaching him. Of course he had it, or else he wouldn''t get respect from other nobles since your status as a noble depended off  your ability to use mana in any way. It was to the point that it was more important to be able to use inner mana or outer mana than to be the head of a family than be the firstborn or even male


    That was one of the main reasons most nobles looked down on the prince all the time. Well, his personality, and that the rest of his family was full of monsters didn''t help


    And since the duke knew that the prince couldn''t use mana, it was a great opportunity to kidnap him a use him as a hostage. He wasn''t sure how useful would be against that monster, but it was better than nothing


    The idea was simple, the duke would act like he was having a panic attack and the moment the prince got close enough him, the duke would launch a surprise attack and grab the prince by the neck. Then he would threaten the other 2 and if they tried anything, he would break the prince''s neck


    He was in so much deep sh-t, that doing something on that level wouldn''t make his situation any worse even if he got caught. Besides, for his ambition, killing the prince may not be a bad idea, since he turns up to be more troublesome than the monster that only lazy around in some unknown place


    Who is worst? a dragon sleeping on a cave or a rabid dog that chase you around?


    So the moment the duke was sure there was no hope of getting out of this situation, he would kill the prince without hesitation


    The duke waited for the prince to approach while acting desperate and making up his mind on what  he was about to do. So he waited, and waited, and the moment the prince was close enough to be grabbed, the duke moved at the fastest speed he could muster while aiming directly for the prince''s throat


    The change from "defenseless" to aggressor was instant. If you include that the duke was using his inner mana to increase his speed, kinetic vision, reaction time and thought process(increase of time perception), for a 120kg fat old man, his movement was faster and deadlier than a judo black belt


    It wouldn''t be a surprise that the prince would be instakill with the sheer force the duke wanted to use to grab him. Sadly for the duke, it didn''t work


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The moment his hand was near the prince''s throat, the duke suddenly blackout


    He didn''t know how long he was out, or why he suddenly blackout, but after waking up, it didn''t take long to figure out he had failed in his attempt. His new collar also helped him realize he was completely screwed


    The reason he failed was simple, the prince gave him an uppercut to the chin. As for how he did it, the prince was expecting an assault from the duke


    Everyone in the palace knew of the duke infamy with women, and one of the reasons he could keep up with so many womans even in his old age was because he could use inner mana


    Knowing that the duke could use inner mana, had years of experience in the courts, was one of the most important people in the kingdom and a manipulative bastard, he didn''t buy the hopeless act for a second. It even had the opposite effect of increasing his wariness of the duke


    Like the duke, the prince increased his reaction time, speed, and thought process, paying close attention to any sudden moment from the duke. If you take in consideration that getting up from bed and attacking the prince''s throat would take less than a second since he was approaching the prince, it would take less than half a second hit the duke chin with proper timing. Besides, it would be from the duke blind point, so he wouldn''t see it coming


    Still, it was really close for the prince, since a small mistake, bad timing or slower reaction speed would have meant dead for him


    As for the duke, he didn''t know how he failed, he only knew his chin really hurt


    "Did the sleeping "beauty" finally woke up from his sleep?"(prince) said in a mocking tone


    "You should treat your elders with more respect brat"(duke) said while massaging his hurt chin


    "Since when scumbags deserved respect? been an old piece of sh-t doesn''t earn you any respect"(prince) shrugged


    It should be considered a miracle the duke didn''t die from a stroke after hearing those words. He was red as a tomato and you could see steam coming out of his head.Not only was he called a piece of sh-t by a 15 years old brat, he was also the disgrace of the royal family and all the nobles in the kingdom. It was only thanks to years of practice of hiding his emotions in court that he didn''t explode at that moment


    Still, been called THAT by HIM.....


    It took a while for the duke to calm down


    "Did the big fat baby finally calm down?"(prince)didn''t give the duke a chance


    Duke finally snapped and went for a second strike at the prince blinded by rage


    The problem was that the duke forgot a tiny little thing, the slave collar. Meaning, he got an electroshock for trying to hurt his "master"


    "well, I guess it works fine"(prince) smiled at his misery


    Torturing the bastard that brought so much trouble to the prince helped relieve his stress


    It also brought back Aria''s old memories of her many attempts to hurt the prince. all ending in the same situation as the duke. She was also tempted to get her revenge now since she may not get an opportunity later. Sadly it wasn''t a great time


    As for Rebecca, she was sitting on a chair while reading a book, so she didn''t pay attention to what was going on


    Meanwhile, the duke had some mix filling at the moment. He wasn''t stupid enough to try it again, but every part of his body wanted to rip the prince into a million pieces and piss on his remains(a feeling Aria got used to)


    "well, let''s stop joking around. It is time you spill the beans, and you have no way out duke"(prince)


    And like the prince said, the duke had no more cards to play, he could only try his best and not tell everything


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Note: Next chapter should be him telling almost everything that happened and why he did it. If you saw the part 2, it is pretty obvious who did it and why(and even tells you something that the duke won''t say in next chapter) that''s why I warned it had spoilers


    As for why theduke did it, if you saw the movie "Hero" from Jet Li, you can get the idea why. By the way, I seriously recommended

 Chapter 52: One land

    34 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s Room


    "well, let''s start with simple questions. Were you involve in the explosion at the temple?"(prince)Started with the most important question


    "No"(duke)


    Now, that took the prince by surprise, he was sure that the duke had something to do with it. Still, that didn''t stop the prince from asking more questions


    "Did you know it was going to happen?"(prince)


    "no"(duke)


    "But you did try to kidnap me two weeks ago, right?"(prince)


    "N--<electroshock>"(duke) got electrocuted before he could deny


    Well, at least this means the collar is working(prince)


    "Do you know who caused the explosion?"(prince)asked


    but the duke looked the other way and refused to talk. Not really a surprise, since lying wouldn''t work, his best bet was not speaking. This was one of the reasons necromancy was a "popular" way of interrogation in the underworld. Still, it is not like the prince didn''t have a few ideas


    "Duke, it is in your best interest to talk. If you don''t ..."(prince) approached the duke really fast and broke one of his fingers


    Since duke was looking the other way to avoid eye contact, he realised too late what the prince wanted to do. Of course he screamed like a pig and send murderous eyes to the prince


    "Every time you refuse to talk, I am going to break a finger"(prince) said while smiling


    "So, do you know who did it"(prince) repeated


    And again, the duke refused to talk, but this time he didn''t avoid the prince gaze. Sadly for the duke, that didn''t stop the prince for breaking another finger. This was another reason necromancy was popular since some people refused to talk even in torture


    "Oh! I admire your will, but the reason I recommended that you talk wasn''t because of this little thingy. The reason was because my sister is here. If I can''t make you talk, I can always ask sis for help, and necromancy isn''t her only way to make you talk, ya know?"(prince)


    That made the duke realise that he was screw if he talked and screwed if he didn''t. The situation really was turning worst every second


    "Soooo, before you run out of fingers, Do you know who did it? yes or no"(prince)asked


    ".........."(duke)


    The duke still refused to talk, but this time, instead of instantly breaking his fingers, the prince slowly bend it as a threat while inflicting pain


    "FINE FINE, I TALK I TALK"(duke) surrender


    "So? who did it?"(prince)


    "It was the Zergeite Kingdom"(duke)


    "Those guys?Really?They didn''t seem the type"(prince)


    The Zergeite kingdom was also a human country like them but under a different ruling. Both of them arrived at the continent as a colony of other kingdoms, but unlike the Griffon Empire, they are still a colony(meaning they pay taxes, send  soldiers, etc)


    They weren''t incompetent, since they took advantage of the war of independence 100 years ago, taking some land from the borders(so did the elf and dwarves).And even though  both kingdoms didn''t get along and frequently fight each others, they never tried sneak attacks of this level before


    "How did they do it?"(prince)


    "With the help of the priestess it seems. She was a spy from the start"(duke)


    "The dead priestess?"(prince)


    "That one. They probably kill her to shut her up"(duke)


    The prince thought that it was interesting, but it also brought new questions. According to Rebecca, the last time she saw Jorge, he was going into a room with the priestess. He also suspected that they both were in that room when she got assassinated, but where did that leave his brother in all this?


    The first choice was that he helped in planting the bomb, and killed the priestess to shut her up. The other option was that he charmed her, and she saved his life because of it. Still, where was he at this moment? that was something the prince had no idea


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    "Was Jorge involved in the explosion?"(prince)


    "I don''t know"(duke)


    That brought some relief to the prince since it made option 2 more likely. Still, he wasn''t sure how important was the duke to the Z Kingdom


    "So, how long have you been a traitor?"(prince)


    "I WAS NEVER A TRAITOR!"(duke)Send an outburst to the prince


    Still, what surprised the prince more than the outburst, was that he didn''t get electrocuted. This meant that he really believed he wasn''t a traitor


    "Wait a minute, you are helping an enemy kingdom, one that tried to kill all the royal family, and you are not a traitor?"(prince) couldn''t follow his logic


    "Of course not, I did it for our country!"(duke)


    "..................... did you lost your mind, or were you brainwashed?"(prince)


    "Have you ever hear the phrase "one land"? that is what I want"(duke)


    And prince did a face palm. The duke may not have been brainwashed but it was close to it. "one land" was an ideology that was getting popular recently, and it basically mean one kingdom or empire instead of multiple ones.


    "Sooo, you want to join hands with the Z Kingdom and go to war against the other 3 races?"(prince)


    "Well, at least you are not as dumb as I thought. If you get that, Can''t you see what I am trying to do?If we conquer the elf, dwarves and beast, there will be no more wars, no more fighting, just peace"(duke)


    Prince had already heard that argument before, and if he had to be honest, the duke looked like a cult believer in his eyes. It all sounded nice and wonderful, but not only involved the bloodshed of a lot of people, it was pointless in prince opinion


    Wouldn''t be better for all to start diplomatic relationships and save themselves from all the bloodshed? Not only that, it was better for commerce, cultural exchange, diversity, competition, etc


    The real reason people wanted "one land" was because they wanted to be the top dog, nothing else


    "Seriously? you believe that crap?"(prince)


    "Hump! what would an ignorant kid like you know"(duke)


    Aaaand, prince punch him in the nose


    "ouch! WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID BRAT!"(duke)


    "That''s for selling your country for such a stupid reason. Why did you work so hard with my father all this years to throw it away for a stupid ideology that may even kill us all!?"(prince)


    SO many things could go wrong that the prince didn''t want to even think about it. They could get enslaved to the Z kingdom, or even if it worked, they would be a colony like before the war. And even if every turned out ok in the transition, they still had to win a war against 3 races, it would be really hard. 4 even, if they attacked the demons in their island


    "Because it can only get worse from here, you stupid beast. Your father is te best king we could ever get, and the only thing he managed to do was improve the empire situation, he didn''t do anything life changing. If this keeps going, we may get a few good kings, but he moment we get a bad one (-cough- like you for example -cough-) we may lose it all and become enslaved or annihilated.That''s why it is better to join hands with The Zergeite Kingdom now that we are strong, and try to conquer the continent so we don''t have to worry about the future"(duke)


    That was the other argument the "one land" used. Better kill them before they kill us. Basically paranoia according to the prince, since even if they obliterate all the "enemies" in the continent, they still have to worry against monsters or invasions from their old pals from beyond the continent


    "No point in arguing. I know better that to try to reason against a religious nut job. Instead, I want you to tell me what is the Z kingdom next move"(prince)


    "Checkmate I guess"(duke) said with a smug smile


    "What do you mean?"(prince) said a little worried


    "I mean that they practically have all the Empire in their possession"(duke)

 Chapter 53: Give up

    34 days after the explosion - Duke''s room


    "I mean that they practically have all the Empire in their possession"(duke)


    What the duke just said didn''t sit well with the prince. Since the duke couldn''t lie, this meant that the duke believe this to be the truth, and if he played his card right, he may have accomplished it


    "What did you do?"(prince) asked, a little worried of what he may find out


    "let''s just say I have been busy this last few days"(duke)


    "Stop gloating and speak duke or I will break some fingers just for fun"(prince)


    "Fine, I want to see your reaction anyway. while you were playing around this last 2 weeks, I have been working hard in destroying our war potential"(Duke) gloated his accomplishment


    Like the prince thought, the duke had been messing around while he was gone


    "how bad is it?(prince)


    "Well, I managed to take down all the forts near the border to the Zergeit empire while enslaving all their garrisons. It was pretty easy since I send "reinforcements" to each one after the attacks, drugged their food and let the Zergeit soldiers inside while killing any resistance. Only two forts were lucky enough to survive the surprise attack, but one ended up being taken down anyway while the other is in siege and without a way to communicate since it was the first thing we destroyed in the attacks"(duke) said while been pretty pleased with himself


    And it was worse than the prince thought since he never imagined things would be that bad


    "Wait, what about the general? did you do something to him? he should have realized something was fishy by now"(prince)


    The moment the prince mentioned the general, Aria realized something could have happened to his father. So far she had been quiet since there wasn''t much she could do, but things were different if her family was involved


    "IS MY FATHER OK!"(Aria) screamed while she approached the duke with a worried expression


    "He is fine, he just couldn''t act because we had his daughter prisoner. By the time we couldn''t prove we had you with us, it was too late. He should be in a cell somewhere since I didn''t want to kill such a useful man"(duke)


    Aria felt glad the moment she found out his father was alright. Problem was that as soon as she realised what the duke did to him, the murderous eyes and killing intent she emitted couldn''t be ignored by the prince, especially when she started to move in the duke''s direction


    "WAIT! I STILL NEED HIM!"(prince) desperately tried to hold her back


    "LET ME KILL THAT BASTARD! HOW DOES HE DARE DO THAT TO MY FATHER!!!!"(Aria)


    Prince used everything in his power to stop her, but even though he tried hard and even used his inner mana, he wasn''t a match against a talented person with years of practice


    "SIS, A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!"(prince) was desperate


    He had no choice but to relay in the wild card called sis


    "Fine"(Rebecca) stopped reading her book and gathered some mana


    A moment later, Aria was sleeping on the floor like a baby and the prince was sweating all over the place. The mad dog had been really hard to hold back, and prince wouldn''t have lasted much longer with her strength


    As for the duke, even though he almost died, he regretted a little she didn''t succeed in her attempt. He didn''t want to die, but slave collars usually stopped you from killing yourself, and chances were that his future would be worst than dead. Besides, he lived a pretty good life without any regrets


    What di surprise the duke was what the prince did


    "Wait a minute, why can you use mana!?"(duke)


    Duke knew that the prince couldn''t use mana in any way(everyone knew), so seen him holding back Aria meant that he could use inner mana, something that should be impossible for the prince. The duke didn''t realise the first time since he was knocked out before he could understand how it happened, but this time he saw it clear as day


    "Uh? what are you talking about?"(Rebecca) heard something unbelievable just now


    As for Rebecca, since she ignored the prince most of the time there, she never saw him use his inner mana. Sadly for her, even though she was THE expert in outer mana, she didn''t know anything about inner mana since she couldn''t use it herself.Sadly for the prince, not knowing and not wanting to know were to different things


    "He just used mana. How else could he stop that crazy girl?"(duke)


    "Is that true?"(Rebecca) directed her gaze at the prince


    "We are in the middle of an important discussion, don''t change the subject duke"(prince) tried to avoid the question


    He couldn''t lie about his inner mana, since his sister may kill him later if he did, but he also got the feeling that if he told them the truth, things would get complicated


    "IS.THAT.TRUE!?"(Rebecca) insisted


    "Sis, he just told us that most of our forces are in Z possessions, let''s not get sidetracked"(prince) tried to keep things on track


    Sadly for him, her sister wasn''t interested in that


    "You have 5 seconds or else...."(Rebecca)


    "Sis! this is important"(prince)


    "4"(Rebecca)


    "can''t we leave it for later?"(prince)


    "2"(Rebecca)


    "Wait, and the 3!!!!!???"(prince)


    "1"(Rebecca)


    "Fine! I can use it I can use it! happy?"(prince) gave up


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He knew that once his sister had her mind on something, nothing could stop her. He knew it was foolish to try, no matter how important it was he succeeded


    "how?"(Rebecca) approached the prince and increased the intensity of her stare


    "You won''t stop until I talk, right?"(prince)


    "HOW!?"(Rebecca)


    It must be said that be said that the reason Rebecca was so interested was because she couldn''t use inner mana. It was for her pride that she worked so hard at outer mana, becoming the best in the world probably since she had no hope in inner mana. But as a mana expert, she was ashamed that she couldn''t use it herself, and she even tried to find ways to use it herself, unsuccessfully


    As for the duke, even though he didn''t need it himself, finding a way to use inner mana without been born with the ability was the discovery of the century, and anyone would be interested in that. It was like finding a way for animals to talk, even though you can talk yourself, granting the ability to others could be extremely useful


    "With a potion I made"(prince) reluctantly confessed


    "No way!"(Rebecca/duke) denied at the same time


    "HEY! F-CK you guys, I don''t care if you believe me or not, it''s the truth"(prince) was offended at their absolute denial


    "there is no way you could have made a potion for inner mana, you probably awaken it by growing up or something "(duke)


    "exactly, there is no way an idiot like you could do something like that"(Rebecca)


    ".................. are you done with the insults? I would like to keep with the interrogation if you guys don''t mind"(prince) managed to keep his cool for now


    "Wait wait wait, this is too important, you can worry about the Z idiots later"(Rebecca)


    "yes, what She said"(duke) was glad, any excuse to change the subject was welcome


    "Sis, you do realize that we are close to being completely conquered, right?"(prince) was beginning to question why someone like that had so much power. Life really wasn''t fair


    "Who cares, If they cause me any problems, I will just completely obliterate them. A way to learn inner mana is something no one else accomplished before!"(Rebecca)


    The funny thing was that even though it sounded completely insane that one person could fight against an entire kingdom, the prince and the duke suspected that she could do it


    "If you don''t believe me, what do you want me to do?"(prince) really wanted to punch her in the face right now. even 10 years old brats were easier to manage than her


    "tell me how it happened, I may find a way if I recreate it and if that doesn''t work, I will just dissect you or something"(Rebecca)


    For some reason, the prince didn''t doubt that she would do it, or the duke for the case


    "WAIT! calm down, it really is a potion, I already tested and it works" in animals(prince)


    "You aren''t lying, right?"(Rebecca)


    "No!"(prince)


    "You do know that if you are lying you will get dissected, right?"(Rebecca)


    "yes!"(prince)


    "So, how can I get one of those!?"(Rebecca)


    "I have 3 of them already made"(prince)


    "WHERE!"(Rebecca)had insanity in her eyes while looking at the prince


    He knew that if he didn''t hand them to her, she would use her magic to find out anyway. As for the reason he had 3, it was to sell them in the underground auction if he ever needed money. Why 3? the 3 would be sold separately one week apart, and since the first one wouldn''t be sold at a high, it would work to prove it is authentic. The second would be sold at an even greater price and the final would be brought at an immeasurable price since it was the last hope of everyone there. Well, at least that is how the prince thought it would go. Later he would release 1 periodically


    It was his wicked plan to get a lot of money, and it was still his escape plan if everything went down the drain. But before he needed to use his escape plan(that would be used soon if this didn''t work) the prince thought of a good idea


    "I will give them to you with one condition"(prince)


    "You do know I can extract it out of you, right?"(Rebecca)


    "I know I know, I just want your help with the invasion, nothing more"(prince)was sweating a little


    This made Rebecca hesitated a little. She didn''t want to be used by the prince, and she could get the information with or without his consent, but what he was asking was reasonable


    "Fine! but if it doesn''t work....."(Rebecca)didn''t need to say the rest


    "IT WILL WORK IT WILL WORK!"I hope!(prince)


    "Give then to me now!"(Rebecca)demanded


    "can we do it after we finish with the duke?"(prince)


    "N.O.W!"(Rebecca)


    "OK!!!!!!"(prince) gave up


    He told her his workshop address and the safe combination with an explanation to how they looked and how to take the potion


    The moment he finishes, she opened a portal and left the place without looking back


    ".........................."(duke/prince) watched how easy she opened a portal and left the place in a mix of shock, reluctance and relief


    "well, where were we?"(Prince)

 Chapter 54: Inner Mana Potion

    34 days after the explosion ¨C Duke¡¯s room


    "Wait, she may not be interested but I need to know, how did you do it? This is probably one of humankind greatest discoveries"(duke) asked


    And it was true that he wanted to know, but it was also a way to change the subject


    "Oh! Do you want to know?Fine I will tell you"(prince) showed a happy face


    Sadly for the prince, he had so few opportunities to gloat in his life, that he couldn''t resist the temptation of showing off a little


    "Well, it all started 5 years ago....."(prince)


    Narration


    In the palace private library, there were a lot of interesting books about alchemy, and some even came from the old Dragon empire. There were a lot of interesting recipes there that would be impossible to find even in the black marked, so I tried them myself to see wat I could find


    One of my favorites, the sleeping powder, came from one of the recipes there, and it was one of my best sellers. There were also some that I had to get creative, like the stimulant for the powder, where some of the materials were impossible to get on this continent. The thing was that the inner mana potion was a completely different beast


    For starters, the inner mana potion was a mana recovery potion actually


    I don''t know if you know duke, but most mana recovery potions on the marked increase the speed of recovery while resting.What most potions do is help the body relax so it can absorb the mana around them faster and the quality of the potion depends on how fast it helps with the recovery


    But this one was a little different since it could also help your recovery even in the middle of a fight. Unlike the usual mana potions that rely on the body relaxing(something impossible in the middle of a fight) this potion helped in the regeneration of the mana inside the body


    As you can probably imagine, the difference within helping in the middle of a fight or helping after a fight is enormous, and so is the "value"


    That is why I was really interested in recreating that potion


    The problem was that most of the materials, including the key components, were impossible to find on this continent or even time since some went extinct. Unlike the stimulant that only had some of the ingredients missing, at leat the key component was available, but it wasn''t like that with the mana potion


    Luckily, the theory behind the potion was left with the recipe, so I started to experiment. After some research, I tried mixing the recipe from both the ancient mana potion, and the mana potions in the marked, plus some other materials I thought could help


    As for test subjects, I used normal rats to taste for poison and inner mana rats to test the effectiveness


    The test was simple. I recorded the rat stamina and recovery rate. If one of those improved after taking a potion, it meant the potion worked. Obviously, I was more interested at the stamina improvement during exercise than the recovery rate after, but a way to make normal recovery potions wasn''t a bad idea


    And at some point, I started to succeed in both the recovery and stamina improvement, but that didn''t mean I was satisfied. Not only I wanted to know which materials were most effective and which useless, I also wanted to increase the effectiveness. The less useless materials I used, the cheaper it would be to make, and the better the effectiveness, the more expensive it will be, so it was important to research


    Besides, if I found out which were the important ingredients, I could experiment with new ones and see if there was any change


    So I kept experimenting while first trying them with the normal rats for poison and the inner ones for effectiveness. This kept going for a while until I saw something strange.


    Usually, the normal rats were kept in wired cages while the inner mana ones were kept on especially cages. The reason was because inner mana ones could break the wires of the normal cages with their reinforced teeth while normal ones couldn''t. The thing is, one rat escaped from a normal cage, and it was after eating the wire


    At first I thought the cage was defective or they sold me an inner mana rat by mistake, but after inspecting the other cages, some of them had strong bite marks on the wire


    Well, my point is that after doubting for a while and doing different checks, I came to the conclusion that my potion had the ability to grant inner mana to rats


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I would make a killing in buying normal ones and then selling them with inner mana :)


    not


    Of course my ambition wouldn''t be so low


    Since I kept records of all the experiments I did, it wasn''t too hard to find out which recipes had the effect. After that, I tested the potion on different animals(rabbits, dogs, and cats) and after seen no side effect, I tried on myself


    Kind of dangerous I know, but it was the kind of discovery someone would kill for, so instead of using it on another person and gamble if the guy could keep a secret, I preferred to gamble on myself, and it paid off


    The end


    "Interesting story, right?"(prince)


    "But why not tell the world? It would bring immeasurable fame and glory"(duke)


    It was a reasonable question. A discovery like that would put you in the history books. Most people would love that, including the duke


    "Can I eat fame and glory? naa, I already saw the effects of fame and glory on my family. Now, getting a stupid amount of gold to do anything I want, that is different"(prince)


    For the prince, getting fame and glory came with annoying baggage. You had to fulfill everyone expectations, everyone knew who you were so it was hard to move around, every little thing you do would get blown out of proportion


    Basically, a pain in the ass


    "What were you planning to do with the potion then?"(duke)


    "Sell it on the black marked and then on request, it would earn me a lot of money both on the  short run and the long run"(prince)


    That shocked the duke. Seel one of the greatest discoveries at a black marked to the scum of society? It was crazy, It was like creating a kingdom and selling it to bandits


    Still, the duke had to admit it would bring good profit


    "But it is a waste prince, such a great discovery been sold to ruffians and scumbags!"(duke)


    "Yeah, because nobles and merchants are better than scumbags and ruffians. Besides, in the end I plan to sell it to everybody so who cares? This way I get more profit without dealing with annoying popularity"(prince)


    "Still, it''s a waste. Imagine what you could do if every soldier had inner mana. Taking over the continent would be easy"(duke)


    "and here we go with your conquer plan. Besides, You still haven''t told me everything you know"(prince) went back on track


    And the duke cursed his slip of the tongue. He had skillfully changed the subject, but his dream of one land brought back the topic of the invasion


    "I believe that the discovery of the mana potion should be used by the kingdom. Imagine what could be accomplished with it"(duke)tried to change the subject


    "Don''t you mean the Empire? In the end, you sold us out to them, right?"(prince)


    "Haven''t you been listening? what it is important is human supremacy, and we have the tools now to easily do it"(duke)


    The duke was happy in a way. Even if he failed, or even if the invasion failed, as long as the prince used the mana potion to win, the end result would still be the same. All the duke wanted was peace


    "Fool, but it doesn''t matter, I won''t argue with a religious fanatic. Now spill everything you know about the invasion. I still have a lot of stuff to do and I can''t deal with you all day"(prince)


    "Fine, I will talk"(duke)


    It didn''t matter anymore. The duke had done his best and the way he saw it, no matter whose side won, the humans would benefit in the end. If the Zergeit kingdom won, all humanity finally would become one, and if the Griffin empire won, a way to use inner mana would spread among humankind. As long as the duke didn''t die, with the information he got out of the prince, sooner or later the way to make inner mana potions would come out


    So the prince finally knew who he could trust, how much damage the duke did, and in how much sh-t he was in

 Extra chapter - Wolf girl

    You know, since I met a naked guy my sanity has started to slowly put into question


    I mean, I have seen some freakish stuff in my adventures, but my common sense haven''t been in question every five minutes until I met him


    It all started on a regular day like any other


    Someone said they saw a red dragon on the mountain near the town, so the city governor send a request to check it out


    It was standard procedure since a dragon could easily destroy a town depending on what kind of dragon it was


    It could be a regular wyrm, the guy could be lying or it could be a real freakish dragon


    Besides, it was a request to check it out and not fight it. In cases like this, they send a small team to check it out and kill it if possible or return back if it is too strong and report


    So a party of the right people available at the time was formed including me


    The party was made all of warriors in case we had to run or fight, but each with a different role


    Since we were near the border, people of different races were more common, including me of course


    We had the elf ranger Emmet, who was good ar reading tracks and had great hearing


    The human Brian, who wore heavy armor and would be our shield in case we fought


    The dwarf Zodiac who was tasked to carry our stuff


    And me with my nose


    I had worked with some of them before, since it was a human town and finding open-minded people can be hard sometimes. For previous experience, I knew that the human and the dwarf were ok. As for the elf, he was an a-s hole


    And the reason I was in a human town? I was kind of tired of the muscle heads in my country. I mean, those guys only think of fighting, eating, and f-cking, sometimes at the same time


    Sadly, it is not like the other countries were much better


    The dwarves were either like my people or tried to scam me some coins


    The elf looks down on anyone that isn''t an elf


    And the humans are racist as sh-t. That is why I stay near the border since they are more tolerable there


    Anyway, our party went to the mountain at sunrise under the leadership of the elf and I really must say that he lived up to the elf reputation. He was soooooo annoying that I am surprised nobody slit his throat while he was asleep


    I think that beside me, both the dwarf and the human were considering doing it. The way they sometimes played with their sword or ax while he talked was kind of a tale


    But they never got the chance since the fucking dragon suddenly appeared


    I mean, we weren''t idiots, we were trying our best in finding any tracks or noise or smell while moving carefully in the woods


    Sadly, we reach an open plain, and we chose to proceed


    Bad idea


    I don''t know if he saw us, smell us or simply bad luck, but after walking for a while, he appeared from the sky and landed beside us


    And we were screwed


    Usually, these reports turn out to be nothing, or something blew out of proportion. Worst case, if it was a dangerous creature, we would see signs like burned stuff, big tracks, etc


    And that''s the problem with dragons, they are smart as sh-t and leave few tracks since the f-ckers fly


    But usually you can see them for afar and run, sadly he saw us first for some reason and now we were dead


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    What did we do? I mean, with a sudden appearance of a dragon, there are a couple of options you can do, and what we chose was......


    We stared at each other for an eternity, or at least it felt like eternity


    None of us dared to move, and part of me thinks that the dragon was enjoying our predicament


    So be kept staring at each other until something happened


    A sudden earthquake hit the mountain and the dragon started to panic


    Taking advantage of the confusion, all four of us started to move. I and the elf run away from the dragon while the human and dwarf run to the dragon


    Idiots I thought, but at least I was thankful since they would buy me time to run from the dragon. I am no fool, even if the four of us fight him, our chance were slim since the dragon could simply fly and throw a fire attack from above. besides, dragon scales were usually really hard to cut, so even if he didn''t fly, it would be a hard fight


    Running away was the best choice in my opinion. Sadly, when I looked back, I realized it wasn''t


    The dwarf made the best choice, running past the dragon while he was busy eating the human.  Watching it devouring the human as a snack was like a nightmare I never had, but would from then on, if I survived


    The guy didn''t even bought us 2 minutes, and I could see the elf cursing like a sailor about our group incompetence and stuff like that


    Part of me wanted to trip the guy and save myself, but it was too risky at the time so I kept running fro my life


    And what did the dragon do? I don''t know if it was because he was to0 small to be considered a snack, he was tired of dwarf meat(they fight dragons more than any other race thanks to living in mountains) or he just took a fancy to us but he chased us of course and left the dwarf alone.


    So we run, and we run like our lives depended on it (because it did) until we couldn''t run anymore. The dragon meanwhile was running behind us while matching our speed, obviously playing around. Why do I know he was playing around? because when we tried to run to the woods or a place he didn''t like, he would breathe fire or surpass us and made us run a different way


    How long would you be able to do it? in our case, we gave up. I don''t know for how long we run, but in the end we decided to fight. It is not like we had much choice, and if we kept running pointlessly, our chance would go from 1% to 0%


    At least, if the dragon got careless, we may have been able to kill it, but running was pointless


    The elf draws his bow and I took my sword while the dragon on the other side looked amused


    The first one to take action was the elf. He shot an arrow to the dragon''s chest and the dragon repelled like a mosquito bite. The dragon o the other hand draw some breath, and throw fire at the elf, making roasted elf "L'' dragon"


    To be honest, I am surprised I didn''t p-ss myself there.


    What did I do? I tried to run again. maybe I would slip and break my neck if I was lucky, but it was way better that dying " L'' dragon" style


    I pointed to my right and when the dragon turned, I run. The thing is that while running I looked back, and I realized that the dragon was looking at something


    And that''s when I saw for the first time the things that is slowly corroding my mind


    Note: guys, do you prefer this point of view or naked man? or maybe both?? I ask because there is still a couple more to go and both are funny

 Extra chapter - Wolf girl part 2

    I sometimes wonder if the dragon killed me and I am in some strange afterlife, because it would make more sense than the stuff I have to constantly deal with


    I mean, the first thing I see after turning around is a naked guy throwing a punch and sending the dragon head to the sky. How do you react to that!?


    It is impossible!!!!!


    I know because I am also a warrior, and there is no way in hell I can behead a dragon with one punch!!!


    Hell, my race is full of muscle heads, and the strongest would still need a huge hammer, a jump all his force and proper timing to archive a similar result. And this guy did it by reflex, with an uppercut and casually!!!


    How do I know it was reflex and casually? because he had a dumb face after doing it, like he couldn''t believe what happened


    So I went to talk to the guy


    Now that I think about it, it was a horrible idea at the time. If you meet a naked guy that killed a dragon with one punch, getting close to him wouldn''t be the smartest idea


    Sadly, I was so confused with everything that happened, that my first reaction was to find out wtf is going on


    So I approached the guy and I started to asking some questions


    And what I got was a simple answer to my question, acid trip


    It explained all, the nakedness, his memory lost and inhuman strength


    Some people liked to get naked after getting drunk or on drugs and going to places at random, and an overdose would cause memory loss depending on the drug. As for the sudden strength, the drugs probably released his body blocks


    By body blocks, I mean the barriers the body puts in our mind so we don''t use all our strength and broke our body apart. Some people can do at will and receive a strength boost, with a lot of pain or permanent damage later


    Well, at least that is the theory I develop at the time, now I am not so sure


    But I digress, the point is, I decided to give the naked guy a hand since he saved my life so I took him to where we set camp a few hours ago.Since the camp had a repellent for monsters in place, we left our stuff there and started to look for the dragon. Since the more eyes the better, we took the dwarf with us, leaving our stuff behind


    The place had a river, so the idea was for him to wash off the dragon blood and brains while I looked for some clothes


    Luckily, it looked like the dwarf run straight to town, so all our stuff were there. The poor armor dude hat god devoured had some extra clothes on his bag so I "borrow" them (and some other stuff of course). I also didn''t forget to "borrow" from the other bags, and then I went back to the naked dude


    And what I find was quite a sight. I won''t go into the details, but I must admit that I almost gave a thumbs up after seen the spectacle


    Still, he looked red as a tomato


    In the end, after teasing him a little, we went back to the dragon. The idea was to get the helmet from the snack dude so we could hide his red head


    And that''s when the second round of insanity started


    Seriously, killing a dragon with one punch was insane enough, but peeling the scales with your bare hands!!!!


    I am not dragon expert, but that is just wrong. I didn''t even knew what to say so I just handed him a knife and let him open his stomach


    Of course, I moved really far away after seeing how much of a b-tch it is to take off the blood


    He even pouted a little after realizing how far away I was. I would find him cute if it wasn''t for the small little detail that he is a monster in human flesh


    Well, at least he is fun to tease


    The problem is the insane stuff he does from time to time, like SUDDENLY DECIDING TO DRAG A 3 TON DRAGON TO TOWN


    Maybe I had a stroke and I am having hallucinations, right? I wish.....


    Sadly, I am not that smart, I can''t make stuff like this even in my wildest dreams


    I even got on the dragon and made him carry me over to town. Am I a bad person for enjoying messing him around?


    probably not, it is the least I can do after the serious psychological damage he constantly cause me


    Why do I say that? think for a second, what do you think the reaction of the town people would be if someone dragged a dead dragon by hand and suddenly appears in the middle of the town?


    I can tell for experience, not good


    I admit neither of us thought about it at the time, but if you think for a second, it made a lot of sense. A dragon is one of the most dangerous monsters out there, and some guy is dragging his 3 tons body like nothing


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    So basically, a person more dangerous than a dragon is just beside you. Most people would sh-t their pants, ran or pass out in that situation. again, I know for experience since that is exactly what happened


    Well, there was also the 4th group, those that had the courage of taking out their weapons and point them at the sudden class 10 threat


    "Wwwh- at do you want!?"(???)


    The first person to talk looked like the city guards captain, sword at hand and probably sh-t in his pants


    As for monster idiot number 1, he was clueless on how to react, and thanks to seeing so much insanity in the last few hours, I kinda got immune to insane situations, so I managed to keep my composure


    "Can''t you tell? we killed the dragon and we want the reward"(me)


    I must say, it took them a while to register what I said, not like my attitude on top of being on the dragon helped


    "Liza, it''s that you?"(??)


    I turned my head to the voice direction and saw the fucking traitor down there with a dumb expression


    "Hi! Zodiac! Good to see you alive. I must praise your ability to leave your friends behind without remorse"(me)


    I would have done the same if I was in his shoes, but that doesn''t mean I will go easy on him. No matter the reasons, I won''t forgive someone that stab me in the back, especially if he will dare to ask a share of the reward later


    "Don''t act like you wouldn''t do the same. More importantly, is that Brian? and what happened!?"(zodiac)


    Like I said, I would do it too, but he didn''t have to point it out....


    "Well, you saw brian get devoured himself, so nope. He killed it with my help. Sadly his head is all red because of the dragon blood, so I thought it would be better to wear a helmet so he wouldn''t freak out the citizens"(me)


    "What is the point if you drag the f-cking dragon to town!!??"(Zodiac)


    The dwarf had a point, but I think is still better than having a red head and a dragon than only a dragon


    "calm down, besides, what else we could do? The body is worth a lot and the guy over there could carry him, so why not bring him to town?"(me)


    "Excuse me"(captain)


    Both me, Zodiac and everyone else that was caught in the conversation(half the town I think) turned to the captain, and I could see in his face that he wanted to be anywhere but there


    "yes?"(me)


    "Can we move the dragon to the barracks? it is causing a commotion"(captain)


    Well, I couldn''t argue with that, since everyone started to gather around the dragon, so I told the monster down there to take the dragon to where the captain ordered


    After that, things went pretty well. After leaving the dragon in the barracks and getting interrogated by captain, we got the reward for finding the dragon, killing it and selling the parts


    The reward from finding him was 10% of his subjugation price, wich got divided in 4 ways, within me, Zodiac, Brain''s family, and the monster. The elf guy didn''t have a family so we give his part to the monster


    As for the killing and selling of the dragon, it was 40% for me, 40% for the monster and 10% to the other two. I admit I weasel my way to the 40% but the monster didn''t care and I did help. As for the other two. I ended up giving the other two 10% so they wouldn''t bitch about it later


    Well, Zodiac wanted equal shares, but I managed to cut it to 10%, and since it was a human town and the human died, we gave the same amount to the widow and his kids so we wouldn''t look bad


    In the end, we got 50 gold coins for killing the dragon,40 for selling it and 5 for the investigation request. Usually, killing a dragon can get you around 10 to 20 gold total, since it is usually done to get his parts, but it is different if he is near a town, since it can kill hundreds or thousands of people


    In most subjugations for parts, it is difficult to get the whole dragon, so at most you will get 10 gold worst, and you can double the price if it is a request since it is usually a problem with demand(inflating the price) but since it is the whole dragon, even though 1 kg(2 pounds) of meat is worth a lot, it is hard to carry 3 tons of it, the same with some of its parts


    Anyway, we got a lot of money and everyone was happy, so happy ending I guess. I did felt a little guilty for the 40% part, so I decided to give the monster a hand and even get him a name since I could go and call him monster to his face


    So that''s how I started adventuring with Ned the naked guy, and the reason I may need a psychologist in the future

 Extra Chapter - Ned

    Day 0 - city


    I didn''t really get it, but in the end, we got taken to the barracks after Liza talked with the guards a little bit. Good, because I was worried they would all attack me at the same time  after bringing the dragon to town like it was nothing


    They asked me to take the dragon there, and after leaving it at the designated spot, some soldiers took me to a room where some guy asked a lot of questions


    I can even say I spend more time answering questions about what happened than the time I spend doing the stuff I was asked about


    Hell, more than half my memories are answering questions of the other half


    When will this end!!??


    Day 1 - Hotel room


    No more interrogations, please!!


    I was finally released at midnight and barely managed to get a room after getting some money from Liza


    They said that if they had more questions, they will come looking for us, so we can''t leave town for a couple of days....


    And by us I mean me Liza and Zodiac the dwarf


    Met the guy in the barracks, but it turned out he was one of the guys on Liza''s group, and the only survivor, besides her of course


    And, to be honest, I don''t know if they are in good terms or bad terms


    Basically, every time I saw them in the barracks, they were fighting about how much of the profit each deserved


    By the way, they were even discussing my share, even without my consent


    Not like I cared. Money would be good, but it isn''t my greatest concern right now, and if I tried to ask for a reward or sell the dragon, I am sure I will get scammed since I don''t know the marked price, or how to do it properly


    They are even discussing it while we are having breakfast together


    "I say 20 20 30 30 is pretty fair" (zodiac)


    "For what? Running away and getting eaten? I say 5 5 for each is pretty good deal, and I am only offering because I feel generous"(Liza)


    The discussion on how to deal with  the original investigation request went pretty fast, and it ended four ways including me, this two and a widow from one of the group. Since the last guy in the party of four didn''t have a family, he didn''t get anything


    As for why it ended like that, I get why they gave one part to the widow, but I have no idea why I got some of it


    And how long are you guys going to keep doing this!?


    " Ok!! 15 15 35 35, and some meat"(Zodiac)


    "5 5 45 45 with some meat if you want"(Liza)


    Why do I get the feeling they are going to keep at it for a looong time now


    Day 2 - widows house


    It ended 10 10 40 40, so after getting the reward from the finding and killing of the dragon, we went to the widow''s house the next day to give her the dead guy share of the reward and a better explanation of what happened


    A Nice woman I must say, she didn''t blame us for his death and was even thanks full for getting so much gold. We even told her that it was still missing the share from selling the dragons parts


    I also offered to give her his husband helmet(that I was wearing because of my red skin) but she say it was better for me to have it, since I needed it more, and as a thanks for killing the dragon that took her husband


    So all in all, it ended up pretty well in my opinion


    Day 5 - guild


    Finally, I can get out-of-town. The barracks send a message saying I wasn''t needed for questioning anymore so I finally could move freely


    Not like I have a place to go or a clue to where I came from, but it was good to know I could leave if I wanted too


    And I finally could do guild request


    Since I was bored, I registered as a warrior under the name of ned at the guild, but I couldn''t leave town so I couldn''t do a request


    But I now can! yay! :)


    Sadly, I can only do lower rank request. Even though I have shown my strength, a rank is more than just strength, but also the trust the guild had on you. Still, since I did a service to the town, I went to D rank instantly, with a few extra points. So basically, I only needed to do a few request, and they would give me C-rank


    After there, it was the standard, but it was still pretty good treatment


    If I have to complain a little, it is the ID card. I mean, I was expecting something metallic with my name on it or something, but it was a simple piece of paper that said D-rank, with my and someone from the guild sign


    They also explained to me the rules, but they were pretty standard. Basically, don''t get caught doing Illegal things, complete the request properly and don''t cause problems


    I am a little worry on the don''t get caught instead of don''t do it, but I won''t pry


    Anyway, I decided to do a little goblins subjugation since it is easy and it would help me increase my rank. Liza and Zodiac even said they would give me a hand since they didn''t have to worry about money for a while and wanted to help me as thanks for everything I did


    Since I didn''t know who I was, and for the complaints they constantly did, I lacked common sense, so I was glad for their help


    Let''s go Goblins subjugation!


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    Day 15 - guild


    B-rank baby!


    Wasn''t easy. 200 goblins, 16 ogres, 50 wolfs, a griffon, some monsters I don''t even know the name, and does the dragon count? I guess it does since it took me to D-rank


    Well, the hardest part wasn''t killing the monsters but watching my companions reactions. I mean, I already got yelled a lot after jumping into a goblins den and killed everything inside. Liza got mad at me when I told her that the goblins attack was so weak, it didn''t matter how many they were


    Was she worry about my safety?


    When I said the same thing with the ogres and the wolf, she also got mad at me, but I think she gave up when the griffon came up


    She was even cheering for the griffon and hoping that I at least bleed a little


    As for Zodiac, he was laughing his a-s off every time he saw me fight or heard my tales


    Come on! I am not that weird, right?


    I hope not


    Day 20 - another city


    We moved to a different city since they weren''t any more interesting request. Besides, I wanted to find out if someone knew me or had any information about me and checking different places increased the odds


    Well, having a completely red body didn''t help (or wearing a helmet to hide it). When I asked at the guild or bars, no one seemed to know or be looking for someone with my description


    Being a tall hairless warrior should be pretty rare, so the only reason I can think no one is looking for me is that they either think I am dead or nobody cares :(


    Well, there is also the option that I wasn''t hairless, and I lost it somewhere, but even with hair, there is no one looking for someone with a description similar to mine


    The only exception would be the first or third prince, but there is no way I am either. Besides, my first memory was the same day of the explosion and was around 1000 km away from there. So there is no way anyone could travel that much distance that fast


    And even if I could, the odds of me been the prince are almost null. Think about it, how could a delicate and pampered prince blow a dragon''s head off with a punch?


    Day 45 - a city''s guild


    We have been going all around the place while taking missions and searching for clues about my past. One went great and the other not


    If I say I am already Rank A, I hope I don''t have to explain which went well and which didn''t


    Well, the missions went well, but I fell something is wrong in my party. Is is normal to bet before doing missions?


    I mean, every time we reach a new time, Liza and Zodiac make bets on how fast we can fulfill a request, with everyone in the guild saying "no way" and accepting the bet


    The problem is, we really do it and they say it is impossible and want a rematch saying we cheated. Then, we do it again, and again, until they follow us and then they act like they saw something unbelievable and gave up


    Then we move to a new town and repeat


    I feel like there is something wrong in the process, but I am not sure what it is. Is it that weird?


    There is also the problem that they act completely carefree, and cheer for the enemy while leaving all the hard work to me


    Shouldn''t they act a little more professional? I am a noob so it is understandable that I lack tension or fear, but they act like nothing could go wrong. why must the noob be the one that worries!!!????


    And to make it worst, the two of then always manage to put me in the most unreasonable situations and bet how fast I can get out of them......


    I AM NOT YOUR SOURCE OF AMUSEMENT!!!!


    I can''t complain about the money or their skills, but can''t they treat me a little nicer?


    If I have to explain how a mission normally goes, it would be something like this


    First, Zodiac and Liza gathers information of the different request and how to fulfill them. Then they chose one and bet with the other guild mates. We follow Zodiac to the quest area, then we follow Liza with her nose, so she can guide us to the pray, and then I kill it. Zodiac then collects the parts and then we go back to collect the reward and bets


    Then repeat


    The only variations are when they sometimes take unreasonable request or found a prey in an unreasonable place, and force me to do it anyways while doing bets on the side


    Since they do most of the legwork, I don''t complain that we split the reward 3 ways, but can''t they at least don''t make my part more difficult!?


    I can even see an evil smile while they talk with the guild representative about the next mission


    "Hey sleepy head, we found a new request?"(Liza)


    Yeah yeah, Why do I get the feeling I am not going to like it?


    "What is it this time? another dragon, 2 griffons, or something new like a hydra?"(me)


    "Nononono, it is something especial this time. Since we have got quite a bit of reputation, we got a nice deal in the next request"(Liza)


    "So? what is it?"(me)


    "We were hired as mercenaries, so we are going to war!"(Liza) said with a smile


    See!!?? they are nuts!!!!!


    Don''t act so carefree with something like that!!!!!

 Chapter 55: War

    42 days after the explosion - Fort Wagner


    The general Rexford was taking his morning cup of tea like very morning. He always took a cup of tea every morning, no matter what, even when he was in the middle of a campaign or visiting the king at the capital.


    It was his way of relaxing his mind and nerves for the upcoming stress that would come with a job like his. It was a habit he developed over the years, and he had no intentions of getting rid off


    His habit of drinking tea every morning reached such extremes that he was more famous for his tea habits than his accomplishments as a general, even thought he was one of the most decorated generals in his Empire


    The reason was simple, he went nuts in everything involving tea. He would go to war, just to get new herbs to try, or to get new lands for tea development, or to get a famous alchemist to force them to make him new recipes, etc. He even drank poisoned tea he knew it had poison, just because he liked the taste and thought it would be a waste to throw it away(he almost died that time)


    Point been, he REALLY liked tea, especially his morning tea, so when a f-king idiot knocked on his door when he was in the middle of it, let''s just say it didn''t put him in a good mood


    "WHAT!!??"(Rexford)


    "Something important came up sir!"(??)


    He could guess that. Everyone knew that disturbing his tea time could lead to the end of someone''s military career, so he never got interrupted unless it was something important. Even so, he still would be pleased about the interruption, and if it wasn''t something important.....


    "Come in!"(Rexford)reluctantly said


    And a moment later, the messenger came inside. What surprised the general was that the messenger was one of his colonel''s, making it pretty important


    "So? what is it?"(Rexford) mildly intrigued, but still sipping his tea


    "A letter arrived from prince Julian?"(Colonel)


    "The idiotic prince?Let me see!"(Rexford)


    As a general working from the enemy kingdom, he knew the rumors and facts that came in the intelligent reports from the different spies working in the capital, so he knew a lot about him, and like everybody else, he wasn''t impressed


    He read the reports and knew he wasn''t as bad as the rest of the kingdom thought it was, but Rexford was glad he was normal, unlike the rest of the family. If it wasn''t for the explosion that took most of the family, he wouldn''t even consider setting foot on their lands, unless he had a dead wish


    Luckily for him and the Zergeit empire, all the dangerous people were dead and thanks to the duke, the kingdom was practically theirs without even putting a fight


    The only thing he would have to worry about was the prince, bu it wasn''t a big one. He received reports that the prince managed to survive somehow and even captured the duke a few days ago. Rexford was impressed on his achievements, but it was too little too late since he had no way of winning now


    Not only they managed to capture almost all the forts near their border with their garrisons, the duke even managed to capture  almost half of their barracks around the country


    If you count that they still have to defend against the elf, dwarfs and beats men, they have almost no troops left, while they have all their force intact plus all the enslaved soldiers


    With no strategic places left or forces to fight back, there was no way they could win. Even if the monster were still alive, how could they fight against an army of thousands of seasoned warriors?


    "Did you check for traps, colonel?"(Rexford)


    "Of course, it is clean"(Colonel) confirmed


    So Rexford finished his tea, and with a letter opener, he open the letter and started reading.


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    "Hi! Prince Julian Griffon here sending my regards to the beloved enemy general Rexford. Since I am practically in check-mate, I want to propose a final battle to settle everything. The location is the Roswell Plains on the 27 of the month of Esmereld, two weeks from now. Please send your answer so we can start to prepare. See ya soon :)"


    ..................................


    It was a first for Rexford


    He had never seen something like this in his whole life. It reached such extent that he doubted if the letter was a joke or not and was tempted to rip it to shreds


    Rexford read the reports that the prince was kind fo easy-going, but he never expected to reach such extends that he would send a letter like this to pick up a fight


    And the worst part was that not only was the letter signed by him and the duke, it had the Griffon Empire seal, so he couldn''t doubt the authenticity


    How serious should he take it?


    It was hard to say. It could be true or it could be a trap


    The place he recommended was an open field, without tactical advantages. This meant that manpower was the most important aspect. There was some room for tactics in all battles, but in the end, numbers would be what matter the most


    So it didn''t make sense for the prince to choose that place for battle. Even if he used every soldier available in the kingdom, it wouldn''t reach 1/2 the forces he could gather, making his chance of winning almost non-existence


    This left the general with 2 possibilities to why he send a letter like this. It was either a trap or it wasn''t


    If it was a trap, the prince would take advantage of the diminished forces, and would try to take a fort or something. There were other options if he had more resources, time or allies, but sadly for him, there wasn''t. He barely got back to the throne, so he didn''t have the time to put traps all over the plane, he didn''t have the troops for a pincer attack and the duke emptied a lot of their resources, making it hard to bargain tot he other countries. Basically, at most he would be able to take a fort or two with a trap and there was no way he would be able to keep them for long


    If it wasn''t a trap, it meant he thought he could win, or wanted to go with a bang. If the prince thought he could win, no matter what trick he had at his disposal, he wouldn''t win. Rexford had more than half Griffon''s army enslaved or dead, without suffering almost any casualty. If you take into consideration they were the most seasoned warriors since they were the one''s that fight the most, the prince had no way of winning in a fair fight, no matter what trick he managed to pull off


    The other option was that the prince wanted to go out in a bang. It wouldn''t be so strange that this was his idea since it would be a way to surrender while looking like at least he tried. If he just surrendered like that, a lot of people would protest causing a rebellion sooner or later, losing a lot of lives in the process. But if he does it like this, he would get rid off the remaining war potential while looking like he tried to save his country from an unreasonable situation


    And if Rexford had to be honest with himself, he really hoped it was the last one since it would mean that at least he did his job as a ruler


    "Is the messenger still here?"(Rexford)


    "Yes, sir!"(Colonel)


    "tell him we agreed, and we will be expecting him on the battlefield


    "Yes, Sir!"(Colonel)


    "You are dismissed"(Rexford)


    And with that, the colonel left the room, leaving the general alone


    Rexford wasn''t sure what was the prince thinking, but no matter what he choose to do, the Griffon Empire was on it last days, the general was sure of it

 Chapter 56: Before the battle

    49 days after the explosion - Fort Wagner


    Everything was going in the right direction for general Rexford


    Not only for easily taking almost all the Griffon''s armed forces without a fight, but also because he would take the rest with an easy fight


    At the begging, Rexford was worried about a trap or hidden card, but the reports made both of them unlikely


    For the looks of things, the prince was serious with a straight fight on open plains


    The reason Rexford knew this was simple. Since he was watching the remaining forces on the kingdom, when almost all of them started to move to the battle ground, he knew there was little chance of a trap


    As for the little force that was left behind, they were the kind the couldn''t move even if the wanted too


    Leaving the prince with no forces to do an ambush or any kind of surprise attack


    He was even hiring any available adventure and summoning them to the battleground, paying extra to those with higher ranks


    Well, he was doing the same on his side, since adventures were like mercenaries


    So Rexford was really doubtful of foul play or any kind of surprise


    Of course he also checked the battle ground for any kind of trap, but he couldn''t find either normals or magical traps


    He even saw that the prince also sent his own scouts to check the place and made sure Rexford didn''t put some of his own traps, increasing the chances that it would be a straight fight


    And as for why Rexford didn''t get rid off the scouts, it was because he was afraid he would change the prince mind if he didn''t let the prince known that the battlefield was clear of traps


    What would be the point of putting some if he would already destroy the enemy army with what Rexford had in hand?


    Better to suffer some casualties and finally crush his enemy than risk it all for a little advantage that might screw it all


    A strength forward battle was better for him than a battle of wits(not like he couldn''t do them) since it would crush the remaining resistance if he wins in the end, earning his country an entire kingdom


    With something so important, it was better to have a sure win than the possibility of a perfect win


    And how could lose in a straight fight?


    It is true he wasn''t sure why the prince chose to end it all like this. It could be because he wanted to go in a bang or though he could win, meaning he gave up or was an idiot


    And for what he knew of the prince, it could be either


    56 days after the explosion - Roswell Plains


    Finally, the day came and everything was going according to plan


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    Both armies gather on the plain, without any kind of foul play, and the numbers were exactly what the General Rexford expected


    Worried that an ambush or trap may occur, he only brought 70% of his forces and half the enslaved soldiers while leaving the rest in the different forts, and he still had doubled the amount of force than the other side


    he brought 80000 soldiers, 1000 mages, 5000 knights, 500 dragon riders, 10000 mercenaries and 30000 slaves(including mages and knights)


    As for the other side, Rexford couldn''t know for sure, but for what he could see, it was around 50000 soldiers, 700 mages, 2000 knights, 400 griffons and 3000 mercenaries


    Well, there was also the support staff like blacksmiths, cooks, medics, etc. But they were pretty even there. Well, the prince had a couple more carriage with stuff, but been his home country, he had local advantage there


    And that would be the only advantage  he had since not only did he lose in numbers, but in quality also


    If it was also taken into account his soldiers were more experience, and he was using the enslaved soldiers as meat shields that would also work as a psychological factor since most people would hesitate to attack a friend forced to move against his will


    Rexford was also sure that most of his mages were from the academy, and the soldiers should have a good portion as militia, meaning that they were really green.


    Basically, there was no chance for the prince to win, and Rexford couldn''t be more pleased


    Of course he could have ambushed on their way, put traps on the battlefield or just fight from the forts


    But this would be a historical battle, and he would be put on the history books as the general that united the human race, wouldn''t it look better if he won in a glorious and final battle?


    And since there was no way he could lose, there was no point in doing something cheap that would forever remain on the history books


    A crushing defeat was the best option, no matter how he looked at it


    If he had one complaint, it would be the prince and his future wife were on the battlefield as "moral support"


    Not only did it meant he had to make sure nothing bad happened to them(it was his head otherwise), they would take most of his glory after the battle


    The only good thing was that he should be properly rewarded for the trouble, and he would get quite a few points with the royals and nobles, so he had no choose but suck it up


    Besides, the difference of strength was so great that it couldn''t end in any other way but a complete and absolute massacre


    All he had to do was take care of this simple battle, and all that awaited him was fame and fortune

 Chapter 57: Massacre

    56 days after the explosion - battle ground


    Everyone was in their position


    The Griffon army in one side while the Zergeit army in the other


    Soldiers up front, knights a little behind and mages in the zone with biggest mana density, while been protected from all sides


    The battleground was an open field with similar mana density from both sides, so there wasn''t any kind of tactical advantage on the terrain


    The day was clear, without a cloud in the sky. It was near autumn, so the temperature wasn''t either cold or hot


    Basically, it was a perfect day for a battle


    And general Rexford couldn''t be gladder


    It was like the gods were blessing him for a perfect victory


    The troops were ready, the speeches were given(by both him, the prince and his future wife) and the morale was all time high


    All he had to do was say the word, and the massacre would start


    He could wait until the other side started, or until the sun was at the top, but the anxiety won over. He decided to start the sooner the better since both armies were ready


    "Are you maggots ready?"(Rexford)


    "Yes, sir!"(all)


    "Then go and crush them!!!"(Rexford)


    And with a shout, the soldiers started to move, marking the start of the battle that would go down in history as one of the most important battles in the history of the continent, and maybe the world


    It must be said that the predictions of general Rexford were pretty accurate. Not only was he right about how unbalance was the proportion of the battle forces between both sides, he was also right about this battle going down in history, that he would be forever remembered in the history books, he would get "properly rewarded" by the royalty afterwards, and that the battle would be a compleat and absolute massacre that would cause almost no loss to the winning side


    Sadly for him, his only mistake was who would be the winning side


    He watched as all his forces and dreams were crushed like a bug, without any way to retaliate or change his fate. All he could do, while seen his worst nightmare coming to life, was scream, shout and cry, nothing else


    It only took a few moments after sending his command for everything to go downhill until he hit rock bottom, ending his military career and sending him to history as one of the biggest fools ever known to man


    Not like things would have ended much different if he made different choices actually. The game was rigged from the start, but he did make everything easier to the other side by accepting an open battle in a showdown of forces, making the battle an absolute victory to the Griffon empire. The only thing he did right was not taking all his forces from the forts(this saved his life, but only that), but every other choice he made was absolutely wrong


    Since he didn''t put traps, ambushed or took advantage of the forts he took, he lost a great number of opportunities to improve the hell he was put on, dooming himself forever


    It could be said he had no chance from the start, but handing over everything in a silver plate, by mistake, isn''t the right attitude a General of an army should have


    His ambition, underestimation of his enemy, lack of insight, greed and cockiness cost his kingdom the war


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    And if you are wondering exactly why it was such an unfair battle when the difference in quantity and quality was so great, let''s just say the prince had a couple of aces under his sleeve


    The first obvious one was his sister of course. She was a monster, simple


    The moment the battle started, she put to sleep every single mage on the opposite side, costing the enemy of magic shields, cover fire, and all kind of different supports they may have supplied if they weren''t put down instantly


    Rebecca could have done a lot more stuff afterwards, but she disappeared after dong that, with the blessing of the prince. It is true that she may have cause mayhem on the battlefield if she stayed,  but it was a pointless risk. Not only did they had enough forces to crush them, but even though she had the best damage potential in the world probably, she had a great weakness, she still could be killed by normal means. She may have gotten the potion from the prince, but she was still a novice, making her vulnerable to any kind of attack, so it was better to take her from the battlefield after helping a little and leave her for future battles(basically the forts)


    Besides, the Prince didn''t want to show his trump card yet, since he could act like the attack to the mages was some kind of trap, leaving Rebecca''s battle power a secret


    So, he showed his other cards instead


    The first obvious one were the incredible accurate archers that instantly sniped all 200 slave masters that controlled the enslaved soldiers, and later helped with the dragons


    Basically, this meant that the opposite side had to deal with the no longer enslaved soldiers, 500 gryphons, and the mysterious extremely accurate archers without the aid of the mages while the other side had them intact


    And te icing on the cake? 20 death golems came out from the "supply waggons", massacring the enemy side while they all panicked in the confusion


    Those death golems were a known force of the dwarfs that helped them many times during war times, and how they managed to keep their lands to date. They were gigantic mechanical metal armours that dwarf controlled from the inside. they were pretty costly to make and maintain, so they didn''t have a great number, but their battle strength was undeniable. Not only were a 5m metal thing that moved pretty fast and would crush you with their fist, it could also use the user inner mana


    Thanks to all this, the battle reached such extremes that the enemy side didn''t even notice the unbelievable strength of the infantry, that could be compared to young warriors or knights, and both sides didn''t notice how the 500 mercenaries easily took care of the mercenaries on the other side, and even managed to make them surrender and empty their pockets


    In the end, it was an absolute victory from the Griffon empire


    Not only did they completely obliterated the enemy side but also rescued half the enslaved soldiers in the process(they still have to rescue the ones in the forts)


    They even managed to surround the enemy main tent, where all the important people should be


    With special orders from the prince to not enter they still haven''t gotten inside with the excuse that he wanted to negotiate with the people inside and was afraid that the soldiers may do something stupid


    Still, the real reason was a different one....

 Chapter 58: Deals

    56 days after the explosion - battle ground


    The prince was pretty pleased with himself, the battle was a compleat success, and only the final negotiations were left. All he had to do was get inside the tent and press the a-s holes inside to surrender


    And the best part was that after this, he would be filthy rich, with no worries about his future, all thanks to his planning


    Why would he be filthy rich? simple, he made a deal with the elves and dwarves


    It went like this. After capturing the duke, he made him spill all relevant information, got rid off any spies in the castle and vicinity, and started to think how to deal with the sh-ty situation he was in


    The solution was simple, he would take advantage of the mana potion


    He had numerous recipes(from his experiments on how to improve them) materials he carefully collected with his earnings, and a stock of potions ready to sell


    The first option was to give a lot of mana potions to normal soldiers to improve the kingdoms battle strength. The problem was it wouldn''t help much in the war


    It would help increase the battle strength, yes, but they would be novices, meaning that they would be stronger than normal soldiers, but weaker than seasoned mana warriors(knights)


    He also had his sister, that would be a great war potential, but he also didn''t want to use her much for 2 reasons. She was too unpredictable to count on her in  a war, and if something happened to her, she would be screwed


    And there was no way he could win in a straight fight, or even using great tactics since the difference of strength was too great. The prince had to praise the duke for how much he managed to screw him over


    So, if he could count on his forces or his sister, and knowing that using the mana potions to increase the war potential of his country would be pointless, he had one more trick to use. Make a deal with the elf and dwarves(not the beast men since they didn''t have a country, but communities)


    He knew that his mana potion was worth a lot, so he could easily get the help from those two if he offer the recipe as a reward


    And that is exactly what he did


    He sent in secret a request for an urgent meeting, with a mana potion as a sample to both kingdoms. It was a compleat success, he got an ok for a meeting for both kingdoms instantly


    So, with the help from his sister, he instantly teleported to the elf kingdom first and met with the elf king a little later. The reason he visited the elves first was simply because the needed it more, and were worst at negotiation than the dwarves


    As for why they need them more, it was simply because they easily learn outer mana, but it was harder for them to learn inner mana. Basically, they had a lot of outer mana users and little inner mana users, so the usefulness of the mana potion was too great to let it pass


    This meant that he could easily get a great price for it here, and then press the dwarfs more since it was dangerous for them to be the only ones that didn''t know how to make it


    And the prince plan went perfectly


    He managed to get 500 elite elves to help him with the war, and a stupid amount of money after. The deal was simple, he would offer 200 mana potions in advance in exchange for the 500 warriors and the recipe after the war for a stupid amount of money


    These elite elves were both inner mana and outer mana warriors that specialised in sniping. With the elves great sights, ability to manipulate mana around them to control wind and strength to control stupidly long and heavy bows, they could accurately hit anything miles away. Their only weakness would be if enemy wizards would also control the winds, reducing their accuracy a lot, but they were great as a surprise attack, and since the prince was planning to knock out all the enemy mages with Rebecca''s help, they would shine on the battlefield


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    Well, even thougth the prince managed to strike this great deal, they did try to steal it from him first. Since they were on their territory, they tried to kidnap him and force him to reveal the recipe, but thanks to Rebbeca, the attempt was stopped, and even helped increase the reward as "compensation"


    Besides, even though he asked for a stupid amount of money, it wasn''t on a level where a nation would go bankrupt and could be covered from the elf kingdoms reserves, so they preferred to make the deal than lose to the opportunity


    Meaning that after the war, the prince should get a stupid amount of money(a kingdom worth) that would be impossible to get if he tried to simply sell the potions on the black marked. And since the recipe was his, he wouldn''t need to give it to his kingdom, and could keep it all


    Well, not all since a share of the reward would go to Rebbeca as compensation for her troubles, and some of it would go to the Griffon empire as a cover so no one would suspect he earned a lot of money from the side


    Anyway, he got a lot of money from the elves and enough forces to win the battle, so after the deal was done, he went to the dwarves and made another deal with them


    What he got from them was a couple of death golems in exchange for 100 potions, and a way to make them himself(with proper modifications for human uses and the tools to manufacture them)  in exchange for the recipe after the war


    With this golem, he was planning to make one after the war to protect himself and leave a copy on how to make them in the Empire(with the elf money included) in exchange for his freedom


    Basically with this deals, he had secured money, security and a clean way to escape his responsibilities


    So after securing his war potential and future, all that was left was decided how he would use them. In the end, he chose to do a simple battle on open field, since there was no way he would lose as long as the enemy didn''t know what to expect


    That left him with the problem on how to convince the enemy to meet him on open field but after thinking for a little while, he realised it shouldn''t be that hard. All he had to do was choose a place and they would meet him since they were sure of their victory, no matter what kind of plan he could cook up. The advantage of been screw over splendidly


    This meant that he only needed to chose a time and place, and after choosing the best place to meet that meet all the conditions(open field close to the 4 kingdoms)  and calculating how long it would take the troops to get there without troubles, he sent a letter to the enemy general


    And everything went according to plan after that. They meet on the battlefield, no ambush or traps, and the battle was a compleat massacre in the end, as the prince expected


    Besides, he got an unexpected piece of news just before the battle, that would help a great deal in the final negotiations with the Zergeit Kingdom


    So all that was left was to get inside the tent, and strike a deal with the people inside, and with the help of his resources, battle potential, and e?information, it shouldn''t be too hard


    The prince gathered his courage, readied his mind, and with an escort, got inside the main tent


    What await him inside was the general he just beat and the enemy country prince holding a knife to his little sister throat


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Note: Careful with the spoilers in the comments, not like there are a lot anyway :(

 Side story: "angel"

    10 years before the explosion - Palace


    It could be said that since she was born, Alice was extremely blessed. A princess from a wealthy country not at war, with both aptitude for inner mana and outer mana, a brain that absorbed information like a sponge and talent in anything she put her mind into


    She was so talented that at the age of 5 she surpassed her big brother that was one year older. She could read better than him, make harder calculations, her etiquette and dancing were spotless, knew more history than him and memorised all  the states in the country. To make it worst, she also had classed about inner mana and outer mana, since they were important for self-defence and prolonging life, meaning she had less time to study than the prince and she still surpass him


    Basically, she was a monster


    Since her brother turns out so normal, her teachers, the servants, nobles and practically everyone else in the country were worried that the king and queen mojo was running low after 3 monsters, but everyone were pleasantly surprised that the prince was the only exception


    This meant that every time she surpassed his big brother at something, she would get praised as an outstanding girl since they were glad she wouldn''t turn out like her brother


    Alice loved the attention and support she got every time she worked hard, so she worked even harder, easily surpassing her brother in a short time


    And it could be said this was the pinnacle of her accomplishments, earning her a great amount of praise from everyone around her


    Sadly for her, that was it. After surpassing her brother, even though she was leaning at an amazing speed, it was still around her other brothers level, so even though she still got praised by her tutors, nobles and everyone else, it wasn''t at the level it was before


    Instead of saying stuff like AMAZING!! or I CAN?T BELIEVED YOU DID THAT!!! etc, it was more like good work, how hard working, you are great, etc. The level of excitement wasn''t the same, making her feel unsatisfied


    It didn''t take long to understand why. Since she was smart and she paid attention, she understood that even though she easily surpassed her big brother, her 2 remaining brothers and sister were amazing according to the rest, shadowing her numerous accomplishments since they did it before her


    Still, she didn''t give up, she was sure the only reason they surpassed her was simply because they were older than her, if she put some effort, she would surpass them in a few years like her big brother, and she would finally get the attention she deserved


    3 years before the explosion - Palace


    Everyone called her the angel of the family, and she kept a cute and innocent act all the time to get others people support and trust while working hard to surpass her family


    But it was impossible, she may be a monster, but she had to recognise they were too


    She never slack off, always did her best and she knew that she was leaning at an amazing speed, but she wasn''t getting closer to her objective. No matter how hard she worked, she couldn''t surpass her brothers at anything


    At her age, her sister Rebecca could use advanced spells of any kind while Alice could do of 3. Her brother Paul could kill a dragon while she could only kill a reinforced tiger. Lastly, her brother Jorge could charm anybody he met in 5 seconds while she could only do it in 10


    No matter how hard she worked, the distance between them was only getting larger not shorter, and that frustrated her a lot. It could be said that she was better at magic than both Paul and Jorge, or better in inner mana than Rebecca and Jorge, or better at socialising than Paul and Rebecca, but she wasn''t even close of reaching their level in what they were good at


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    The worst part was that she knew she wouldn''t surpass any of them even if she focused in one subject like them. She could tell that they had even better talent than her in their subjects, since their level was insane, even by her standards. No matter how hard she trained, it would take her years to be able to kill a dragon, she would never be able to use more than 3 types of magic, and  even though she had an innocent act that work really well, her brother could charm even hydras


    They really deserve the title of monsters


    But even though she knew she couldn''t beat them in their speciality, she still could beat them in one thing, the throne


    All of them were competing for the throne. Since sooner or later, her father and mother would have to choose the next in line


    Lucky for her, they wouldn''t choose according to age, but ability, a tradition that had gone down since the start of the kingdom


    Meaning that she had a chance, even if it was a small one. The problem with choosing one was a great one since they have 4 capable persons to chose for


    Well, technically 5, but no one believed that HE would be chosen when there were 4 far better candidates


    Meaning she had to be a better option than the other 3 monsters, and it wasn''t something easy to accomplish. Each had the support of a faction, and all 3 were capable, making the decision really hard


    Paul had the army, Rebecca had the mages, Jorge had the nobles and she had the people


    If the king chose one, the other factions would complain a lot since they pick was quite capable, making it really hard to choose a successor


    And this worked perfectly for Alice since this brought her time to make a plan


    7 days before the explosion


    It was hard, but she finally did it. Taking advantage of a visit (for diplomatic reasons) from the prince from the Zodiac kingdom, she managed to charm him and kept in contact with him over the years.  They even met in secret for time to time, and she could tell that he fell completely in love with her


    And from there it wasn''t hard to "persuade him to find a way to be together". If she had to be honest, it was almost brainwashing


    Anyway, with his help, and with the help of some other people she also managed to "persuade", she had everything in place to make history and surpass everyone in her family


    She would not only prove she was better than all those monsters, she would be the one that united both countries, making her the angel that brought peace


    And The way Alice planned to do it was perfect. She found out that the priestess from the temple was actually a spy, so it wasn''t hard to convince her to modify(with help) the temples mana veins it would cause a catastrophic explosion, getting rid of all her competition. After that, with the help from an item that was given to her as a present in one of her birthdays, she planned to use it as an excuse on how she survived


    From there, everything else would be easy. She would blame the elf or dwarves, Marry the prince from Zergeit so they could go to war and conquer them


    Then she would find an excuse, attack the other country, leaving the beast men for last. That way, not only she would unite the human race, but conquer the whole continent in the process


    Some may think that killing her family and a lot of people to be in charge may make her a true monster, but in the game of thrones, you either rule or die, so why not go all the way?


    Note: there is a part 2 that explains what she was doing while the prince was busy putting out fires, The question is, do you want it as the next chapter, for later or never?

 Side story: "angel" part 2

    note: Sorry for the delay and sorry for the short chapter(rl problems). I was planning to finish her story in this chapter, but I don''t have the time. So instead I will release this part now and finish the rest in a couple of days so you guys don''t think I forgot


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Day of the explosion - Temple


    Almost everything was going according to plan


    Her family was at the temple, the bomb was ready, and her safety measure worked fine


    Alice even managed to steal research materials from her sister without problems or lead that could take it to her.


    As for why she tried to take it, there were a couple of reasons. First, it helped proves she was serious about everything she was planning to do and it also worked as a bargaining chip in case someone tried to stab her in the back. If they kill her, they wouldn''t get the last research from a genius magician never seen in history before


    And she wasn''t worried her sister would go to her room and see stuff missing since she use it as a storage area and spend most of the time and the lab in the palace or the magic university. Aria wasn''t even sure she slept


    If she had one little eventuality, it would be her big brother that she loved sooooo much


    The idiot felt in an accident again, so he couldn''t attend the ceremony, saving himself from a quick death


    Well, if she used even 2% of her brain power, she would realise that he did it on purpose, the problem was, she REALLY didn''t care about him. If it wasn''t for the "angelic" front she used, she wouldn''t even remember his existence. Would you even care if your neighbour cause explosions constantly to miss work?nope, you would complain how noisy your neighbour was


    It was the same for her. She didn''t like that she had to change her plans, but she didn''t care enough to find out why he did it. Why would she? Alice surpassed him at the age of 5, and he hasn''t done anything remarkable since them, so why should she pay attention to him?


    Anyways, she now had to change plans thanks to the idiot, so she may as well take advantage of it


    Instead of blaming the elves or dwarves, she would blame the prince, and with the help from the Zergeit empire, she would reclaim the throne


    Later, when she had confidence in taking down the elves or dwarves, she would make an excuse and invade them


    Simple


    How hard could it be?


    7 days after the explosion - Hiding Place


    Really hard


    Really really reallllly hard


    How low was his reputation that convincing the people that he did it be harder than kill a family of monsters?


    Seriously. It reached such point that he could be considered a monster of infamy


    She paid people to speak badly about him, put seeds all around town telling stuff like it should be him who did it or stuff like that, but almost no one brought it


    Thanks to his stupid blue face, no one could believe that he could do something so complicated like killing that family of monsters


    Hell, even taking care of Jorge when he luckily managed to charm the priestess and save his life had been easier than the idiot


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    It reached a point where Alice was even considering use Jorge as the escape goat and just kill the prince, instead of just keeping him in a cell, but she didn''t want to admit her big brother beat her at something


    Her only choice was to change the angle. Instead of just saying he did it, the rumor should say that he was actually a genius and was playing dumb


    She knew it was far fetched, and there was no way if was possible, but people liked that kind of stories so it should sell


    Even though Alice almost laughed her a-s off the moment she thought that idea


    How could that idiot actually have a functional brain?


    14 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital


    Alice had to go to the Zergeit empire since she had to announce her marriage to the Zergeit prince while rallying the citizens to her "honorable cause" against her evil brother


    And if the information from her spies was true, everything was going according to plan


    Her brother Jorge was still in captivity and a protest would go in the capital the next day against the prince


    For the looks of things, the mass bought the idea that the idiot could fool everyone for years and actually be a criminal mastermind


    She still smiled at the idiocy of the idea


    Her only problem now would be Jorge


    Should she kill him, or did he had some use?


    The problem was, he was a time bomb or more like a honey trap


    His ability to conquer everything that moves was a dangerous one. Even Alice respected him a little since she learned a few technics from him


    It was a waste to kill him, but it was too dangerous to be left alone


    What to do, what to do


    18 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital


    Well, everything was going to hell


    The prince stopped the rebellion and it''s turned out that Jorge wasn''t actually imprisoned


    For one part, the idiot managed <span style="background-color: #f5f6f5;">by some miracle</span> to persuade the crowd against rebelling. Alice didn''t know how he did it, but she was sure he got lucky or the help from someone


    And that someone was Jorge for sure


    The timing fits since he managed to charm the trained assassins(that shouldn''t have feelings) and set free


    But not only did he accomplished to be set free, he even managed to convince them to lie for him and tell her he was still a prisoner while he went back to the kingdom


    How incompetent can these assassins be? they were a disgrace to their profession in Alice opinion


    Of course, she instantly got rid of them after finding out. No point in keeping traitors alive. The only thing she regretted was that they didn''t care, they died with a satisfactory smile


    She had to admit Jorge was truly a monster, wich made her smile. It would make beating the crap out of him more satisfying in the end

 Side Story: "angel" part 3

    20 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital


    "So, it is done?"(Alice)


    "Yes, I have him in my villa, with your nice and the general''s daughter"(duke)


    "Perfect, you have done a great service to your country. Any problems with the next steps?"(Alice)


    "No problem. the necromancer you send is already interrogating the guard, my most trusted subordinates are dealing with the fake attack to the carriage and we have everything we need to persuade the general to join our side as you order"(duke)


    "Then I trust you will keep the good work till the end, goodbye"(Alice)


    "Goodbye my queen"(duke)


    Aaaaand, it was done


    Alice didn''t like how well the prince was doing, so she order the duke to kidnap him as soon as possible, and extract from him who was helping him in the shadows


    It was a risky move, but with Jorge on the loose and the great luck the fool was having, it was better to do a direct approach and deal with the problem as soon as possible


    And for the looks of things, the gamble paid off. Not only did she get the prince and her niece, she also got blackmail material with the mad dog as a hostage


    She did felt a little sorry for Lina since she was a nice kid, but she was a contender to the throne in the end so Alice would prefer to kill her than risk it and end up getting bit in the a-s in the future. She wouldn''t remain a little kid for long


    As for the duke, Alice was really glad on the work she had done on him. With a little charm, magic and effort, she managed to put him completely under her thumb. It wasn''t a completely brainwashing since a mindless zombie would be useless for her ambition, instead she fed his doubts about the state of the world while making him fall completely in love with her to the point he almost saw her as a goddess


    She practically made him a fanatical believer of Alice religion(something more people have been falling for every day)


    Thanks to his help and her ideas, the griffon empire was practically in her hands


    30 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital


    "I DID IT!!!!!"(Alice) was almost jumping in one leg


    After reading the reports, she couldn''t help herself and scream of happiness


    She finally beat them all. All her hard work finally paid off, she proved she was the greatest in a family of monsters and no one would be able to take that


    Even though the fool managed to escape from the duke somehow, and she still haven''t found Jorge, it was too late, no one could stop her from ruling both kingdoms, and the queen of the continent was almost at her reach


    All the forts were in her control. She enslaved half the enemy army almost without casualties and the "ruler" of the griffon empire was under her control,  who could stop her now?


    It is true that Jorge was a monster, but even he couldn''t pull an army under his hat, and if he appeared, she was sure she could at least hold him back


    "What happen?"(??)


    A tall young boy suddenly entered the room where Alice was currently celebrating, probably worried after hearing her scream


    "Oh, sorry about that, I just received some good news and got excited"(Alice)


    "Don''t worry me like that, what would I do if something happened to you?"(??)


    The boy that just entered was the prince of the Zergeit kingdom and heir to the throne. The poor kid was 13 years of age and was madly in love with Alice


    It must be said that the age difference was only of one year, so it wasn''t a strange arrangement, but unlike Alice, the poor prince Leonard was normal in every way. He had great looks, and his future looked great, but he was average in everything else


    Decent etiquette, decent knowledge, decent sword fighting decent inner mana etc


    But comparing him with Alice is like comparing a dog with a dragon. No matter how good the dog was, he couldn''t beat a dragon in anything, they weren''t even in the same league


    Still, Alice didn''t care. Of course he didn''t love him, and looked down on him, but at least he had great looks, was obedient, and would be perfect for her ambitions. She could always have a lover or two on the side later


    "Sorry I worried you, I was just so happy I didn''t realise I made a commotion. It looks like I can finally return to my country"(Alice)


    "You are leaving me!?"(poor kid)


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    You could see the devastating look he had on his face, fearing the worst


    "Nonono, I want to go with you. Didn''t I promise I would marry you so we could be together?"(Alice) said with her typical angelic smile


    Luckily she can hide her inner thoughts really well, or otherwise she would show a really annoyed look to the poor boy. If she had to say what annoyed her the most about the kid, it would be that he was REALLY clingy


    "Oh! Great! when can we marry? tomorrow?"(poor boy) was cheerful again


    The change in his behavior almost surprised Alice, she was even starting to suspect he may be bipolar. Still, she couldn''t marry him yet, not until the war was over


    Just saying they were engaged would increase the troops morale, so marrying would be over-kill. Instead, if they marry after the war, it would help  reduce the chance of rebellion from the Griffin empire, especially after making it look it was all duke''s fault


    That way Alice would look like she did it for the good of the country while uniting the human race into one country


    Originally the idea was to put the blame into the prince, sadly he was becoming too capable. It didn''t turn out exactly like she liked, wit him escaping, but she still won in the end, so it didn''t really matter


    "We should announce we are engaged today, and after we win the war, we can get married"(Alice)


    "But I want to get married today! not just engaged!"(poor kid) Threw a little tantrum


    "Demian! we can''t! you are a prince! we can''t just throw a party and be done with it! we need to invite guests, prepare the food, hire numerous staffs and guards etc. If we want a proper wedding deserving of our position, we need time to make it. Don''t you want a big wedding,  to show to the world how much we love each other?"(Alice)


    "Yes!"(Demian)


    "Then let''s announce it today, start the preparations, and finish the war soon so we can get married. I can''t invite people from my country if we are at war, right? do you want me to be alone at my wedding night?"(Alice)


    "No!"(Demian)


    "then let''s announce our marriage and go to war!"(Alice)


    "Yes!!!"(Demian)


    And with that, Alice got the title of fiance, while rallying the troops to war


    56 days after the explosion ¨C Day of the battle


    A few days after announcing her marry to the kingdom, a messenger from general Rexford arrived, telling her and the Demian that a note from Alice brother arrived at the fort, asking for a battle of strength


    Of course she completely agreed to the general''s idea to accept the proposal but wasn''t as sure as him of the win


    She was sure His big brother had help from Jorge, so he may have an ace or two. Alice was sure she wouldn''t lose, no matter what happen, but that didn''t mean she would let her guard down. The best thing she could do was prepare countermeasure against him and hope he didn''t cause many problems


    Alice wasn''t sure what a gigolo could do, but there were a couple of options. He could try to infiltrate the camp and kill the general or kidnap the prince(or both)


    Or maybe he would appear in the middle of the battlefield and tell everyone to stop or something like that. With his high


    level of charm, he would probably pull it off


    So as countermeasures, she placed a lot of scouts around the base, kept numerous spies around the troops in search of anything suspicious, stay close to both the prince and the general, and prepare to snipe, Jorge, in case he appeared in the middle of the battlefield


    There is no way she would lose, especially when she was so close


    56 days after the explosion ¨C after the battle


    Alice lost


    She was completely defeated by Jorge. She was sure he was just using his idiotic big brother as a shield while charming both the elves and dwarfs to give him a hand


    Who else but him could convince those stubborn bastards to help him just like that?


    She must admit she didn''t saw it coming, but the idea was masterful, deserving of the man that beat her


    Still, it wasn''t like she didn''t have a trick or two left. She still had the forts, a lot of hostages, and her abilities


    As long as she put all the blame on the duke while agreeing that it was best for all to unite the kingdoms, she may convince them to surrender anyway while looking like she didn''t have anything to do with the explosion. Even if it didn''t work, the fort and hostages still worked in their favor, so striking a deal shouldn''t be too hard


    And if an opportunity presented itself, she was sure to grab the prince and use him as a hostage

 Chapter 59: Negotiation

    56 days after the explosion ¨C Army tent


    When the prince saw his little sister been threatened with a knife, a brotherly feeling that he never felt before in his life suddenly awoken from him


    Not


    All he did was stare and felt like telling the guy to go ahead since it would be doing him a favor. It was really tempting to do just that and get rid of his really "lovable" sister ones and for all


    Hell, it would even be a great excuse, saying something like "I tried my best to stop that evil bastard, but I couldn''t save her" while looking reaaaaally sad


    That way he shouldn''t worry fro a sudden stab on the back or rebellion from all the people that loved her, and it was A LOT of people, so he didn''t want to worry about them


    But hey!  The prince shouldn''t know she was behind the bomb, right? why would he want to get rid of her them?


    Wrong!


    From the start, she was one of the prince biggest suspects since she always thought there was no way for someone so smart to act so innocent all the time. He was sure there was something wrong in her head


    It was definitely not because he held a big grudge thanks to everyone comparing his achievements to hers and because he was constantly made a mockery since she surpass him at the age of 5. It was definitely NOT because of it


    Definitely, OK!!??


    Well, the other reason was an interesting letter he got a few days ago, telling him of her involvement


    He didn''t exactly took it as an absolute truth since it could have been a fake later, but her sudden appearance on the tent help proves the authenticity of it


    The best part was that if  the rest of the content in the letter  was really authentic, he had one more bargain chip to end the war with big profits on his end


    "Cut the act, I know she is with you"(prince)


    "Fine... General, you can drop the knife"(Aria)


    "Ok"(Rexford)Said while dropping the knife


    This action shock all the guards that came with the prince, but only them, since the prince already suspected it and the rest of the people from the Zergeit empire already knew


    "Was it Jorge who told you?"(Alice)Asked with her typical angelic smile, like nothing was wrong


    Now it was Prince time to be shocked. It seems she knew somehow that the mysterious letter came from Jorge(or at least sign by him)


    For a moment he thought she may have sent the letter to confuse him or something, but then he collected himself


    What would be the point? It was better to believe Jorge had been tailing her or something and send the information to help him. For now at least, it was better to play it cool


    "Yep, good insight little sis"(Prince)


    "Thank you big bro!"(Alice) kept smiling and doing her "innocent" act while thinking it was to be expected. How else would the idiot manage to win the battle otherwise


    "Anyway, let''s cut to the chase. I came to demand the surrender of your army, the return of the troops and forts, and war reparations from your part"(prince)said


    And the room turn completely quiet.....


    Not only Alice, general Rexford, prince Damian and all the people from the Zergeit empire were staring him like he was crazy, even his guards were staring at him like he was crazy


    For starters, in negotiations it was standard to slowly poke at each others to have a general sense of how much they can get off from each others. True, a good negotiator can get more than a poor one, no matter the circumstances, but demanding everything from the start....


    Let''s just say it''s not a smart move for a negotiation, especially when the other side still had cards to play


    "Kid, aren''t you jumping the guns a little fast? I know you are young, but at least make some sense before you talk. There is no way that is a fair deal, especially when we still have hostages. Or do you think we will agree because we are afraid to die?"(Rexford)


    "Eh! I don''t want to die!"(Demian) said the poor kid in a situation he could barely understand


    And it was to be expected, even though he was only 3 years younger than the prince, in the end he was a sheltered kid that barely got out. Or in any kind of dangerous or complicated situation for the matter


    Basically, he was a spoiled brat


    "I am sorry to say this prince, but you do have 1 more brother and sister and our country has a policy of never yield under pressure, no matter what. The reason you were allowed to come to the battlefield was because not only our chance of losing were low but because the country wouldn''t be in danger even if you got captured"(rRexfordmercilessly told Damian the hard thruth


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    Of course, this made Damian turn completely pale while showing a horrifying expression


    "Calm down Damian, everything will be alright"(Alice)said to him with her angelic smile, calming him down instantly and showing his veneration for her


    Inside she was really annoyed at both the attitude from Demian and her big brother, but she still kept her act intact while earning some brownie points with Damian and the people from the Zergate empire. Sadly for her, they were all she had at the moment


    Meanwhile, the prince was impressed on her skills to dominate the young prince from the other country. He felt sorry for the kid but in the end, it was his fault for falling in the honey trap. Besides, he was enjoying the show


    "Like I was saying, you are demanding too much considering we still have a lot of soldiers and forts under our custody. I can agree to exchange all your soldiers for the few we have remaining and all  the people present in the tent of course.


    As for the forts we have in our possession, we can make a deal..."(Rexford) make a perfectly good offer under the circumstances


    Afte the battle, the soldiers remaining on the Zergeit empire side were too few and too damaged to be an equivalent exchange for the numerous and healthy soldiers on the forts. Only by adding the importance of a general and prince it could be considered "equal" Depending on how you looked, one side had more earning than the other


    For one part, the heir to the throne and a competent general were extremely valuable to any kingdom, and the same can be said for numerous soldiers and mages. True, they have a spare of generals and prince, but at the same time, they would lose face if their heir to the throne got spoiled just because they refused to make a fair deal


    On the other hand, if the other side was too greedy, they could use it as an excuse to dispose of him, so the offer the general made was fair under the circumstances


    "Sorry but my offer remains the same"(prince) said while shrugging and showing a smug face


    And more silence remained on the room....


    Everyone was looking at him like he was crazy(including his guards of course). Any idiot would realise that the general offer was completely fair and totally refusing it  was a really stupid move. On the other side, Alice knew he was an idiot, so she wasn''t really surprised, just annoyed


    "Big bro, be reasonable. The general is offering a really good deal, Why would you keep on insisting in that completely unfair deal?"(Alice) said with her angelic smile


    "Unfair? my offer is completely reasonable under the circumstances. In what way is it unreasonable?"(prince)kept acting coy


    "Brat, can''t you see how unreasonable it is!!?? Not only are you demanding we hand over our hostages and forts, you are even asking us to pay for doing it!?Are you crazy!?"(Rexford) Lost his cool


    He was completely red and almost having a heart attack. He was already trying his best to remain calm after having a crushing defeat when it should have been a crushing victory. Not only was his future completely ruin, he dreams completely shattered and his honor tarnished in history for all eternity, he couldn''t have his cup of tea under the present circumstances, making him really cranky. If you add the shitty attitude from the prince...


    It was a blessing he didn''t charge at the prince and tried to kill him were he stands


    "Calm down old man, I think you are having a big misconception. I agree that exchanging your lives for my soldiers is a fair deal, but I expect you to pay me for letting you leave the forts"(prince)


    "Uh!?"(x50)


    Again, everyone(literally) was looking at the prince like he was crazy. Just how unreasonable can this guy get!


    "Big bro, you aren''t making any sense"(Alice) was the first one that managed to said what everyone else was thinking


    "Am I really? Why don''t you read this letter then"(prince) said with a smug smile while throwing a letter to  general Rexford


    He managed to grab it by reflex, and with confusion and a little curiosity, he started reading


    When he finished, he turned completely white with a horrified face like Demian a few minutes ago. The face Alice show after catching a glimpse from the side wasn''t much better...

 Chapter 60: Rebellion

    56 days after the explosions - Army tent


    "Hey little bro, how are you doing? I hope ruling the Empire doesn''t give you too many problems


    I am sorry I couldn''t contact you before, but I have been kind of busy


    Anyway, I wanted to tell you I am alive and I have two interesting pieces of news for you


    First, It looks like our little sister was behind the little explosion on the temple, in case you didn''t know yet


    And the second and more important, I am organizing a rebellion over the Zergeit Kingdom


    It should start at the same time your battle is (taking advantage of the lack of soldiers) so if you are losing, this information may help you strike a deal


    Something like dragging the battle if they don''t give you something in return or something like that. I know you are not an idiot so you shouldn''t have a problem figuring in it out


    Good luck


    Your favorite bro ;-)"


    Was what the letter


    complete silence. Both the general and Alice read the letter and were white and completely silence. As for the rest, they were waiting in suspense since they could tell the letter had some really bad news for them


    Meanwhile, the prince was enjoying all of it


    "Is it real?"(Alice)was the first to react


    "Yep"(prince)


    "But it doesn''t make any sense!!!Do you expect us to believe that!!??"(Alice)lost her cool


    "I agree, how can we know what the letter says is true?"(Rexford)on the other hand calmed down and at the same time was panicking inside


    "I am sure you can contact the capital easily enough and confirm it. But you do understand what does it mean, right?"(prince)made an evil smile


    And obviously, the general understood what it meant perfectly. Since the only troops he had left were on the forts, he would need to empty some of the forts to provide back up against the rebellion


    The problem was that the prince forces were almost intact, so if they to leave the forts, they would be struck from behind on their retreat


    And in the worst case, they would even support the rebellion, they would have almost no chance of winning since they would have enemies both at the front and on their backs


    They couldn''t also deploy troops from the borders since the help the prince got from both the elves and dwarfs meant they could get an invasion at any moment


    So their best option was holding the forts to stop the prince troops advancements or strike a deal


    And that deal was basically handing him the forts, hostages, and money in exchange of their lives, and the possibility of stopping the rebellion


    Sadly for general Rexford, the deal the prince was offering was completely fair since they would exchange his hostages(him and prince Damian) for the soldiers, and since they would get the forts for free anyway, the Zergeit kingdom had to pay money to be left alone or else....


    Basically, they were screwed


    No matter how much he tried to find a new option, his two best were a deal or hope for the best


    Meanwhile, Alice was still completely pale, and you could see she was in denial for some reason


    "I understand, but I need to know first if the rebellion is true or not"(Rexford)


    "WHO CARES ABOUT THE REBELLION!"(Alice) shouted red in anger


    Of course, everyone stared at her utterly shocked. Not only was it like finding that an angel could fart, but what she said also didn''t make much sense


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Even the prince was surprised at her sudden break of character


    "What do you mean who cares!?If we don''t do something fast, the Zergeit Kingdom is at risk?"(Rexford)


    "Are you an idiot? can''t you see what this letter means? This means  that this idiot managed to stop a rebellion, survive an assassination attempt, get rid of the most powerful figure in the Griffon empire at that moment in ONE day and receive the help from both the elves and the dwarfs, he did it without the help from my brother Jorge. HOW DID HE DO THAT?"(Alice)completely lost her cool


    This information also shocked general Rexford now that he thought about it. He knew about all the stuff that had happened to the prince since it was relevant to the invasion, and he also knew about Jorge escape, since the spies that got him were his. Since he also discussed the information he got with Alice, they both agreed that the reason the prince managed to be so resourceful until now was because of his brother Jorge helping him from the shadows. Since the general saw the effect Jorge had in his experienced spies, he didn''t doubt Jorge capabilities


    But if what the letter said is true, then the prince managed to accomplish all that without Jorge help. That could only mean he had help from something else that could be considered on the same level that Jorge, and that wasn''t good news at all


    "You don''t mean!There are more of those monsters alive!!!"(Rexford) panicked


    It was the worst news possible, one monster easily caused a rebellion on his country, who knew what another more could do.It even explained how they lost the battle so easily


    "Yes, and for the looks of things, it is probably my sister Rebecca. If it was my father, we would never have taken the forts, if it was my mother, we would be dead and if it was Paul, he would have obliterated the army alone. On the other hand, easily knocking out every mage a few miles away is something only she could do, so she is the most likely candidate"(Alice) guessed correctly


    The prince wanted to praise her deduction abilities with so little clues(even if it feel like she was completely looking down on him) and now that he thought about it, he could even use that deduction as an even greater bargain point


    "Ho!not bad sis, you are completely right. So you can understand why my offer is  absolutely fair, right?"(prince) kept acting smug


    "Not so fast, You think I am an idiot!?I know that Rebecca is a really selfish and egocentric person. I don''t know what you offered her, but I know that unless you give her something good, she won''t do you a favor even if the world was about to end as long as it doesn''t affect her and she is really expensive. If you try to use her again, we can always try to make a counter offer and knowing her, she would take the better offer, right? "(Alice)


    Not good! that was the thought that came to prince mind. That was one of the biggest fears when using that selfish b-stard. You never knew what she would do


    Still, he wouldn''t show his panic even if it kill him. This was too important to show any weakness


    "Well yeah, and a meteorite could come down and kill us all. You think she would just appear in front of you and let you speak? she is the kind that would just finish the job quickly and efficiently and be done with it. Besides, the offer I made was still fair even if we didn''t take her into account, so her involvement can only increase my demands, not lessen them"(prince)


    And Alice, or general Rexford for the matter, couldn''t argue against it. with a sudden rebellion, all the important people from the Zergeit empire as hostages, and an army in full health at their backs, if they didn''t act fast, they may not have a country to return

 News

    Hi! Thx for reading so far, seriously


    Anyways, I made this post since I want to give you guys a couple of news you may find interesting


    First, since I am from south America, Argentina (Reason for my horrible grammar), it is summer vacations over here, meaning I will have more time to write in a couple of days


    Wich bring us to news number 2, I should finish the black sheep prince before Xmas(I hope). It''s not like I don''t want to keep writing his story, but sadly, what makes him  an interesting character is how hard it is to make him move


    Since throwing him in dangerous situations over and over again would make a repetitive story, I prefer to stop it here. I will write a chapter from time to time telling side stories, but the main story will be over before Xmas


    Which bring us to news numero tres, the next story. Originally, it was going to be a story of summoned superheroes, brought over by the summoning papers written by Rebecca and stolen by the Zergeit empire. I even wrote a couple of chapters on a different WordPress and send the link a few months ago


    The reason they brought them over was to have more war potential after the great lost they had after the events of black ship prince and it follows the story of the only non-powered person among the students


    The problem is, the story isn''t good enough in my opinion, so I decided to change the angle


    Instead of showing the story of a non-powered "good guy" with a strong background, I will write the story of an OP "bad guy" with a shitty background infiltrated in the superhero school.Basically, the story of one of the classmates that is actually trying to be a super villain.It will also tell more about the superheroes world and the reason why the new main character is trying to be a super villain instead of just jumping into the prince world without much backstory


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    By the way, the few chapters I wrote of summoned superheroes isn''t cannon. After the next story reached that point, I will rewrite it from the new main character point of view(probably) and continue after that


    I haven''t started writing the new story yet, only a vague idea of what I am going to do


    The main character is probably going to be an orphan street girl, that got his big brother(kid from the slums that look after her) killed by a superhero in the middle of a fight


    Later in life she got her super powers and managed to cheat her way into the superheroes school


    I was planning to give her the power to transform into a humanoid Lizard, with regenerative powers and  increased senses, strength, and toughness, with reduced capabilities in human form


    I don''t want to tell much more since it would be spoilers but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I will be grateful


    And that''s basically it. Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you guys and many more will keep reading my works in the future

 Chapter 61: Opportunity

    56 days after the explosions - Army tent


    No choice, no way out, no escape, no safe line, no hope


    That''s the situation everyone from the Zergeit empire found themselves


    They couldn''t even say they didn''t have the power  to make such a difficult choice, since they have both the crown prince Damian and his "guardian" general Rexford


    They couldn''t refuse the offer since they had they back against the wall, and they couldn''t stall for time since time was of essence


    They were completely screwed all around basically


    Sweeten the deal? How? They didn''t have anything to offer. Even worst was that they could demand even more and they didn''t have a way to refuse


    Empty promises?that wouldn''t work. For starters, they would lose all credibility in future negotiations, something a nation couldn''t afford to lose if they didn''t want to be isolated


    Besides, they would probably need some collateral to make sure they wouldn''t go back on their word


    Completely trapped, completely screw, completely defeated


    "You win, we will take the deal. While we finish the details of the deal, I will send some of my guys will go to confirm what you say is true, and if everything checks out, I and the prince will sing the papers, deal?"(Rexford) said reluctantly and extended his hand so the prince would shake it


    "Deal"(prince) said with a smug face and approached the general


    And it was in that moment that Alice saw an opportunity. So far, the prince was beside his guards and a few meters(foots) away, so approach him would look suspicious, making them have their guard up


    But now, it was the opposite. Everyone had their guard down since it looked like they reached a deal. It was one of those moments when one felt a sense of accomplishment and everyone is lost in the moment. It was a perfect time to strike


    The prince left the protection of his guards, so anyone could approach him and make him a hostage. No one realised this because the mood felt like everything was over, but Alice didn''t give up yet


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    If he captures him, she could negotiate to get away from there with the general and prince Demian(or at least Demian) and if they managed to reach the forts, she could use the hostage soldiers as a way to stop the advance of the Griffon army while she uses part of the army to stop the Rebellion


    It may not go exactly as she hoped, but it wasn''t a bad plan, and it could work


    And how hard it would be to capture him? She may not be as strong as her brother Paul, but she was as strong as the best knight in the kingdom(or empire for the matter) and he was an unprepared, non-talented, garbage that was just in front of her. He had no way of escaping from her grasp


    So she waited, and when he was just a meter away, she made her move. It was simple actually, she put mana on her legs to move faster, some mana on her eyes to improve her kinetic vision and some on her arms to improve their movement speed


    Her aim was to hit his knee to make him fall, and grab the neck, and one of his arms to make a proper choke hold


    It was a move her training instructor teach her, and it should work perfectly in this situation


    The plan was perfect, the move was perfect, the movement was perfect and the hostage was perfect


    Not


    She missed


    How did she miss?


    She didn''t understand


    He was just in front of her, she had her reflex increased, she was catching him by surprise, she was using her most perfect move at the perfect moment at the most imperfect person


    She didn''t understand, but she couldn''t surrender yet. She may have hesitated for a millisecond, but she made her move again, this time with greater speed, greater focus and greater determination, like her very existence depended on that moment


    And all she could remember after that was blackness


    ----------------------------------------------------------


    Note: Sorry it''s a short one, but it was a perfect moment to stop

 Chapter 62: Royal Duty

    56 days after the explosions - Army tent


    "Sorry sis, I don''t feel like hugging right now"(prince) said while looking at the floor


    There is no way she was trying to hug you!!!!!!!(x50)everyone had the same thought


    "Is she ok?"(Rexford)asked just in case


    "Of course, she is just asleep, all this excitement must have made her really tired once it was over"(prince) said with an "innocent" smile


    "Ah!yes yes of course. Soooo, what now?"(Rexford) didn''t know what to say or do exactly with everything that just happened


    "We finish the details, R I G H T ?"(Prince)


    "Riiightt"(Rexford) panicked a little


    So the prince walked over her little sister cor.. I mean body and follow General Rexford to a table with prince guards behind(just in case)


    As for prince Demian, he was so shocked he completely choked, but as soon as the prince said she wasn''t hurt, he went to her side with teary eyes and checked if she was ok


    Then he demanded that someone took her to a bed and called a doctor to check her out


    Both the general and the prince didn''t mind since he wouldn''t be of much help during the negotiation(since he was a sheltered brat) so they kept going without him and they would make him sign the paper later


    As for what happened before his little sister attacked, well....


    It started with him trying to show confidence


    The prince left his guards and approached general Rexford to show he "trusted them" while showing he wasn''t afraid even if they tried something


    But for the looks of it, it looked more like he didn''t even consider they would attack him by surprise. Not surprising, since most thought he was a moron


    Actually, he was completely panicking and was completely paranoid while checking the moment of everyone around him


    And with reason, since he was surrounded by enemies that wanted nothing more than beating him to a pulp


    So he was showing a confident front while preparing his favorite sleeping powder on his back and checking his surroundings


    Luckily, he was suspicious of her little sister eye focus(she was seeing him like a wolf that saw a small little rabbit) and barely managed to dodge her sudden attack by a hair bread, with the help of his inner mana


    Then, taking opportunity of her small hesitation, or more like delay in proper reaction after the surprising failure of her sudden attack, he threw the powder at her face and it was done


    Simple


    He was almost caught, he almost sh-t his pants, but he managed to evade the danger and look threatening at the same time


    Making a lot simpler the negotiations after that


    60 days after the explosions - Palace


    It was over


    No more problems, no more dangers, only enjoyment from now on


    He had money, done his royal duty, and found a successor to stick the troublesome position of the throne


    Life couldn''t be better


    After the long ours of negotiations, he managed not only to get everything he expected, he even got rid of his little sister


    Well, not really "got rid" but more like he married her off to Prince Demian


    It was the only way he would agree to sign the papers since he really hated the prince for hurting the love of his life, so he really didn''t have much choice(and even took some convincing since he really wanted to kill the prince)


    Besides, it was better for the prince if she went far far away


    It''s not like he didn''t want to torture her or at least lock her in a tower for all eternity,  but she had a cult so it was dangerous to bring her back


    Anything he did to her would have awful repercussions on the common people since she would play the victim card, and not doing anything was even worst, since she would manipulate everything to her advantage


    The best course of action was to send her far away and use her as an excuse for peace. Besides, this way they had a reason why they got so much war reparations, while saving face for both kingdoms


    He even got some of their forts and lands as collateral in case they play dumb later, so there was nothing to worry about


    And the prince even managed to save a few coins since the mercenaries run away after the battle


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The reason was that they coerced money and belongings from the enemies they capture, and since it was more than what they would get if they received proper pay, they ran away before someone from the military took it all away saying it was for "safe keeping"


    Besides, since they did a proper job, he let them go and even made the Zergeit empire pay their mercenaries(including the stuff they lost) just for fun


    And with all the war was over


    He got all the forts, all the soldiers, extra land and forts that should become money later, and pay both the elves and dwarfs properly so they wouldn''t complain later


    And since the recipe worked for them, they gladly paid the prince what they promise


    It was actually an inferior version of the one he made, but he wouldn''t tell them that


    If they wanted a better version, they would have to pay him more or do their own research


    Still, it should take them a lot of time since he didn''t actually explained them which were the key ingredients and which weren''t, and what was the thought process behind everything


    But as long as they were happy, why should he care


    He would probably offer an improved version to the Griffon empire so they don''t fall behind(for a price), and enjoy all the reaches in a mana reach environment while training his inner mana to extend his life expectancy and enjoy a long life of fun and peace


    What else could he ask for?


    By the way, the duke made a deal to step down from politics and be put on house arrest in exchange for money, information of the weakness of all the nobles and all his misgivings. He felt a little pity for the serious brainwashing his sister did to him, so he agreed


    Besides, it turned out the necromancer wasn''t actually his employ, so it would be a pointless revenge to blame the duke


    As for Susan and Aria, he "free" them from enslavement for their services (he just didn''t want to deal with them anymore) but sadly for him, they decided to stick around since they consider they own him for everything he did for them, no matter how much he persistently insisted they didn''t own him anything


    Since he couldn''t get rid of them, when he saw how devastated his little niece was after not seeing him for a couple of days, he asked them to help him look after her until they found her father


    They gladly accept it


    And with that, it was over. He would look after his niece while keep looking for his brother Paul and forcing his brother Jorge to the throne and enjoying all the money and reached he got from the numerous deals he made along the way


    A perfect ending to all the troubles he went through, and a proper reward if you ask him


    Or that is what he thought at least


    "Excuse me sir"(servant) said the prince "favorite" butler Sebastian behind him


    He didn''t want to turn back, he didn''t want to look at his face. His first instinct as soon as he heard that voice was to run as fast as he could and never look back


    That a-s hole always sticks him with the worst kind of news, never something nice, never


    To make it worst, his instincts were screaming at him that it would be especially bad this time. He didn''t know why, but he knew it was bad really really bad


    Maybe it was the tone of his voice, the timing, the flow of developments, his luck or simple instinct, but he knew


    And it wasn''t on the level of hell paperwork or telling someone some bad news


    No, he knew it was way worst, he didn''t know exactly what it was, but he knew it would be hell for him


    But he couldn''t run away. He knew no matter where he run, he would find him, and force him to confront his worst nightmare, a nightmare he didn''t know what it was, but if he turned around, he knew he would find out


    He had no choice but turn around


    So he took a big breath, calmed his nerves, pray to the goods (even when he knew they wouldn''t listen) and turned around


    "For you sir"(Servant)said while handing him an envelope


    The prince reluctantly took it and open it, finding a letter inside


    So he read it


    And turned completely pale


    "Is it true?"(prince) reluctantly ask him


    "Of course sir"(Servant) answer


    The letter said 3 simple words


    "Come meet us"


    and had the royal seal on it

 Chapter 63: Worst job in the world

    Note: I have been writing some chapters of the next work and it coming out nicely, but I am stuck with the name


    Which sounds better, "I don''t wanna be a hero!" or "I wanna be a villain!"  ???


    Or if someone has a better name I will take it


    ----------------------------------------------------------


    60 days after the explosions - ????


    After reading the letter, Sebastian took him to a carriage, and after a few hours, he arrived at a private villa


    In any other circumstance, he would be afraid this was a kidnapping or something like that


    But precisely because of the timing, he knew it was legitimate, and instead he wished this was a kidnapping


    Meeting those two monsters was never a pleasant situation


    But there was no escape for poor little prince


    If he tried to run away, he would appear here again but only bound instead


    If it was her, the prince didn''t doubt how easily she could track him down and bring him back to this villa


    And "her" was the queen of course


    With the king by her side for sure


    The prince had suspected for a while now that the two of them were alive and enjoying a nice little vacation whole he put his life on the line, and the future of the kingdom


    He didn''t know why they were hiding, but he was sure he would find out soon enough


    Even if he like it or don''t


    And he doubted he would like the answer


    Anyway, he decided to step out of the carriage, keep praying to the gods to be merciful, even though he was sure they wouldn''t. He may be even more scared if they were merciful actually because he was sure they would put him in an even worst situation just for fun


    So he followed the "wonderful" Sebastian inside the villa, and to the backyard where he found both parents hugging each others on the same chair


    You could even see they were in their own world, enjoying each others company


    Meanwhile, the prince was stuck watching those two love birds, and feeling more and more uncomfortable each second it passed


    Until he couldn''t hold it anymore, and decided to cough until they took notice of him


    And the idea was met with relative success


    They took notice of his presence, but instead of been embarrassed by been in each other''s embrace, they acted like it was the most normal thing in the world, and it probably was for those two


    "Son, how are you"(King)cheerfully greeted his son


    "Hi dad, hi mom. Looks like you are enjoying each others company"(prince) said with a little sarcasm


    "Well, yes of course. It''s not every day we can be alone together without having to worry about appearances. I hope you don''t expect we kept appearances even in front of our own family, right?"(king) shrugged while acting as if his embrace with the love of his life was the most reasonable thing in the world


    "Ok ok, to each his own. So anyway, now that you are back, you can take the throne back, right?"(prince) hoped, really really hoped


    But part of him felt something was wrong


    Something was really really wrong


    And idea was developing at the back of his head


    But the idea was compleat insanity. It was like a joke or a perverted wish granted by a devil


    And definitely something he definitely didn''t want, no matter what it was offer


    Besides, the mere idea of it was compleat insanity. He was sure it was just his paranoia developed after sh-tty situation after sh-tty situation


    "About that.... we aren''t coming back"(king) said


    And prince started to panic, but he was still in denial. His worst fear were coming true little by little, but he couldn''t give up yet


    "Why not!? you are young and perfectly fit to rule the Empire for 30 years more at least!"(prince) tried to hold to hope as much as he could


    "We are tired, we have been busy rebuilding the kingdom for the last 30 years. Our sudden "death" is an opportunity that won''t present itself again and there is no better way to escape royal duties than death, you should know this"(king)


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "But the kingdom needs you! we just escaped a big war, and everyone is scared by everything that happened. You can''t get away from your responsibilities!"(prince) argued


    He didn''t really care much about all that, he just didn''t want to be stuck with the responsibilities


    "Sorry son. We won''t go back, and you know you can''t make us"(king)


    And prince knew he couldn''t make them. He wouldn''t even dare to try, and not only because they were his parent, or really really scary, but because those two had more ways to stop him from even trying than he could even imagine


    So his only hope was his original plan, stuck the job to Jorge


    He liked Jorge, since he was a really cool bro, but he liked his freedom way more


    As for Paul and Rebecca, one was missing, and the other was even scarier than his parents


    "Fine, then I guess we will leave the Empire to Jorge"(prince) said, hoping this would work


    He knew it should work in his mind. He wasTHE perfect choice. Everyone love him, he was the oldest male heir "alive", was incredibly talented, and incredibly capable


    Not choosing him was insanity and stupidity in itself


    He was sure they would agree, right?


    Why was he thinking the conversation was going the other way?


    But part of him feared the worst


    Since the moment he heard his parents were calling him, he feared something he didn''t even dare it to put it into words


    Wait, no. Since the servant Sebastian called him, he feared it coming


    It was like a small voice on the back of his head, screaming at him, even though he was trying his best to shut it up with every excuse he could come up with


    Maybe when he was younger, he would be incredibly happy with even the opportunity or a remote chance to archive it


    But it had been years since he changed his mind


    Besides his hell experience this past few days, the moment he gave up, he chose to enjoy life, and to this day he never regretted his decision


    Instead of spending hours and hours in stuff he didn''t enjoy, it was way better to enjoy life however you liked, and now that he had a stupid amount of money to do it, everything was perfect


    Why would he want it ruined for something as stupid as that


    But the prince was afraid


    Even though it should be impossible


    Even though there were better choices than him


    Even though it was something he didn''t want, no matter what


    Even though most would consider a dream come true, he knew it was a nightmare


    Even though no one should support him for it, or want him there, or hope he would get that place


    Even though it looked like all the forces in the world were against it the moment he was born into the world


    Even though he was completely afraid to even said the word, because no matter how insane it sounded, he was afraid that the mere mention of the world would cause it to come true


    But he saw it in his father face. He even saw it in his matter face, even though he hasn''t changed her expression in all this time he was here


    He could see it in their eyes like they were pity him for what they were about to say


    And he knew why, all three knew why. That''s why he tried so hard to stick it to someone else, and that is why they refused to admit they were alive


    It was something horrible that only looked nice on the outside, but anyone that took even a taste of it would never want to try it again


    The prince could feel the blood draining from his face, he knew it was coming. he didn''t understand why, but he knew it was coming


    "please, don''t say it, please!"(prince)begged for mercy


    "Sorry son. You will be the next king"(former king)said with pity in his eyes


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"(prince)

 Chapter 64: Why!!!???

    60 days after the explosions ¨C ????


    "Why!!!???"(prince)


    The prince refused to give up yet


    Part of him knew they wanted to stuck the job to him from the start, and he had been trying to slip away before they even mention it, unsuccessfully


    He didn''t know why they wanted him, but he would do his best to change their mind before it was too late


    "Well, there are a couple of reasons actually"(former king Arthur)said calmly even after the prince outburst


    Probably because he understood why he did it


    "So!? what are the reasons? Because I don''t want the job, and no one wants me there, so why!?"(prince)


    "calm down son. Like I said, there are a couple of reasons, and the first and most important reason is clear. You passed the test"(former king Arthur)


    "What test?"(prince)was caught off guard with that answer


    "Of who will succeed us in the throne of course"(former king Arthur)said as a matter of fact


    "Wait wait wait!!! when did this test start and why did I pass!? if we are talking about support or skill, I am way more inferior than my brothers. There is no way I passed any test, especially one so important!"(prince)


    "No on no no son. You pass it masterfully....


    Let me start from the beginning


    We had been keeping a close watch over your sister for some time now, and we realised what she was planning at the temple and why


    We thought we stop her before she caused more troubles but then we came up with an idea. Why not use this situation to chose a successor?


    As you know, all your brothers and sisters had the support of a faction each and were quite capable. So instead of choosing one ourselves and pissing off the other factions, let them fight among each other, and the winner gets all. Simple"(former king Arthur)


    "Buuutt, I almost die there. If I didn''t accidently suffer an accident the day before, I would be dead. Besides, Paul is missing, Jorge survived by luck, and Rebecca.... well she doesn''t count"(prince)


    "Come on son, do you thin we are stupid?We know it was no accident, and we were sure you would try to weasel your way out of the situation like always. Besides, we were sure the priestess fell in love with Jorge, so she wouldn''t let him die, and Rebecca was never in any danger like you said. Paul was the only miscalculation.


    To be honest, we thought he would be back in a week at most and settle everything with his inhuman strength


    I really hope nothing bad happened to him"(former king Arthur) showed a little worry expression for the first time


    Meanwhile, prince was cursing a little how wicked his parents were


    "But if Alice could have won in the end! Don''t you care for your own land!?"(prince)tried to make them fell bad about themselves, and maybe take advantage of their guilt


    "And what was so bad of her winning? We keep our family line through Alice and we unite the human population into one kingdom. Say what you want about your sister, but her idea wasn''t bad"(former king Arthur)said in a serious tone


    "But if she had won, I would be dead, and maybe some of my brothers too"(prince) keep trying to make them feel bad


    Besides, he wondered a "little" if his parents worried about his well being


    "Well.... in the battle for succession, it is normal for one or two of the princes to die. I don''t like it but that is how the world works. Even I had to kill two of my brothers to get the throne"(former king Arthur)said with a sad face


    "BUT I DON''T EVEN WANT IT!!"(prince) couldn''t stop his outburst


    "JULIAN!! Stop throwing a tantrum and act like a man!"(former queen Rose) spoke for the first time since the prince got there


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    And her words were extremely successful, since the prince instantly calmed down, and even lost all his vitality. There was no one he was more afraid of than his mother


    "Calm down both of you. Son, I understand not wanting the throne, but as a prince, it is your duty to answer the call, even if you don''t like it. You think I even wanted the throne? It was either the throne or death for me and even when I took it after countless troubles, I had to fix problem after problem or everything would fall apart.


    By the time I finally fixed all the problems, I was called the wise king and everyone was depending on me. If it wasn''t for your mother and all of you, I would have run away a long time ago"(former king Arthur) said with a tired face, making it pretty hard for the prince to complain


    He could say it was unfair to force him to the throne, but he was a prince. Sadly for him, he had to be ready to take the throne the moment he was born.Like it or not


    For the looks of things, his only way out  was to play the role everyone else had stuck him over the years


    The incompetent fool


    "Ok fine, I get I can''t get out of it just because I don''t want it, but both of you should know I am not the best choice, or even the second, third or fourth choice, I am the last choice. So why stuck the most important job to the worst option? You can''t say it is because I wanted because I don''t and both of you know it. You can''t say that it is because I am the only option left, since both Jorge and Rebecca are out there, and you can''t say I am the one everyone wants, because I am not, and everyone in the world knows it!"(prince) said angrily, but holding back his outburst thanks to his mother warning


    No one likes to say he is inferior to others, but the prince had come in terms with it for a long time


    He knew he wasn''t the best choice, that''s why he gave up on the throne and decided to live a carefree life


    He never regretted his choice since it was the only choice he had, simple


    He hated how everyone look down on him, how inferior he was to the rest of his family, how no one treat him nicely, how many times he had to concede to something because he wasn''t good enough


    True, he didn''t want to be king. He knew after seeing how much work his father had, and after taking a taste himself, that the job was sh-tty


    But do you think it is the same to be fired from a sh-tty job because you aren''t good enough then to quit because the job isn''t good enough for you?


    Even if practically it is better to be fired since you get compensation(money, knowledge, etc in his case),  your pride gets wounded when they tell you "you are just not good enough"


    And it was the same for the prince. He didn''t want to be king, but losing even the possibility to be one from the start hurts even more


    So after years of suffering for "not been good enough" to the sudden change off "good enough" felt like a mockery. Anyone would lose their cool in that situation


    He knew he wasn''t doing enough, everyone knew he wasn''t good enough and mocked for it, so he didn''t like how he suddenly became good enough


    He wasn''t good enough, he already suffer for not been good enough, he didn''t even want it even if he would be considered good enough and there were better options that were more than just good enough unlike him, so the insisting of his parent to take the role of king really piece him off


    If it wasn''t for a mix of respect and fear he had for them, he would be screaming or punching or something to calm the anger he felt inside


    He used to be taken for a fool, but even he had a boiling point


    "Son, YOU ARE the best choice, why would you think otherwise?"(former king Arthur)

 Chapter 65: Why me!?!??

    60 days after the explosions ¨C ????


    "Why me!? Didn''t I just explain I am not the best choice!? And don''t say only I passed the test because both Jorge and Rebecca helped as much as me in the situation! Besides, both of them have greater support and skills than me, so they are the ones that should get the job!"(prince)said while still not giving up


    It was a sound argument and the only reason he could think these two were trying to stick him the job was because he was easier to handle


    "Didn''t I said a while ago we had multiple reasons? true, both Jorge and Rebecca helped, but you can''t deny that the one that did the most was you"(Arthur)


    "So what? even if I did a little more or not, those two are still a better option than me, no doubt about it"(prince)


    "Son, think about it, those two would make horrible rulers. Rebecca would dedicate all her time to research magic like always, no matter what you tell her, and Jorge would party all day. I was hoping they would act in dire circumstances, but you had to bribe Rebecca to force her to move, and Jorge just went and did whatever he wanted, like always"(Arthur)


    I knew I was right!(prince)


    These two only wanted him because he was easier to handle. Luckily, he had built up a reputation of compleat uselessness over the years, and now it was the time to play it


    "So what? It''s not like I am any better. I am lazy, dumb, and unskillful. I even signed some of the papers that allowed the duke to take over all our forts. Do you seriously believe I am better than those two?"(prince)said while been a little proud of his mistakes since they would help him get away from this situation


    "Son, you are. It is true you made a mistake or two, but you did an amazing job under the circumstances and fixed all the mistakes you made. In two months, you stopped a rebellion,  escaped from a kidnapping, catch every bad apple in the castle, found the truth behind the terrorist attack, started a diplomatic relationship with both the dwarves and elves and won a war. You did more in two months than most rulers do in a life span, so I say you are the right man for the job"(Arthur)said as a matter of fact


    And prince thought process stopped. Besides realising how hard had this two months been, he realised he didn''t have a counter argument against that last part


    Could he even say he did a bad job? it would be bullsh-t. Not because he fell proud about it, but simply because after hearing it from his father mouth, he couldn''t deny it. Most rulers only had to deal with one or two of those situations before they change for the next in line like his father said


    Well part of the reason was simply because they were the deathly kind of situations, and just getting out alive from one of those situations showed that the ruler had great skills or great luck, and both were important things to have


    Which made him wonder, did he had skills or luck? because he was sure he kind of went with the flow in all those situations and he was sure his luck was really sh-tty


    "See?Even you can''t deny you did a great job there. Meanwhile, what did your brothers did? Jorge went to a different country to start some troubles and your sister just played around with magic till the end. If you ask me, the one that deserves the throne more is you"(Arthur)


    "Wait!!"(prince) hadn''t give up yet


    Still, he didn''t continue with an argument since he was still looking for a way to get out of this situation


    "what?"(Arthur)


    "Well........"(prince) still buying time


    "Well.......... what?"(Arthur) played along


    He was surprised at the first interruption, but he knew his son well enough to tell he was trying his best to come up with something. Arthur was already used to him coming up with excuses every time he had an "accident"


    So he decided to give the prince a chance, even though he knew he had no hope left


    As for the prince, he was trying his hardest to come up with something, and the best he could come up with was


    "Now that I think about it, there are still a lot of problems with choosing me as the king. The people, nobles, soldiers and mages all hate me and look down on me. If I even try to become the next king, I am sure everyone would revolt. I already had one so I would prefer to avoid the next one.


    Besides, the only reason I had to go to all that was because I was the only one "alive". Both Rebecca and Jorge would have done even a better job than me if people knew they were alive"(Prince) finally came with a decent argument


    "Wrong again son. the people are a little scared of you since not only did you stop the rebellion, some of then still susp¨¨ct it was you that caused the explosion, the military was amazed by your flawless success in the war, and it''s thankful that you rescue all the captive soldiers unharmed, besides, the general owes you one for rescuing her daughter and taking care of her so far. You have all the information the duke gave you about the dirty secrets of most nobles, so they won''t cause you many troubles, and the archmage respects you for managing to control Rebecca to some extend


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Besides, the moment it is reveal you found a way to give everyone inner mana, no one will look down on you


    With it, the common people will finally have a chance to become especially, the army will be stronger than ever, the nobles with "disappointing" heirs will finally have a way to make them useful, and the importance of mages will increase a lot since they will be rarer than before"(Arthur)


    Sh-t, the old man is good(prince) hated that the b-stard really was deserving of the name "wise king"


    No matter what he throw at him, he would find something to argue back


    "Fine, I may have some support, but you can''t deny both the most important part. Both Jorge and Rebecca would do a better job than me if they give it a try. They are both smart, talented, have support from a faction, and if we say they made the potion, it would sound more believable and everyone would be happy. True, they both did their own thing in dire times, but they knew everyone was alright so they weren''t worried. I am sure that if you give them a chance, they would do a great job"(prince) used his final card


    His father tried to gloss over a few minutes ago saying they were selfish(and they were), but if you "put it more nicely" you could say they just didn''t have a chance to show their worth, and they deserve a chance


    But it could be also translated to "I don''t want the job so just force it to one of those two". The prince was even ready to forsake the merit he deserved from creating one of the greatest discoveries ever


    What could he do with the reputation anyway?eat it? was it tasty? as long as he had the money, he was happy. He knew how two faces people were, so he knew he would feel even a little disgusted if people started to act nice to him now that he was "worth" something


    "Son, I think that is your biggest misconception, a ruler doesn''t need to have great skills, he only needs skilled people around him. You think I became the wise king because I was smart? it was thanks to your mother''s support from the shadows, and the help from the duke, general and archmage that I got this far. I am sure that if we make Rebecca the next queen, she would probably find a way to duplicate herself and stick the work to it or something like that, and as for Jorge, he wouldn''t have a problem in managing capable people with his charm, but who says you can''t use your brother and sister again like you did this past two months? If you use Jorge AND Rebecca''s talent, won''t you be a better king than one that can only use Jorge OR Rebecca''s talent?"(Arthur)said, and prince cursed inside


    The "wise king" was really good at arguing, sadly for the prince. The prince knew he was one of the monsters, and his speciality was thinking while the prince was caught off guard in an unfavourable situation, it was a miracle he managed to resist so far. Still, he couldn''t stop yet, his future was at stake


    "That''s just an excuse father. Rebecca can use Jorge''s power and Jorge can use Rebecca''s power, did you forget they are twins? They may not be the best twins out there, but they get along to some extent. And why can''t a talented person use talented people, isn''t it better than an untalented person ordering around talented people?"(prince)


    "Fine son, you win, both your brother and sister could also take the throne instead of you under the circumstance.  But you can''t deny that all 3 of you would be a great choice for the throne, right?"(Arthur)


    "I can"(prince)


    "You can''t. We have been going back and forth for a while now, but we can be sure of one thing, you are as good of an option as your brothers. You say you are a worst option and we say you are a better option, but you can''t say you aren''t almost as good as Jorge and Rebecca, right?"(Arthur)


    And the prince wanted to say he was wrong, but he knew it would be pointless. He had been trying his best to make it look like he was the worst option and he barely managed to argue he was an equal option. If only those two weren''t so erratic, it would be so much easier


    "Fine, we are equal, so why not bring those two and see if they want the throne or something? when they get here we can have this conversation again"(prince) said while trying his best to buy time


    Right at that moment, things weren''t in his favour, so the best option was to retreat and fight another day


    "Not so fast son, you just agreed that you are as good of an option as those two with what we just said, but there are still some more reasons why we want Y O U"(Arthur) said with a smug smile, happy that he caught the prince in his trap


    F-CK!!!!(prince)

 Chapter 66: No escape

    Note: 4 more to go


    60 days after the explosions ¨C ????


    "Please stop, I am begging you!!!"(prince) used his last card, get on his knees and beg


    F-ck pride, getting away from the situation was more important to him


    He didn''t expect to work, but he was desperate, he used all his card to barely hold to a tiny hope of convincing his parents to let him get away from his responsibilities, unsuccessfully


    Every excuse he came up with, every idea he tried ended up in a draw at most, and just when his father presented him a silver of hope by offering him a deal, it turned out it was a trap....


    "Julian!A king never begs or get on his knees!"(Rose)said with her stern voice


    "But I don''t want to be king!"(prince)said while not been affected by her mother''s words this time


    "You will be, even if you don''t want it!"(Rose)said without mercy


    "But why me!? what did I do to deserve this? after all the stuff I had to do to keep everything afloat, I should be rewarded, not punished!!!!"(prince) was losing his cool again


    "That''s the problem son, you did a great job. Why change a winning team? Besides, like I have been saying, there are more reasons"(Arthur)


    "Please, can''t you chose anyone else? I am begging you, I will do anything you want, but please please don''t make me the next king!!!!"(prince)


    "Can''t do that, sorry. There is one final reason we want YOU as the next king"(Arthur)


    And this final words worried the prince a little. Why were they trying so hard to choose him as the next king?


    "What reason!?"(prince) said while cursing his luck. Maybe he should have done a worst job, or cause mutual destruction if he knew it would use against him later


    If you don''t want a job, never show how competent you are at it


    "The reason is simple, your deal with the elves and dwarves. It showed what direction the empire would take on your hands


    Think about it, originally we let Alice go ahead with her idea because we agreed that a continent ruled by humans would be great for all, who cares how the kingdom was called, as long as the wars stopped. We may not have completely agreed with her methods, but even if she failed, a road would still be open for later


    The thing is, you showed us that things could go a different way. Instead of killing each others, why not make an alliance were we share  our resources?True, it won''t be perfect, and there will be some difficulties, but you showed we could work together for one cause


    We could choose someone different for the job, but since you already started the diplomatic relationships with them, you make the best option"(Arthur)


    Prince cursed his luck. He only did all that because it was the only way he could win over the sh-tty situation he was in at that moment


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Can''t you just make me ambassador then? I have no problem with that"(prince)said trying to get a different responsibility


    Sure, been an ambassador wouldn''t be easy, but at least, they work a lot less than the king


    "Why would we do that? A king can also be an ambassador, and you already showed your capabilities as a king. Besides, if we chose a different one, he or she may not agree with your ideas, making all your effort go to waste, and we don''t want that, right?"(Arthur)


    "I don''t mind, really"(Prince) didn''t hesitate in his desition. What was more important, losing your hard work, or avoiding future hard work?prince chose to avoid


    "Well, we do mind, so you will be the next king"(Arthur) said in a straight forward way


    "I don''t want it!!! Isn''t it unfair? Everyone treated me like sh-t for years, YEARS! including you two! and now do you expect me to just get over it and take the throne!?there is no f-cking way I am ok with that!"(prince)finally snapped


    Usually, he would have been able to keep his mouth shut, but it was just too much. Nothing else worked, so he may as well say what he really thought


    And what he expected in return was some yelling, or anger or something like that, but instead, the two simply looked at each other for a second, and instead of her mother keeping her back cop act, it was his father Arthur who talked next


    "Son, I understand your anger, so I will let it go, this time. The thing is,  like it or not, you were born a prince, and you can''t escape your responsibility. In exchange of food, cloth and proper education, your duty was to take the role of the king if you were ever needed. Yes, you were treated badly by everyone, and yes, we didn''t have the time to pay attention to you, but those were the cards that life gave you. You think a farmer likes to pay the taxes even when a bad crop comes, or a citizen to be recruited to war if there are not enough soldiers? bad things happen all the time, and everybody has their own problems. You complain people treat you badly, but in my case, and most prince cases in history, they have to worry for their life every day. It is only because only your sister wanted the throne, and she looked down on you, that you never had to worry about getting killed in all these years


    Like it or not, wanted or not, you have been raised and treated as a prince all your life, and you, by been not only the best one, but the only one left by most people, you have to take the role that comes after been a prince, been the king"(Arthur)finally said


    "And don''t even thing about escaping your duties. You know that no matter where you try to hide in this world, I will find you and drag you back to the throne"(Rose)warned him just in case


    And with that, prince future was set in stone, like it or not, he would be the next king

 Side Story: Wise king

    Arthur, also know as the wise king has an interesting past


    I could tell you the story of how he survived an assassination attempt and pay the assassins double to kill their employer, finding out the next day that his brother suffers an "accident"or how he had to battle 100 suitors to get the hand of the ice queen, or how all the amazing things he had to do to fix the crumbling state the empire was


    Or how he had to battle 100 suitors to get the hand of the ice queen


    Or how all the amazing things he had to do to fix the crumbling state the empire was


    But instead I will tell you a story of when he was young and curious


    It was at that time he was visiting the royal library and found the diary of his great-grandfather the mad king


    And it was that diary that inspiring him to become a great king. He loved his ideas, experiences, adventures, opinion on how the world worked, and most of all, his friend the gladiator


    The adventures they had, the problems they faced back to back, and the friendship that lasted until the mad king death


    Arthur deeply admired both the gladiator and the mad kings history and wanted to try to follow his footsteps


    So what did he do? He searched for the gladiator


    Who wouldn''t try to meet his idol? especially when he was rich and with connections, making it a lot easier to find


    Well, it wasn''t really that hard, since the gladiator still showed up at the coliseum from time to time(with an alias), so he was one of the first persons Arthur decided to check if it was him


    And he got it right of course


    So he went and paid him a visit. He read all the diaries again just in case and went to his store to offer him the same job his great grandfather offered him before


    It was like a dream come true, not only meeting your idol but even having the chance to work with him


    But it didn''t work out. He completely refused, with the excuse he was already a tired all man


    Arthur wasn''t an idiot, he could tell he was in better condition than anyone else Arthur knew, but he just didn''t want to bother with it


    Still, even though his pride was seriously hurt, Arthur managed to keep a straight face, and managed to slip away without crying


    No matter how smart he was, or how capable, anyone would be hurt if your idol would ignore you, or not live up to your standards


    So what did Arthur decided to do? Show him he didn''t need him to accomplish his objective


    And after finding his own lifetime companion that would help him accomplish this over the years, he was happy with his accomplishments


    It took him a while, but he finally managed to do what his great grandfather and the gladiator could never do


    And Arthur took great pride in that


    So he  got over that little part of him that felt wounded after the old man refusal


    Or that was what he thought, until the championship at the coliseum


    Seeing him fight against all kind of extremely powerful enemy after enemy, awoken his childhood memories, and why he looked after him.  His tactics, strength, movements and everything else he did, was a masterpiece


    Even in the final fight against his own son, he could see that the only reason his son was able to put up a fight was simply because his son surpassed the gladiator in power


    The way the old man moved, the tricks he used, taunts, feints, deceptions, skills and everything else was superior to his son


    But in the end, the old gladiator couldn''t keep up to his sons vitality, and end up losing after an amazing fight that left everyone with their mouths open and their eyes crying, not only because they didn''t dare to blink, but because they knew they would never see something so amazing again in their life


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    And Arthur was a little excited for what came next. He may have lost the opportunity to be with his childhood idol, but maybe his son could accomplish what he never could


    Sadly, it didn''t work. He could see the gladiator respected his son as a warrior, but that was it, even with his mask and body armor on him, Arthur could fell the same air he felt when he met him all those years ago


    An air of disappointment, like they weren''t good enough


    That reaction that haunted him for years, and when he thought he finally got over with, it actually turns out it was only hidden deep inside, and that may never go away in his life


    Or it may have been like that, until he found out something he would never think would be possible, his youngest son getting along perfectly fine with the gladiator


    But not just perfectly fine, he could tell they were good friends since he stuck him with his granddaughter and the cat he was using to spy on them


    How was it possible? why him? why not me? where the thought Arthur was going over his head


    You may think he was looking down on his son, but he would have the same thought no matter who it was. He may have understood if it was his other son, Paul since he was a great warrior like  the gladiator, but he couldn''t understand what the gladiator liked about Julian that both he and Paul didn''t have


    To make matters worst,  the gladiator told stories about both the mad king and the prince to Lina to help her calm down, and you could tell by his tone, that he deeply respected both of them, making Arthur have a sense of defeat


    His childhood idol deeply respected his son, a son that even though he loved him, he felt disappointed on how he turn out


    All Arthur could do, was smile at the irony


    Thinking back on all the things he saw through the cat''s eyes, and all the things he knew his son managed to accomplish, that the gladiator was right in both accounts, he wasn''t as good as he thought he was, and his soon was better than what everyone give him credit for


    And hearing the stories the gladiator was telling Lina, he could also tell why he liked Julian more than him and Paul, and it wasn''t because he was better than he thought, or because he had some amazing talent


    It was simply because he had a good time when he was with them, something he should have realized by seen the diaries. Both Julian and the mad king were the kind of people you never knew what they were going to do next, and would always bring excitement to the old man life


    Those two wouldn''t follow the standard route and instead, they follow their own paths. You could see it by how they lived their lives


    One decided to make his own country, and the other  found a recipe to make mana, and instead of sharing it to the world, he looked for the most profitable way to sell it


    On the other hand, what did the famous wise king, know as the best king in the history of both Griffon and Dragon empire actually did? fix some problems and improve the performance of the broken machine known as Griffon empire


    He only fixed the some problems and improved some others. He didn''t change anything, not like the "mad" king, and probably not like his son Julian would do, if he ever got the chance to rule


    He was so proud of what he accomplished, and part of him looked down on the mad king since he "accomplish" what he couldn''t, and he looked down on his son because he didn''t "meet his standards"


    He never knew the prince called him the fool king, but if he had known, he would have completely agreed


    That''s why, after hearing the old gladiators tales, and seeing his sons was really a great person, he decided to hand over the throne to him, even if he didn''t want it


    Arthur was sure he was the best choice for the kingdom, and maybe, just maybe, a little revenge for getting what he never could

 Short story: Elena

    ?? days after the explosion ¨C ????


    Elena didn''t know how much time had passed since she got the news, and she didn''t actually care


    All she did all day was wake up, get dressed, eat something, do some exercises for her physiotherapy and look outside at nothing


    She cried her first few days, of course, and she then wanted to run away from the villa and confirm if he was truly dead


    Sadly, she was too weak to go out


    Considering she got a knife to the heart, she was healing nicely, but  magic isn''t almighty, she needed time to heal


    And for the looks of things, she needed to heal both in the physical sense and the metaphorical sense


    So, she passed her days recuperating, and trying not to think too hard about the prince, or she would start crying again


    ?? days after the explosion ¨C ????


    As soon as her father heard how she was acting, he tried his best to cheer her up by sending her musician, clothes, accessories, candy, fancy food, etc


    But it was all to no avail


    She looked at the stuff indifferently, and after trying them a bit, she would ignore them  or arc as if they weren''t there


    All she did was stare Stare at nothing, and let time pass


    She would do her exercise fine, and she would eat all the food they send her, but that was it, she would do nothing else. Like she was too lazy to even bother


    And like that, 3 weeks passed since she woke up


    ?? days after the explosion ¨C ????


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    It was in a sunny day that a carriage sudden arrived at the villa


    At the beginning, Elena would look at any new carriage or even a messenger in a horse, hoping that they would bring news, but one can only get their hope soo many times before they finally give up


    And Elena was no different, she watched the carriage for a second, and kept doing her exercises like she did every day


    So she kept doing them like always and decided do ignore whatever came in it since it was probably something from her father to try to cheer her up


    But when she heard a voice she recognised, and  thought she would never hear again, she couldn''t stop herself, and instantly turn her head in hope of hearing right, and not been some kind of fantasy or twisted joke


    What she found was a young 15 years old kid, with long black hair,  dressed in the typical imperial clothes, usually worn by the empire. He was looking around with a worried face and a booked of flowers on his hand


    But as soon as she looked at his eyes, he looked back at her and with a smile, he waved with his empty hand


    So she started running to him


    She didn''t even think about it, she just started running


    And when prince saw it, his first reaction was to protect his stomach and grit his teeth


    But instead of getting a punch like usual, she hugged him while crying on his chaste


    "I aawds gghgllasd tyouuyt awre fhine"(Elena)tried to say while crying


    The prince didn''t exactly understood what she said, but he still hugged her back and said


    "It''s good to see you again"

 Chapter 67:Coronation

    100 days after the explosions ¨C Palace


    Day of prince coronation


    After reluctantly accepting the job, his coronation was announced to the public, with surprising positive response


    Part of the reason was because it was announced he invented the potion capable of learning inner mana, but it was mostly thanks to his achievements in the few weeks he ruled as a replacement for his parents


    Besides, the story where he was hiding his talents was becoming more believable each passing day, even though it also became more believable he was behind the explosion in the temple


    Basically, the people were happy of having someone in the throne, and were afraid he would do something if they complained, so everyone unanimously agreed to just celebrate and look the other way about the explosion


    It was definitely the duke and a conservative party part of the Zergeit empire under Generall Rexford, no doubt about it. They were even  publicly punished for their actions and were paying their sentence in prison


    It was definitely them, ok!?


    So no one ever complained


    As for the military, they were happy with his achievements in the war, the mages were thankful for his inner mana potion(since it elevated their status) and the nobles keep they mouth shut since the prince had dirt on them


    Happy ending, right?


    Of course it was, it could be perfectly seen in the prince face whit his grandiose smile. It was definitely NOT a forced smile, of course not


    Why would he be having a forced smile? It was a dream come true, almost like a fairy tale. The unremarkable prince, the super hyper mega-underdog ended up beating all the monsters  and won the crown


    With a story like that, how could he have a forced smile?


    Besides, all kind of people had come to congratulate in his coronation


    There were the elves and dwarves representatives that came for the first time to a human coronation and were received as the guests of honor. It was something deserving to go into the history books


    There was also the prince sister Alice, future queen of Zergeit empire and his Fiance prince Damian. It was like a romantic story told by a bard where love surpassed even the enmity between two countries that have been going on for centuries. When it was announced their engagement, most of the country cried, but they let her pursue her love with a blessing. Besides, they publicly ap¨°llogiced for the rash actions general Rexford did behind the country''s back, blaming his fear of allowing the two countries to work together for now on


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    Mix the two together stories, and this looked like the start of a beautiful friendship between the four kingdoms


    Besides, all the major powers inside the country were present to congratulate the future king


    The king and queen were present, after previously apologizing to the public for not showing up, saying they wanted to test how the prince would work as a replacement without them watching his back, and since he did such a wonderful job, he was chosen as the successor


    Some people asked them to kept at it for a couple of years more, but they refused by saying they wanted to give the next generation a chance, so those people reluctantly agreed in the end


    It also helped that another guest of honor was the old man, that was allowed to be inside the palace thanks to his years of service in the mad king times. Most people were surprised not only at the sudden appearance of a legendary figure but also that he was a friend of the prince, making the mysteries behind the prince increase even more


    The general and the archmage were also present, congratulating the prince for the wonderful job he had done so far, and that they were looking forward to working together with him


    There were also the nobles, congratulating him for his coronation, and some of then even asking if he wanted to take their daughter as a mistress


    Finally, by his side were present his fiance Elena, his new adopted daughter Lina, and his two bodyguards Aria and Susan


    And outside the palace, there were thousands of citizens celebrating the coming of a new king, with hundreds of soldiers guarding all the exits to make sure no one tried to run aw... I mean, get inside unnoticed


    This day would mark the end of Black Sheep Prince


    And would begin the story of the Black Sheep King


    The end

 Epilogue

    The story may be over, but not their story


    Life continues even if it is not written, and every one of them did their own things afterward


    For example, Rebecca, tired of not finding someone on her level, decided to keep researching summoning so she could visit other worlds Prince didn''t know if he was either happier or worried when one day she suddenly disappeared


    Prince didn''t know if he was either happier or worried when one day she suddenly disappeared


    Jorge went around the continent playing around. He would return to the capital from time to time, but most of the time he would spend wandering around


    Prince never tried to stop him, since it was his life, but he did ask him to send reports of anything interesting he found on his travels, and from time to time, he would send him to "interesting" locations. Basically, prince made him a spy, and Jorge gladly did it


    Alice, on the other hand, went to the Zergeit empire and married prince Damian. She would have one kid with him and a few years afterward, Damian would get sick and die for some mysterious reason


    She practically became the ruler the moment she became queen, and even after his death, he still ruled until her kid was big enough to rule in her place, with 0 position


    And as the queen, she had to solve a lot of problems. First, she spent 3 years, and a lot of money and effort to get the recipe for mana potions. Second, she had to fix all the problems losing the war and calming the rebellion brought her. Third, she had to improve her standing with the elves and dwarves since even though Zergeit empire belong to the Alliance, it was in name only


    Finally, she started to research the summoning papers she stole from Rebecca. It was an interesting subject since going to a new world may bring land, resources, products, new inventions, etc


    Basically, she would be busy for a long long time


    As for the king and queen, they would live happily ever after in retirement, but would alway keep an eye on the prince since you couldn''t never know what he would do next


    Paul never got his memory back, ever. Part of the reason is probably because everyone underestimated Alice preparations. Even though Paul was a monster, the explosion left him half dead, and even though his amazing inner mana regeneration managed to restore his body to perfect condition, the brain cells lost in the explosion(let''s just say his body wasn''t a pretty sight after taking it) won''t return


    So he never got his memory back, and instead stayed with Lisa and Zoltan as a mercenary. At least, until he got together with Liza and decided to go back to the Beastmen country to be introduced to Liza''s family. Meanwhile, since Zoltan got enough money to finally fulfill his childhood dream, so he decided to finally become a merchant and live the easy life(didn''t work out actually)


    So, both Paul and Liza said their goodbyes and went to the beast country. There, it didn''t take long to get challenged by a beast man since they admire strength above all else, and after beating the crap out of him, word got out and Paul got a new challenge, and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another


    5 years laters, he was married to Liza with 3 kids, and for some reason, he was king of the beast race and the first one to unify all the beast men tribes


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    A year later, Jorge was "just playing around in the best man country" and found out the king was actually Paul, which lead to clearing up a lot of questions from both sides, and even managed to get the beast man country to join the Alliance of the three races, making it the alliance of the 4 races and 5 kingdoms


    As for Lina, she was glad to find out what actually happened with her father, but after years of being raised by the prince, she decided to stay with him and just visit her real father from time to time


    Lina would become the adoptive daughter of Prince and Elena, and would be the next in line to the throne, even after prince and Elena had a couple of kids. She kept training with Aria while also attending to her other studies and showed that the monster blood still runs on the family


    Aria kept training Lina while guarding the prince and keeping her own training. A few decades later she would ascend in the ranks until she became a general and succeeded her father in his role. As for her love life, she wasn''t sure if she loved the prince or not, but since he chose Elena and she didn''t want to admit she liked him, a few years later after the coronation she ended up marrying the lieutenant of her unit


    Susan, on the other hand, also kept her job as a bodyguard for a while, and became a professor at the magic university . 10 years later, she became an archmage and the representative of the university at the palace(thanks to her noble background and relationship with the prince). She never completely forgave herself for what she did to the prince, so she never actually pursued the prince and ended up marrying a teacher from the university with common birth


    As for Elena happily accepted prince proposal for marriage and even married a few months after the coronation. She gladly took Lina as her adopted daughter and raised the best she could, with 3 of her own later in life and all that while keeping an eye on the prince


    And as for the prince itself(actually king, but let''s just call him prince so it doesn''t get confusing)


    welllllll, let''s just say he didn''t just give up on been lazy


    4 years after his succession would be the first election of a prime minister for the Griffon empire. The prime minister would run for 4 years and would be stuck with making all the decisions and most importantly, take care of all the paperwork. On the other hand, he would still be the king in name, but his job would mostly be for diplomatic reasons and to attend the public, he could also take over as the ruler if the prime minister turned out to be incompetent, but it was only if he was incompetent


    Funny thing is, he was nominated by the public as a candidate and ended up getting elected with a majority both on the first election, and 7 more after that(not all in succession) even when he abdicated the throne and left it to his successor(Lina)


    In the end, he ruled more time thanks to his idea of electing a prime minister than if he just simply ruled as a king until Lina was big enough


    Well, he also had other problems and adventures over the years, and he would go down in history as one of the best rulers ever surpassing his father and brothers in fame, even though he was never considered a monster like the rest of his family, just a great king


    He easily surpassed his father and brothers in fame, even though he was never considered a monster like the rest of his family, just a great and unorthodox king

 Afterword

    Hi! and thanks for reading till the end


    I hope you guys enjoyed the story, and the comments and ideas helped a lot in the process. Even though I have some idea on how the story would go and the end, most of the story I made it up as I wrote, adding a lot of stuff in the process. For example, the old man was just a guy for the prince to sell his stuff but ended up as an important character in the story as I thought it would be funny it was like that and that


    I apologize  for my bad grammar and my lack of world building thanks to my inexperience. I did improve my grammar over the chapters, but it''s only on the level of going from a 8 years old to 11 years old, and not even a smart one. As for world building, I will try to make a better job in my next work, and maybe add some stuff to the early chapters when I have more time


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    So I hope I will keep on having your support in my next stories


    Which you guys can check on WordPress over here </a>


    Or in Royal Road here</a>


    Again, Thanks for your support and for keep reading till the end


    Good luck and happy Xmas

 Black Sheep Prince EPUB

    Well, someone did an epub version of the black sheep prince and send me the link, so I thought I might as well send the link to anyone interested


    http://www.doswap.com/epub/the-black-sheep-prince-epub/</a>


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    It looks like he is making the epub of other original novels and translated novels, so maybe it would be a good idea to check the place out if you like reading stuff without the need of internet connection