ã€ŠThe son who I never gave birth to is a legendary hero in this fantasy world?!ã€‹


 Chapter 1: Advent

    ¡°I welcome you, Hero, for you are the one we have waited five hundred years for to aid us in our darkest night.¡±

    For the so-called hero¡ªstanding within the midst of the court, surrounded by those wearing clothes that could only amount to at least several thousand dollars apiece¡ªyou would have to forgive me for being shocked with a fork frozen halfway to my mouth. As if to break the intense silence that followed, the small portion of rice and fish layered evenly on top of my fork slipped off and fell down into the porcelain bowl I held in my other hand. Yet, even as the crowd began to whisper and look at me with skeptical glances, my mind went back a few minutes ago to try to piece together what just happened.

    It had been a normal enough day. Wake up, go to school, fall asleep in class, copy my friend¡¯s homework at lunch, read a novel during my last couple of classes, take a bus home, and prepare some dinner for myself. All in all, a very, very average day. I even planned on watching a few shows on my computer, and maybe staying up late to check out a few of the more¡­private matters. Of course, that had been before I saw the flash of bright light just when I was about to eat dinner. There was no swirling vortex or vast slipstream tunnel that would have made it obvious. One moment, I was in my kitchen, and the next, I was here, wherever here was.

    ¡°What is your name, Hero?¡± As if to shock me out of my thoughts, that same voice that had spoken from the start spoke to me once again. My eyes swiveled to focus on a priestly looking old man standing besides a throne. It was actually a bit difficult to figure out who the speaker was, especially when there were so many standing around him, but he had the stereotypical type of old voice that would fit his wizened form.

    ¡°J-Jen.¡± Well, technically, my full name was actually Jennifer Ro, but I wasn¡¯t going to say that. My family was actually pretty well off, owning a good stockholder¡¯s portion of several companies, so there was quite a bit to gain from ransoms if anybody was looking close enough. I just hoped that this wasn¡¯t what I was thinking it was.

    Rich cosplaying kidnappers.

    Well, actually, if they were this rich, especially from the quality of the clothing they wore, I kind of doubted that I was going to be put up for ransom. That could only mean that I was kidnapped somehow¡ªmaybe by a newly developed strange government prototype teleporter or something¡ªat the whims of a large group of medieval cosplayers for the purposes of indoctrinating me into their cult. They were probably planning on dressing me like them and making me participate in strange rituals.

    Though, if that was the case, I was actually kind of willing.

    ¡°Ah, Hero Jajen¡ª¡±

    ¡°Actually, that¡¯s Jen. Well, Jennifer Ro, but you can just call me Jen.¡± Gah! I said my full name anyways by accident. I was too used to the habit.

    ¡°Then Hero Jen, I¡¯m aware that you must be confused by this summoning. I shall apologize for that, but we must beg your assistance on a matter of grave importance.¡±

    My eyes started glinting at those words. Oh, I knew where this was going. I had read enough light novel translations and played enough video games that I knew exactly where this was going. My heart started to beat a bit faster as I opened my mouth.

    ¡°You want me to save the world from the demon king?¡±

    I knew I messed up when I saw the blank look on his face, even before I saw him shake his head.

    ¡°There is no such thing as a demon king,¡± the old man said. ¡°However, your power is needed for the sake of the kingdom. Our nation is bordered by powerful countries that seek any possible chance to weaken us, and our villages are assaulted night and day from monstrous fiends from beneath the surface. I beg of you to lend us your¡ª¡±

    ¡°Hold, priest.¡±

    That simple command, spoken by the previously silent black-haired man sitting leisurely on the throne, silenced everyone in the room. As for the king or at least I think he is a king... Have you ever seen those movies or read those stories with the good looking prince charming or the handsome king? A face that could make any girls heart flutter, eyes that were violet like lilac, and a body that belonged on the cover of the trashiest of romance novels?

    Yeah, that was him. The man, a king by all indication, pulled out a golden necklace out of his shirt. At the bottom of it was a moderately sized locket, possibly a timepiece in the old British style, and popped it open. He glanced between me and the locket several times with a kind of intense stare before he finally shut it closed. In that time, nobody dared to open their mouths. As for me, it was more because I didn¡¯t know what to say, so I just waited and watched. He stood up from his throne.

    ¡°Cancel everything. She shall not be a part of our plans.¡±

    ¡°My lord!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you cannot simply¡ª¡±

    ¡°Silence! This is non-negotiable.¡± The king placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. ¡°I will broker no more dissent. Those that continue to disagree will taste my blade.¡±

    Under this oppressive atmosphere, he walked down the beautiful red carpet, and I had to admit that the way he walked towards me was more majestic than in any movie I had ever seen. It was a style full of confidence and authority, such that even my mind went blank, and I had the oddest urge to fall to my knees. I didn¡¯t think I quite managed to keep them steady in any case as he finally loomed before me, towering in his height. I had to raise my head and even bend my back a little just to see his face. When he smiled down at me, I swore my heart skipped a beat.

    And just like that¡­

    He hugged me.

    Bending down, he had scooped me into his arms with biceps that seemed harder than stone. Yet, for all his powerful muscles, the hug was soft and gentle. I would even say it was a lover¡¯s embrace, if I even knew what that felt like, which I didn¡¯t, though I bet it felt like this. My face was probably as red and hot as I was feeling.

    ¡°T-t-this¡­you c-can¡¯t¡­¡±

    The king ignored me and squeezed a little bit harder. That moment seemed to last for the longest time until finally, he pulled away. However, he kept his hands on my shoulders, and his smile seemed to glow just a little bit warmer. I could feel something important was going to happen. Was¡­was this going to be a confession¡­?!

    ¡°Welcome to my kingdom, mother.¡±

    ¡­wait what?

    Before I could even formulate a proper thought, the entire room melted into pandemonium.

    ~o~

    Seriously, how did it turn out this way? I was sitting on a chair in a private room while a group of three maids were busy fussing about me, combing my hair and applying make-up. The white dress on me was actually quite exquisite with its gold and red trimmings, but it also felt quite strange as well; I could tell that the material was not cotton or silk, but I couldn¡¯t identify it. Still, it felt pretty good on my skin, and I had to admit that I felt happy it looked so good as well.

    However, getting used to all this was a whole different ballgame. Yes, ballgame. I used to play baseball in middle school. Well, just softball actually. Regular overhand throws for the boys¡¯ team and underhand throws for girls. I used to be indignant about that, not being able to play regular baseball because I was a girl, but all it took was one look at my team to see why. It was hard to complain after that.

    Not that it stopped me, mind you.

    ¡°So what do you think about this mother business?¡± I asked. The question wasn¡¯t really directed to any of the maids in particular, but I felt I needed to break the silence. Honestly, I felt pretty weird being serviced like this, so that played a part in it as well.

    ¡°I do not know, Your Highness,¡± one of the maids said as she brushed my hair. My black hair was of a pretty good length, reaching down to the small of my back, though I have to say that I was proud of how silky it felt. That actually took quite a bit of work over the years to maintain, not to mention money, though I couldn¡¯t say that last one was really a concern of mine since my parents were the ones paying for all of it.

    ¡°You can just call me Jen.¡±

    ¡°We dare not, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Seriously, I won¡¯t bite.¡±

    ¡°Even so, His Majesty may not take kindly to such disrespect. Please spare us, Your Highness!¡±

    I frowned. I didn¡¯t even have to take a look in the mirror to see what their expressions were. It didn¡¯t really sit well with me to be called, ¡°Your Highness,¡± all the time, but I didn¡¯t want to get these girls in trouble.

    ¡°Well, he probably just think I look like his mother or something,¡± I muttered as if musing to myself. That was probably it, right? It was the only explanation because I would certainly remember losing my virginity and getting pregnant. Not to mention my so-called son looked to be around his mid to late twenties. Maybe thirties with a youthful appearance or something. Either way, it obviously meant that he was much older than I was so unless I somehow had him before I was born, I didn¡¯t think that was possible.

    And oh god, that imagery. Putting that aside¡ªand burying it deep¡ªthis situation was just strange all around. I was honestly even looking forward to waving a sword around or learning magic, but it didn¡¯t seem like I was going to get the chance to do it in this case.

    ¡°So why am I being dressed like this again?¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, that is because you will be eating with His Majesty soon.¡±

    Oh right, I was hungry. I didn¡¯t even get a chance to eat my bowl of rice and fish before they took it away from me. At the time, I was confused so I let it go without a hassle, but I feel that handing it over without resistance was the thing that I regretted most so far. It took me an hour to properly prepare and cook that fish. I had been looking forward to tasting the results of my blood, sweat, and tears¡ªwell, not really of those, but it was the thought that counts. I had put in a fair amount of effort into cooking it after all.

    ¡°All done, Your Highness.¡± One of the maids brought out a handheld mirror and held it in front of me. I had to admit, that was actually more than I expected from this kind of setting. I half-expected to be looking at the reflection on a metal pot or something, so knowing that they could produce glass gave me hope that they would be just as advance in other areas, especially toiletry. That was the thing about those light novels and games; they never focus on the bare essentials of modern day life that were obviously going to be missing in a medieval fantasy kind of setting. I couldn¡¯t imagine wiping myself clean with something as rough as sandpaper.

    The moment I saw myself in the mirror, I froze. Was that me? I hesitantly touched my face, almost afraid that I would destroy the image. It was a valid concern! I wasn¡¯t sure if they could produce make-up that wouldn¡¯t easily wipe off, but I still had to touch myself just to check if it was really me. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t come off onto my fingers. As I stared at my reflection, I couldn¡¯t help but marvel at it.

    Porcelain skin, ruby lips. The first thing that would come to mind from that description was a clown or a cake-faced banshee, but it really didn¡¯t do justice to what I was seeing. It was almost surreal, the doll-like face that stared back at me. If I didn¡¯t know that was me, I would think that it was one of those real life replicas that were just on the border of uncanny valley. It was creepy, scary, and wonderful all at the same time. I usually go for the more natural look, a dash of this, a dab of that, but there was a sort of appeal with this kind of extreme. I wouldn¡¯t want to do this all the time, but it looked really nice for just once in a while. Almost like a fantasy.

    ¡°Are you displeased, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s pretty good,¡± I said quickly, seeing the tension leave their faces. ¡°You do have removers for all this, right?¡±

    The maids looked blankly at me before they finally caught my drift. ¡°Oh, of course, Your Highness! We will remove it once you retire for the day.¡±

    That hesitation made me worried, but I tried to keep the frown off my face. I know that it shouldn¡¯t be a concern, especially since I¡¯m apparently in a parallel world full of life-threatening dangers, but it was something I couldn¡¯t help at the same time. I had lived all my life worrying about skincare, ever since my mom taught me the basics when I was young. It was hard to stop, but yeah, I really should now that I think about it. Still, it was a bit difficult to rearrange my priorities.

    ¡°How long until dinner?¡±

    ¡°An hour, Your Highness.¡± Ugh, I was hungry now.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I have a snack?¡±

    ¡°It would ruin your appetite, Your Highness,¡± the maid responded calmly. ¡°His Majesty thought you might have some questions about this world so he pushed back the time of the meal.¡±

    Oh, that was right. I had been swept up in events that I didn¡¯t really give a thought to my own situation until now. I wasn¡¯t happy that I would have to stay hungry longer, but I did have some questions. Naturally, I was the victim in all this, having been practically kidnapped from my home and stranded with no recourse. I wondered how my parents and siblings were doing. They were probably frantically looking for me,  even getting the police involved. This was likely to cause a lot of trauma and anguish for them, but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do. Unlike the light novels I read, I held no illusion of returning home. If I was summoning a devil to grant me a wish, I would not have any thoughts about returning it back home. Going by that line of reasoning, it was unreasonable to think that they wouldn¡¯t have prepared a way back for me. I would have to ask them about it regardless, but I wasn¡¯t willing to spend years or even decades trying to find a way home because that would just be wasting my life away for something that may just be impossible. By then, my family would have to move on without me. While I did feel sad at the thought, I too would eventually have to move on as well.

    ¡°So, what is this world?¡±

    ¡°Your highness, this world is called¡­¡± Apparently, this world is called Luani, a world that was always on the brink of warfare. A pretty dark place considering, but it wasn¡¯t like I had a choice. I asked a bunch of questions after that about the history, language, religion; the usual kind to get myself oriented. To summarize, about 2000 years ago, there was a great war in the pantheon of the Gods of this world. The sole survivor was a God named Ranvia, but that wasn¡¯t the problem. The problem was that one single God wasn¡¯t much of a deterrent for the darker dimensions. In that sense, portals opened all over the world and unleashed hordes of monsters. An originally human-only world became the home of fantastical creatures and monsters out of nightmares. It was pretty much an apocalyptic situation that only got worse as time went on. The situation was rampant for nearly 1000 years. To deal with the issue, Ranvia implemented the Heroes System and the Age Immortality System.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The Heroes System allowed a summon for each nation every five hundred years, when the stars were correctly aligned. These summons were beings from a different dimension, granted some abilities and buffs that allowed them to have some advantages over the natives. In the past, this Heroes System had been used twice, so I certainly wasn¡¯t the first to be abducted like this. I probably wouldn¡¯t be the last either. That meant that if there was a way to go home, then it would have certainly been found now, though I kind of doubted it because the world was still in turmoil after all these years.

    The Age Immortality System was an interesting one. Basically, for anyone that was above a certain power level and aligned with a nation, then they would basically not age at all while in the territory of that nation. This gives people an objective since getting powerful was now synonymous with living forever¡ªonly for old age though; they could still get killed by any other method. However, that was only if they stayed in the country¡¯s territory. If they left that territory or lose the allegiance of their country, they would age like normal. There were certain exceptions during times of war where you could enter an allied or enemy country with the system still working, but only if war was declared officially and publicly. Of course, a person could switch their allegiance to a different nation, provided that the other nation acknowledges it. This effectively congregates the strongest powers within a country, making it more focused on defense rather than offense. I had to admit that it would help in the fight against monsters while limiting the abuse of it for spies and assassins against other nations as I doubted many Immortals would do it since they would be forced to age.

    At the start, many smaller nations formed just to take advantage of the Heroes System and get as many heroes into the world as possible. However, that didn¡¯t last very long as the monster hordes targeted the smaller nations first, snuffing them out. Heroes were, after all, most vulnerable when they first arrive. Still, the situation was able to be stabilized by their efforts. However, once the monster threat lowered, war amongst the nations was inevitable.

    And that was pretty much the gist of everything. At least, the important points. There were a lot of tiny details, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to remember those. I mean, I was never good at schoolwork in the first place so I couldn¡¯t be expected to remember all these miniscule little details and the specific years that they kept spouting out. So what if this military general or that one won this battle or that. There were already too many of them in any case! If I even attempted to memorize them, I could imagine my brain melting down into sludge. Honestly, with just this much, I was already pretty confused. Heroes System and Age Immortality System? Was that something out of a roleplaying or strategy game? It was just weird, but I would have to figure out the specifics of those later.

    ¡°Is there a way for me to go home?¡± I saw the maids glance at each other out of the corner of my eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I expected that anyways,¡± I casually responded, yet I couldn¡¯t help but be disheartened at their words. Just having it confirmed made it feel a lot more real. In a sense, I guess I was still skeptical about the whole thing. In fact, I even thought that I was being a lot calmer than a girl should be in this kind of situation. Maybe deep down, I wanted something like this to happen, to break the monotony of my average days. It made me feel guilty, but there was a sense of excitement accompanying that. Honestly, I didn¡¯t even know what I was feeling. It was just such a mess.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for dinner. Please don¡¯t be sad, Your Highness. His Majesty may know more about this than we do.¡±

    I nodded and allowed the maids to help me up from my seat. They escorted me as we walked out of the room, leading me down the endless hallway. It felt weird for them to seemingly hang off my arms as we walked, but it was kind of a necessity. As much as I liked the dress, it was a bit too long so the ends were trailing along the floor, picking up dust and whatever gunk on the way, but the problem was that I almost tripped a few times by stepping on them. They apologized for the inappropriate size and promised me fervently that they would get it fixed later. I told them not to mind it, but they quickly drowned me out with their protests. I wasn¡¯t that much of a social dummy, but the chorus of protests was a bit much for me to handle.

    As we walked down the rich, vibrant carpet, I noticed the paintings on the walls. Most of these weren¡¯t the artistic kind that you would see of blocks and shapes or splats of paint; they were portraits of prominent looking individuals as well as scenes of famous battles. Well, maybe too many battles. I knew that they had a harsh history, but seeing all the canvas filled with fighting against both humans and monsters put things into perspective. It sort of glorified warfare to an extent that made me feel more than a bit uncomfortable. I mean, it was understandable, but at the same time, it was foreign to me.

    When I finally reached the room and the door was opened for me, I saw that my host, the king, was already seated and waiting for me at a table with a candlelight. It would have been romantic if it weren¡¯t for the fact that he called me his mother only a couple of hours earlier. I walked over to the table and bowed my head slightly. I wasn¡¯t sure about any of the etiquette of nobility, but I didn¡¯t think he would mind. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Take a seat.¡± The king waved his hand to the only other open chair at the table. It was actually a smaller table than I imagined, but then again, when I thought of nobles and royalty, I expected a huge long table that spanned the room with each of us at one end. Though, that would probably result in a bad shouting match as we try to talk. In any case, I quickly complied with his words and sat down on the cushioned seat. It felt nice, like really nice. So nice in fact that I was tempted to say that it was too rich for my blood.

    ¡°Your um Majesty, I¡ª¡± My stomach took this time to growl. I had the decency to blush as the king burst out into a small chuckle.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk after we eat.¡± He clapped his hands once. At that instant, a man in a chef uniform rolled in a cart stacked with plates through the open door. With a motion practiced from decades of service, the chef set the plates onto the tables and took off the metal covers.

    I was almost disoriented by the cacophony of smells, but that didn¡¯t make them seem any less delicious. I could feel a little bit of drool leak out the side of my mouth so I quickly wiped it with my sleeve, ignoring the horrified expressions of the maids and butlers around me. Without waiting, I quickly took my plate and speared a few pieces of meat with my fork. I bit those pieces off my fork like it was a shish kabob, my face lighting up as the taste hit me.

    Delicious!

    The meat practically melted in my mouth, mixing with the sauces to create a heavenly taste. I didn¡¯t even know if it was chicken, pork, or beef, but I didn¡¯t care either. It was so godly that I was lost in my delight. By the time I realized it, I found that my plate and fork was gone. The maids on each side of me had taken them away.

    ¡°Your highness,¡± the chef said as if he was scandalized. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t take the food yourself. Simply ask a servant to serve it for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Um, how about that one? And that one too.¡± I pointed at two different plates. The chef nodded and helped serve me a small portion of each. And by small, I mean small, like the corner of my plate. Well, I guess since there were so many plates, they ate like this. ¡°Er, how about some of each.¡±

    The chef nodded and carried out my order. On the other side of the table, the king was looking at me with an amused expression even though his own plate was empty. There was something in that smirk that made me feel indignant.

    ¡°Not going to eat anything?¡± I asked with an annoyed huff.

    ¡°I will. After he¡¯s done with your portion.¡±

    ¡°Patient, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I had grown a lot since my childhood.¡± That reminded me. I needed to ask about the mother thing.

    Before I could let loose one word, my plate was returned to me, stacked full of food and my fork was returned to the napkin on my side of the table. Well, stacked full was a bit of an exaggeration. It was like he clumped all the food together on one single layer, presenting it in such a way that it looked like a clustered painting than a mountain of food. I was actually a little bit bewildered, but my hunger quickly won out. I took my fork and began to dig in even as the king started ordering his portion.

    By the time I was done, I had gone in for seconds and thirds. I would even have gone in for a fourth if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that my host was already done eating his meal and was waiting patiently for me. Under that stare, I simply put my fork down as the servants began taking away the plates. They were still half-full of food which left me a little peeved with how much food was going to wasted, but I supposed they would feed the leftovers to the rest of the servants or maybe bring it to the less fortunate. Well, I doubted the latter one, but it was a nice thought.

    ¡°I suppose you have many questions for me,¡± the king said as he leaned back in his chair.

    ¡°Yeah, though I guess the biggest one at the moment is: who are you?¡±

    The king blinked for a moment before he burst out into laughter. ¡°I had forgotten that you might not recognize me. Give me a moment.¡±

    Instead of saying more, he reached around his neck and took off his necklace, pulling it out of his shirt at the same time. With a swing of his wrist, he tossed the locket across the table.

    ¡°Ah!¡± I clapped my hands together a second too late, so the locket hit my forehead and fell onto my lap. Rubbing the spot where I could feel a bruise forming, I glared at him. He merely smiled apologetically in response. Feeling disgruntled, I picked up the locket and examined it. It was a simple gold locket, though there were wears and tears all over it. There was a button on top so I quickly pressed it and watched the locket pop open.

    Inside, instead of a clock, I found a picture of a black-haired woman holding a similarly black-haired child. They were both smiling happily as they stared out from the picture, but even though she was older, I could have recognized her from anywhere. After all, that was my face.

    My throat felt dry. It didn¡¯t add up. The clothing that she was wearing as well as the scarf was actually something I owned and cherished. They were particular articles that I had gotten from my brother and sister for my birthday, so I would remember it anywhere. That left me with only one conclusion, and there was no mistaking it. That was me.

    But how could that be? I looked up at the king, my face clearly showing my confusion.

    ¡°My name is Ranzel Ro. My friends used to call me RR,¡± he said. ¡°You had me when you were fourteen, but you put in your all to raise me. I was in my early twenties when I got summoned here, five hundred years ago. I¡¯m sure they explained the Age Immortality System, yes?¡±

    I wordlessly nodded.

    ¡°I know this might be confusing, but I¡¯m your son. Truthfully, the only reason I could remember after all these years was because of that locket. You¡¯re younger than when I disappeared, though I don¡¯t remember you vanishing when I was a child. You¡¯re probably eighteen or so, so I would be around four years old at this time, correct?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­that¡¯s¡­¡± I swallowed my saliva.

    ¡°I know that it¡¯s a lot to take in.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s the thing, I was never pregnant!¡±

    In the silence that followed, I bet that if I dropped a pin, I would be able to hear it from all corners of the room.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that¡­¡± Ranzel looked distraught. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯d remember a teen pregnancy!¡± God, my parents would kill me if that ever happened. Besides, I never had sex so I was pretty sure that unless I was the virgin Mary, I wasn¡¯t going to get pregnant any time soon.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± His shoulder seemed to slump, and for a moment, I felt pity for him. However, he quickly composed himself. ¡°However, you are her. There¡¯s no doubt.¡±

    I scratched the back of my head, ignoring the fact that I was probably messing up my hair. ¡°It looks like it. I mean, she is wearing the same clothing I have.¡±

    ¡°Then you are probably her from a parallel world where you never met my father.¡±

    ¡°Well, do you know his name?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°I think I did once, but five hundred years is a long time.¡±

    I nodded. It was a miracle he even remembered me¡ªwell, the other me. I guess my other self made quite the impression on him, besides the locket.

    ¡°Still, you are her, even though you are not exactly the same person.¡± Ranzel rose from his seat. ¡°Perhaps this is for the best. This is a harsh world to live in. However, be at ease; I won¡¯t allow any harm to come to you. We will continue this conversation tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I spoke just as he was about to leave, rising from my seat as well.

    ¡°Yes?¡± he asked questioningly, tiredly.

    I wanted to ask if there was a way to go home, and if not, to ask him more about the Heroes System. Everything was like a surreal fantasy, but I definitely wanted to my place in all this. However, the moment I saw the drawn-out look on his face, I was given pause. In the end, I couldn¡¯t summon the courage to speak about it. Instead, I smiled gently.

    ¡°Good night, Ranzel.¡±

    ¡°Good night, moth¡ªJennifer.¡±

    ¡°You can call me mother. I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    He smiled, though it was somewhat forced but not unnaturally so. ¡°Good night, mother.¡±

    Without saying a word more, Ranzel turned and left the room, leaving me to my thoughts.

 Chapter 2: Family

    Sleep. That was simple enough notion, but it was actually hard to do in practice. I turned over in my bed, the mattress sinking slightly to accommodate me. The white nightgown I was dressed in felt like I was wearing air, though without the uncomfortable feeling of actually being nude. What was it made of?  Everything was of such a high quality that it was the first time in my life that I felt something like it. I had expected that this kind of setting would be so far backwards in comparison to the modern age I came from, but it seemed not. The only reason I could think of was that it was because of Ranzel. He did come from the future, technically¡­sort of.

    He was the son that I never had, which still felt unreal to me. I turned so I was facing the ceiling once again. That was probably one of the reasons that I couldn¡¯t sleep. The mere idea of it was so fantastical and strange, but was it really weirder than being teleported to a different world? I thought I had a pretty open mind from all the anime I have seen as well as the manga and novels I have read. Yet, it still struck me as something I couldn¡¯t quite feel as real and tangible. If things had gone differently four years ago, I could have became a teenage mother.

    Teen pregnancy, huh? I think it was a good thing that it didn¡¯t happen to me. My life would have been pretty much ruined.

    But on the other hand, that also meant that he was never born. That made me feel bad for thinking of how glad I was, but what were the chances of him being born anyways? Another child could easily have been born since there was like what, millions of different tiny lives in one goop? No, it was probably just a thousand or something. In any case, that was a once in the lifetime chance so it wasn¡¯t something I should feel bad about it. I mean, did I ever meet his father anyways? Ranzel really didn¡¯t look like anyone I knew besides¡­well, me. That chin, that nose, those eyes, and that hair. Maybe even that cheekbone if I looked closely enough.

    Sighing deeply, I slowly sat up. It looked like I wasn¡¯t going to get much sleep tonight. Therefore, I should organize my thoughts instead of just lying about listlessly. Scooting to the side of the bed, I swung my feet out and felt along the carpeted floor for my slippers. After a little bit of groping in the dark with my toes, I found the pair and slipped them on. My joints creaked as I stood up and stretched. Walking over to the curtains, I pulled them apart.

    The night¡¯s sky stared out at me, illuminated by the red and blue moons¡ªwait what?

    My head snapped up, and I gazed at the two moons that lit up the black of night. Alongside them was the sparkle of stars, glistening like diamonds in the sky. I licked my lips as I continued to stare. It was just so strange. A blue moon and a red moon. Those kinds of colors were only found from rare phenomenon on Earth. I could even remember a time back then when I was lying on the grass of a field, looking up at the stars with friends. It was a simpler time, watching the stars gradually fall away, leaving a trail behind. Back then, that once in a decade series of falling stars left its mark on me. I never did study a bit about astrology, but I always loved to stare at the night¡¯s beauty.

    I felt like a child, looking up at these stars with new eyes. Even though I knew they wouldn¡¯t be here, I looked for some of the more well-known constellations. The Big Dipper, the North Star, and Scorpius. Of course, I didn¡¯t find them, but I still tried to match them up in any case. Some of the star formations came close, but not close enough. While I was immersed in the stars, I almost didn¡¯t notice the almost quiet knocking on the door. I blinked and turned to face that direction.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    From behind the door, I heard a muffled voice: ¡°Your Highness, this is your faithful maid, Alina.¡±

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    The door slowly opened as a tall maid stepped into the room. In her hands was a tray of tea and a plate of biscuits. I blinked in surprise.

    ¡°How did you know I was awake?¡±

    ¡°One of the guards in the gardens saw that your curtains were open and that you were staring at the moons.¡± I nodded my head slightly as she set the tray down at a nearby table. I should have expected that; guards were always be active no matter the time for important locations like the palace. The only reason I didn¡¯t see them was probably because I didn¡¯t look down. Without hesitation, I walked over to circular table and took a seat at one of the four chairs. I motioned for her to take a seat as well, but she shook her head. ¡°It would not be proper, my Lady.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer if you drink with me. Being stared at while I¡¯m the only one drinking makes me nervous.¡±

    The maid looked conflicted but in the end, she relented and took a seat on my right. I suppose she wanted to be close enough to pour me more tea when the time comes.

    ¡°I¡¯m still confused about everything here.¡±

    ¡°If you have any questions, Your Highness, you may ask them of me. I will endeavor to answer them to the best of my abilities.¡± Alina placed a cup in front of both of us and careful poured the tea from the teapot.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to if the question hits on a private matter.¡±

    ¡°Hits?¡±

    ¡°Um, touches. That is, I mean, if the question infringes on things you would rather not say.¡±

    ¡°You do not have to worry about that, Your Highness. All of my being is solely devoted to the palace.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very dedicated of you,¡± I said as I took the teacup into my hands and looked down at it. It was a brownish hue, but I could smell a hint of Cinnamon. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same if I were in the same position.¡±

    ¡°You flatter me, my Lady.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not flatter,¡± I said bluntly. ¡°It¡¯s fact.¡±

    ¡°T-thank you, my Lady. I will endeavor to be worthy of your praise.¡±

    I merely sighed in response. It was hard to really talk to her when it felt like there was a veil between us. Still, I had some questions, and she was the closest at hand to answer them. I took a sip of the tea and immediately grimaced.

    ¡°Your Highness! Is the tea not to your liking? I can brew another to your taste.¡± Alina got up from her seat, but I quickly motioned her down.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I just never really liked tea in the first place. I¡¯m more of a fan of coffee.¡±

    ¡°I will make a batch immediately.¡±

    ¡°Stop, stop, stop, stop.¡± I motioned for her to sit down again. ¡°I just said I don¡¯t like tea, but I can still drink it. It would be just like eating plain vegetable without sauce¡ªstop standing up, sit! It¡¯s like no matter what I say, you keep trying to get up.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t drink something that you dislike unless it¡¯s medicine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m used to it. Besides, tea is pretty healthy, and this will make me fall asleep, right? I don¡¯t caffeine would be good to drink at this time of night,¡± I said. ¡°In any case, I have some questions for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Good, what¡¯s two plus two?¡±

    ¡°Four.¡±

    ¡°Two times two?¡±

    ¡°Four¡­¡±

    ¡°Two to the power of two?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s four as well¡­¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I tapped a finger to my chin as I thought about it.

    ¡°Was there a purpose to that, my Lady?¡±

    ¡°Just seeing if some things were the same as my world,¡± I said. ¡°Count to twenty.¡±

    ¡°One, two, three, four, five, six¡­¡±

    I listened as she counted off to twenty. That confirmed my thoughts. The basic mathematical system was still the same. This was important because if there was an extra number added on, it could throw off my calculations in the future. It would be bad if I said something like eleven, but it actually meant around twenty due to having some extra numbers. I could have used some of the more complicated mathematical formulas, but I only wanted to check it real quickly before I got onto the meatier questions.

    ¡°So uh history, history. You were telling me all about that System stuff right before I had to go to dinner. Can you elaborate more on them?¡±

    ¡°Is there something confusing you about them, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°Let me rehash what I know. Fill in any details I miss, okay?¡± Seeing her nod, I continued. ¡°Okay, so a thousand years ago, in order to stop the flood of monsters, two systems were created by the uhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Our god, Ranvia.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, him. Anyways, the first one is the Heroes System which allows nations to summon heroes once every five hundred years. The second one is the Age Immortality System, which allows strong people to stop aging as long as they stay within the nation¡¯s territory. Am I right so far?¡±

    ¡°That is correct, Your Highness,¡± Alina said. ¡°There are more details, but in general, it is correct.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so how did these systems work out for your world? You told me some things, and I can see that this kingdom survived so it must have worked, but can you tell me more?¡±

    ¡°Then allow me to explain, my Lady. At the eve of destruction, humanity was¡­¡±

    Mankind yadda yadda on brink blah blah rallying and stuff yadda yadda fighting other nations blah blah.

    Well, time to summarize. Honestly, with all the fluff she added on, it sounded like something out of a religious bible, so in order to keep my mind properly organized, I decided to restate the history in a much less detailed form with a lot fewer religious fluff to it. In a sense, that was cutting it down to one-tenth of what she originally said. Really, this was just a little bit too much from her. Still, it almost made me fall asleep, until she noticed and tried to make it more dramatic by raising her voice randomly and swinging her arms around. With how enthusiastic she was, I didn¡¯t have to heart to tell her what I really thought of her storytelling skill.

    So starting from one thousand years ago, mankind was pushed to the brink. There were still countries, but they were rather sparsely populated. It wasn¡¯t like the monster horde was technically crushing everything or driving them to extinction, like Alina dramatic said; it seemed more like they were doing a sort of population control. That meant there had to be a controlling hand to it, a demon lord of some kind, but it doesn¡¯t seem like any such individual was recorded in history. In any case, the one god left on the pantheon finally got off his ass and did something about it, making two weird systems that supposedly saved humanity. The Heroes helped to drive back the monsters from civilization, though a lot of them¡ªespecially from the many smaller nations that sprung up¡ªwere killed. However, it stabilized the situation to allow humanity to repopulate itself.

    For that first five hundred years, they fought tooth and nail against the monsters to keep them at bay. In that time, many individuals managed to reach the Threshold¡ªthe line that dictates if they could receive the benefits of the Age Immortality System¡ªand became known as Immortals. The situation was becoming increasingly stable at the end of the five hundred years. When the second summoning of the Heroes began, that was when things changed. Allowing ample time for them to grow, the Heroes managed to almost completely push back the monsters. It was supposed to herald a time of peace and prosperity that the land hadn¡¯t known since the End of the Pantheon, but that wasn¡¯t quite what happened.

    The Age of Strife happened. When the threat of monsters declined, humanity turned on each other. Nations fought other nations out of greed and lust for power. Many powerful fighters as well as Heroes died, and the world¡¯s landscape changed dramatically. Armies rose and fell like water, the same with countries. Hundreds of years had passed, leaving behind the aftermath of their destructiveness. The superiority of humanity had been lost, and while monsters didn¡¯t have the same foothold as before, they were also gaining traction and wrecking havoc. This was the world that I was living in now, one where every nation didn¡¯t trust the other, letting them suffer even if they had the power to help.

    Honestly, even with how bleak of a picture she was painting, I couldn¡¯t really say this was anything different from Earth. Nations trusting each other? Hah! It was called economic reliance. If I screwed with you, I would only be screwing myself. That was the kind of thing that would stop them, and that was the same anywhere there were humans.

    I even told Alina as much.

    She looked at me like I was a blasphemous heathen.

    ¡°Your Highness, please do not say those words in public. The consequences could be dire.¡±

    I shook my head at the backwardness of the whole thing, even as I bit into a biscuit. ¡°So what about this kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Please, Your Highness, chew and eat your food before speaking. It doesn¡¯t matter in your servants¡¯ presence, but it would be very impolite with other nobles and royalty.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that in mind,¡± I said, even as I kept openly chewing my food.

    ¡°Yes, please do¡­¡± The maid sighed, but she continued nonetheless. ¡°This is the Kingdom of Ashran. It was a small nation formed six hundred years ago under the protectorate of another Empire for the sole purpose of producing another Hero. That Hero was His Majesty, Ranzel Ro.

    ¡°A hundred years after his summoning, during the Age of Strife, he orchestrated a rebellion and broke the Kingdom away from the Empire¡¯s control by disposing of the puppet King and organizing the defense against the retaliatory force from the Empire. Through many difficult battles, he finally managed to win independence for Ashran. Since then, he has acted as King and protected the Kingdom from numerous invasions.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t even begin to imagine the hardship he went through.¡±

    ¡°Not many can. I do not presume that I could understand a fraction of his feelings,¡± Alina said. ¡°This nation is small and has always been small, but we carry an unusually high number of Immortals within our borders. That was only possible due to King Ranzel¡¯s guidance and strength. It is for that reason that larger countries cannot invade us lightly.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. So basically, Ranzel can do anything he wants here.¡±

    ¡°Ack.¡± Alina choked on her tea. ¡°Don¡¯t say such a thing!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­While it is within his power, he does not abuse it. He protects our country, and the policies that he put into place are less harsh on the commoners.¡±

    Commoners, huh? Peasants and nobles. I never did like caste systems, so it felt wrong to me. Still, I could imagine the economic consequences on the short-term, especially since most of the wealth would probably be held in the nobles¡¯ hands. It made things harder to reform without a complete wipe, but that brought other problems. In particular, I was definitely not an advocate of mass murder. Still, this was terrible system that would result only in the continued abused of the peasants.

    Why was I even thinking about it? There was nothing I could do in any case. It was not my problem.

    ¡°Your Highness, are you feeling alright?¡± At those words, I quickly shook my head and cleared my thoughts.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Alina.¡± I wiped my hands on a napkin and rose from my seat. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be able to fall asleep now.¡±

    ¡°There is only a few hours until morning, Your Highness. Please sleep well,¡± Alina said as she stood up and began gathering the plates.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    As I walked over to my bed, my mind was still filled with all the information I collected. Despite that, I was really feeling fatigued now; trying to decipher Alina¡¯s history lesson from the religious jargon had been a trying experience. When I climbed into bed, I found Alina leaning over by my bedside, pulling the blanket up for me.

    ¡°Sweet dreams, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Good night, Alina.¡±

    I fell asleep shortly thereafter.

    ~o~

    ¡°Wak¡­up¡­ur Highness¡­¡±

    ¡°Five more minutes,¡± I mumbled out as I turned my head and covered it with a pillow.

    ¡°Please wake up. Your Highness is late for breakfast, and His Majesty is waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if the Queen of England comes to my front door, I¡¯ll get up in ten more minutes.¡±

    A bright light seemed to flash through the darkness of my closed eyes.

    ¡°Agh, I already said I¡¯ll wake up in fifteen minutes!¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, please stop increasing the time.¡± I could feel hands shaking me now. However, from the depths of my memory, I felt like I knew what was coming next. A cold water bath while still in bed.

    ¡°I¡¯m up, I¡¯m up, I¡¯m up!¡± I abruptly sat up, slamming my forehead into something.

    ¡°Your Hig¡ªow!¡± Alina fell back off the bed and started to roll on the ground while holding her forehead.

    I just rubbed my forehead. It didn¡¯t really feel like a bruise was forming so I didn¡¯t mind at all. Mom always did say that I had a hard head. I even remember her saying that if I started crushing cans with my forehead, I would have to sleep in the backyard for two weeks. Seriously, I wouldn¡¯t ever start doing that. It wasn¡¯t really interesting and pretty disgusting at that since whatever was left in the can would drip down my face. Besides, that was only one time! And it was more like an experiment than anything else, just to see if my head was hard enough. On that note, I have to say that I passed with flying colors.

    I hopped off the bed and started stretching out the kinks in my body. Despite it being the softest bed I had ever slept on, my body wasn¡¯t used to it so it felt strange to me. Still, I would have rated it ten out of ten, if I still had access to the internet. The other maids were quick to seize the opportunity to dress me while Alina was rolling around on the carpet. This was the second time they were dressing me, and I still felt uncomfortable. I would have told them I could dress myself, but I felt sympathy for them; if they couldn¡¯t do this for me, they would probably be assigned to a harder task like cleaning the basement or something. I knew the hardship of that kind of work life¡ªeven though I never worked a single hour in my life¡ªso I didn¡¯t want mess things up for them when they haven¡¯t done me any wrongs yet.

    By the time they were done, I was in a brand new sky blue dress with my face plastered up like a China doll. Next time, I would need to tell them to lay off the make-up. I believed that it was better to accentuate my own natural beauty instead doing a total conversion. Seriously, they caked so much on me that I felt like I was wearing a mask. Still, when I looked in the mirror, I could see that I was very pretty with it, perhaps even beautiful in some regards. Then again, I had a bad habit of underestimating myself.

    By the time everything was done and I was swept into the breakfast room, half an hour had already passed. I was surprised to see Ranzel still there, waiting patiently in a seat at the table as if he wasn¡¯t a king and had all the time in the world. I even told him as much.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind waiting,¡± Ranzel said with a small chuckle. ¡°I waited five hundred years. Another hour won¡¯t kill me. Besides, it¡¯s just for today.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t really retort to that so I simply took the only other empty seat at the table at the opposite end. It wasn¡¯t a very large table, but there were actually a few people waiting on me at the table as well, it seemed. I felt like I needed to apologize, but when I saw their tense yet curious faces, I had a hard time bringing it up. To be exact, there were actually four more seats, two on each side of the table. On the left side of me, there was an older matriarchal type of woman along with a teenage boy sporting a crop of blond hair. On my right was a relaxed woman in her mid twenties along with what seemed to be her auburn-haired daughter of eight or nine years.

    ¡°Let me introduce them to you, mother. On your left is one of my wives, Melissa, along with the 17th prince to the throne, Regio.¡± The two in question bowed their heads slightly to me. I blinked. Seventeen princes? That was a big amount of children to have, but I guess that it would be obvious considering that he was a king and couldn¡¯t age.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet both of you,¡± I told them politely. I could see a little frown forming at the edge of Melissa¡¯s lip so I knew I did something wrong, etiquette-wise. However, I wasn¡¯t willing to actually learn to correct my mistake either; etiquette was a waste of time better spent on entertainment. I looked to my right as the king began to speak again.

    ¡°To your right is my concubine, Karrol, and the 43rd princess, Lisa.¡± My head immediately turned from the mother and daughter to stare aghast at Ranzel. Just how many children did you have?! I know there was a Sultan that popped out like a thousand children back in my world, but this was still too much!

    ¡°Hi grandma.¡± The little girl waved at me, catching my attention and bringing me out of my shock. It took me a little, but when I waved back, I saw a smile light up on her face. She was adorable!

    What was her name again?

    ¡°With that out of the way, let¡¯s eat breakfast.¡± Ranzel clapped his hands and few carts came at his call, far more than the amount that was served for dinner. Obviously, it was because of the four extra mouths at the table, but it presented to me an opportunity to try out more varieties of new dishes.

    I was the first to pounce on the servant nearby to serve me food. It wasn¡¯t long before I had pile in front of me, but since I wasn¡¯t starving, I ate it at a much slower pace than I did last night. Still, in spite of that, I could see the disgust rise on the wife¡¯s face. However, she held herself back, which was something I was glad for. She seemed prim and proper enough to chew me out for it, but it seemed like my status was higher than hers so  she couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    Hohoho, my dear daughter-in-law, it seems like you won¡¯t have your moment today.

    ¡­not that I wanted to take on the role of the wicked step-mother or anything. I was too young for that kind of thing!

    ¡°Dear grandmother, you seem to have a little something on your cheek.¡± With a charming voice accompanied by an equally handsome face, the blond haired son of Ranzel reached over and wiped my cheek with his napkin. I blushed in embarrassment at having my face cleaned up like a child.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I muttered almost shyly.

    ¡°Regio, don¡¯t flirt with your grandmother,¡± Ranzel said casually as he ate another spoonful.

    ¡­huh? He was flirting with me? What?

    ¡°I was only doing what I always do for my elders,¡± Regio replied.

    ¡°Boy, what do you expect her to say? ¡®If only I was a few years younger¡¯? You¡¯re nearly the same age.¡± Ranzel scoffed. ¡°If you keep this up, you¡¯ll get into trouble. Mark my words.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, father.¡±

    ¡°You do not know the length vengeful husbands will go, even against those of royal blood.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be careful, father.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no reasoning with you, boy.¡± Ranzel turned his gaze upon his wife. ¡°Melissa, I expect you to keep his future indiscretions under control.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± Melissa said, bowing her head.

    Just looking at this ¡°family¡± interaction killed my appetite. It wasn¡¯t like a real family at all. There was a huge distance between each of them. I could see that his concubine was satisfied with saying nothing, probably because of the presence of the wife here. The daughter was being similarly silent, though I could see her glance over every so often, like she wanted to say something but she couldn¡¯t. There was a strict hierarchy at this table, and that made me feel very uncomfortable.

    I was used to my brother and sister just hanging out with me at the kitchen table while mom and dad brought out the food. Discussions about our day and even about the events around the world. Those were actually happy times, especially since most of the day, my parents were out working at their jobs. Yesterday, they were working late so it was up to me as the oldest to make the meals for the two when they finally got home from their after school clubs. Unfortunately, I had vanished, but I would bet they would still find the food on the stove top. They would probably wonder¡ª

    No, I had to stop this train of thought. I could feel my eyes clouding a bit, but I quickly blinked it away.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Ranzel¡¯s eyes were staring at me. Those words quickly brought the rest of the table¡¯s attention to me.

    ¡°No, nothing. Just thinking about some things,¡± I said, hoping I covered up my loss of control. Still, there was something I had to ask. ¡°I know this is a small chance, but is there any way to go home?¡±

    ¡°Home?¡± Ranzel frowned. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I just wanted to confirm that.¡± I took a deep breath through my nostrils. It was now or never. ¡°There¡¯s something else I want to talk to you about.¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°What am I supposed to do here? I mean, I was summoned for a reason, right?¡± I asked nervously. Ever since I arrived here, it had been one weird thing after another. Even though it had only been a day or so, it felt so much longer.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°You can live out the rest of your life in the palace.¡±

    ¡°Eh? But what about lending my power? Didn¡¯t someone say something like that when I first arrived?¡±

    ¡°You can forget that. There¡¯s no need anymore.¡±

    ¡°Is¡­is that so?¡± I was pretty confused at this point. ¡°Um, so I guess all the monsters left or something?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Then¡­¡±

    ¡°It was before we found out your identity,¡± Ranzel said.

    I frowned. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be giving me special treatment because of that.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Ranzel placed his fork down and gave me a mild gaze.

    ¡°Well, um, I was summoned by the Heroes System, right? That means you can¡¯t get a replacement.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t I help out? I don¡¯t want to be dead-weight.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Ranzel said noncommittally. ¡°Maybe at a later time, once you¡¯ve adjusted more to this world. It has only been a single day, and you have seen very little of the palace. Would you like me to have someone give you a tour?¡±

    I could see that he was trying to redirect the conversation away, but I didn¡¯t want to get on his bad side by trying to push it. Even though I was supposed to be some kind of parallel version of his mother, I didn¡¯t feel any of that familial closeness that you would think would be there, even with all the weird circumstances. I mean, they were family, right? Though, I guess that was the same kind of thing with estranged family members.

    I simply nodded my assent.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°I do believe Regio and Lisa have some free time on their hands. Show your grandmother around after breakfast.¡±

    The two looked up in surprise, but they didn¡¯t say anything. I supposed that shows how much power he had over his children, in a way. Or maybe how much fear they had of him. I couldn¡¯t really tell, but then again, this was all new to me.

    For the rest of the time, Ranzel aimed some questions at me concerning my life. Things like who my parents were, how did my siblings act, what my favorite ice cream was. Generally, it was kind of random, but I could see that he was intensely curious about my life. I suppose that I would be too if I ever got the chance to to talk to my great grandparents or great great grandparents. That was the kind of information that was usually lost down the line from generation to generation. I answered them honestly with as much detail as I could cram in there. He seemed pretty satisfied by it.

    After breakfast ended, the adults went their separate ways, leaving just me and my two grandchildren. Ugh, grandchildren at my age. I felt like I just lost something precious.

    ¡°Are you alright, grandmother?¡± Regio asked as he rose from his seat.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± I responded as I got up as well. Lisa was quick to follow in line. We started to make our way out of the room and down the hall. ¡°You know, you both can just call me Jen."

    ¡°How could we do that? We all need to be aware of our status and decorum,¡± Regio said.

    I didn¡¯t miss the subtle glance he gave toward Lisa. The little girl in question seemed to look down at herself. I might not be that smart, but I wasn¡¯t dense. Wife¡¯s child, concubine¡¯s child. This was what Asian TV dramas were made of. I wasn¡¯t going to let that fly.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do that. You¡¯re both siblings.¡±

    Regio looked confused for a moment before his face seemed to wrinkle up. ¡°It¡¯s an issue of legality.¡±

    I thought about saying more, but I knew it was just going to fly over his head. Period dramas were like this. It could be considered the common sense of this world, so I wasn¡¯t sure how to break that notion. Though, he seemed to have gotten the idea that I dislike the segregation because he simply motioned for the little girl to follow closer. Lisa, for her part, seemed to brighten up as she began to walk closer. It was small and something he would probably only do in my presence, but it was a start.

    It looked like I would need to bridge it. With one hand, I grabbed Regio¡¯s hand and with the other, I took Lisa¡¯s hand. They gave out an expression of surprise as I pulled them closer to me so we were all walking together.

    ¡°See? This isn¡¯t so bad, is it?¡±

    Regio didn¡¯t respond, but Lisa nodded enthusiastically. Oh so adorable! I would have bent down and given her a hug if my hands weren¡¯t already occupied.

    Just like that, we made our way through the palace. Mostly, it was Regio speaking, pointing out rooms and talking about the battles and people some of the paintings were modeled after. Lisa interjected here and there, though she got reprimanded sometimes for faulty information by Regio, though it was perhaps a little too harshly. I couldn¡¯t really speak out, but I squeezed her hand to reassure her, especially when she looked like she was about to cry.

    Honestly, I thought the tour would take only up to a couple of hours. However, in spite of what I thought, it ended taking nearly the whole day. Of course, we took breaks for lunch and snacks. Yet, by the time it reached dinner, we had only covered roughly half the palace. It was huge, far larger than I thought it would be. I could understand since this was because so many lived here as well as worked here, but it seemed a bit too much. In the end, we decided to continue the tour the next day so I promised to meet up with them at breakfast.

    I was tired from all that walking as well as trying to remember everything, so when I finally landed on my bed, I fell asleep right away.

 Chapter 3: Tour

    It was the tour, part two. After the intermission of dinner, sleep, and breakfast, I was ready to go continue the tour from yesterday. I was happy to announce that I managed to remember a quarter of what Regio talked about yesterday. It might not seem much, but it was a big deal to me since I was the type to just drone it out. In fact, if it wasn¡¯t for all the walking and holding hands, I probably would have fell asleep. Thankfully, that didn¡¯t happen; I wouldn¡¯t have been able to vouch for my sleepwalking skills if it did.

    Breakfast with the king was a simple affair, laced with more questions for me, of course. After that, I went hand-in-hand with the intelligent teenage player and the adorable walking doll. Honestly, I could hardly believe that they came out of my DNA. I could tell that Regio would have a hard time keeping girls off his back while Lisa would probably grow up to be a bombshell. It kind of made me feel inadequate.

    ¡°Am I boring you, grandmother?¡± Regio asked.

    ¡°No, no, no. I was just thinking how compared to you and Lisa, I¡¯m just very plain.¡± The moment that the words left my mouth, I realized what I had just said. I wasn¡¯t actually supposed to voice my honest thoughts! My cheeks started heating up in embarrassment.

    ¡°Plain?¡± Regio scoffed. ¡°Hardly.¡±

    Lisa tugged at my hand. ¡°Pretty. Very pretty.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the compliment, but I know how reality is.¡±

    Regio scratched his head as he looked at me as if I was an alien.

    ¡°It¡¯s just because of all this make-up caked on me,¡± I said. ¡°If you see me without make-up, you¡¯d understand.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go take it off.¡±

    ¡°Wait, now?¡± At his nod, I could imagine myself looking perplexed. ¡°What about the tour?¡±

    ¡°Forget the tour. We can do that later.¡±

    ¡°I want to see too,¡± Lisa said as she tugged at my hand. She really loved to tug, doesn¡¯t she? Wait, this wasn¡¯t the time to be thinking about that.

    ¡°Are you sure? I mean, it could take awhile.¡± I remembered it taking at least an hour when the maids removed the make-up last night. It was seriously one of the things I wished was as advanced as my old world.

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait.¡± Regio glanced at Lisa, as if daring her to disagree.

    Lisa meekly nodded.

    There wasn¡¯t much I could do to dissuade them at this point, so I merely sighed and gave in. We made our way through the maze-like hallways until we finally reached my room. Along the way, Regio had informed a servant about our intentions so my cadre of maids were already there, waiting for me. Surprisingly enough, Alina wasn¡¯t here, but I supposed she was out of the palace or busy with something.

    What came afterward was a detransformation scene! Except sixty times as long and lacking all the magical aspects. The maids were both thorough and gentle, wiping away the make-up as if I was a fragile doll. I almost wished they would be a bit rougher to get it done faster, but they were moving like they had done this a million times so I doubt they could go any faster. Not to mention they probably aren¡¯t used to doing it rougher so it would greatly increase the chances of them messing up. Besides, I knew for a fact that removers were often pretty strong, and since it wasn¡¯t really advance in this place, I could imagine it being something like a very weak acid, which could be pretty bad if they make a mistake. It was better just to leave them to what they were familiar with.

    When they finally washed my face off, I found myself look at a familiar image in the mirror. I had to say that I preferred it over the porcelain doll image that the make-up made me look like. Once in a while was fine, especially if I had a camera and some gothic dresses. That would just be superb, but for everyday life? I think I would rather stick to my natural appearance.

    ¡°Do you have a more extensive make-up kit? Like with more colors that¡¯s closer to my skin tone?¡± Just because I didn¡¯t want to be caked up like a doll didn¡¯t mean that I didn¡¯t want to accentuate my natural appearance.

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness, I will bring it right away.¡±

    ~o~

    ¡­and done!

    I grinned in victory while the maids gave me a standing ovation. Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw all my nature features were enhanced. A little bit of color to my pink lips, a dash of blush to my cheeks, and some make-shift penciling to my eyes. Not to the level that I could do with my regular kit back on Earth, but it worked out well enough. It took a lot of effort though, especially since the tools weren¡¯t quite right and the colors were off, but I made it work.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m ready now. How long has it been?¡±

    ¡°Two hours, Your Highness.¡±

    I shrugged. I did tell them it would take awhile. I bet they would be asleep in their chairs. Without any further hesitation, I left the room as my posse of maids followed along.

    Outside, I found them sitting down in their chairs, looking positively bored. Surprisingly not asleep, but I had to say I was a bit disappointed to find that they didn¡¯t look like they had been talking to each other either. The moment they heard the door open, they looked up and saw me in all my newfound glory.

    ¡°You look good,¡± Regio said.

    Lisa nodded.

    Damn it. Shouldn¡¯t it have been an explosive reaction or something? This was so mild that I felt disappointed, so much so that I wondered why I spent so much time on trying to find the right balance of colors. Maybe it was the look on my face, but they started to spout out compliments like sprinklers. However, it was too late. Far too late for you two!

    Wait, wasn¡¯t this whole thing supposed to prove that I didn¡¯t look as good as those two in the first place? I completely forgot. When did my goal change?! I crouched down and sulked in regret.

    ¡°Ah ha ha¡­¡± Regio awkwardly laughed. ¡°Should we continue the tour?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel like it,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I insist.¡±

    Lisa padded over to me. With me crouching, she was at face-level so she looked me in the eyes and gave me the most pitiful expression I had ever seen. It was like a wide-eyed squirrel. So adorable. I quickly wrapped my arms around her, ignoring her shriek of surprise.

    ¡°Feeling better?¡± Regio asked.

    ¡°A little.¡± The moment I released Lisa, the girl quickly scurried back from me. I wasn¡¯t that frightening, was I?

    ¡°Ready to continue the tour?¡±

    ¡°I have a better idea.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the training room!¡±

    ~o~

    Rather than a training room, it was a training yard. I guessed indoor training would get pretty hot in spring and summer since there was no air conditioning. There was a plain of leveled dirt with practiced dummies sticking out of the ground. Surprisingly enough, there were both men and women on the field, swinging their swords on the dummies or sparring away with each other. Off to the side, some of them were doing a regime of exercises like push-ups and sit-ups as well as running around the field. Definitely from Ranzel¡¯s influence. Anyone who said differently was probably lying.

    ¡°What exactly did you want to do here, grandmother?¡±

    ¡°To blow off steam!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe we can bring a kettle here¡­?¡±

    ¡°What I meant was that I wanted to hit something.¡±

    ¡°Then we have come to the right place.¡± Regio led the way. Since we were all connected by hand, Lisa and I were dragged along for the ride. It didn¡¯t take long for people to start noticing our presence and lower their training weapons, but Regio quickly said, ¡°Continue your training. We¡¯re merely here as visitors.¡±

    Of course, not all of them went back into the thick of training, but they made a show of it. It was quite obvious that they were paying more attention to anomalies on the field aka the royal trio. I was the center of attention, of course, being that I was the rumored Hero. I would be willing to bet that most of the curiosity was because of the rumors centered around my supposed motherhood. Just thinking about it made me feel pregnant already.

    We arrived at the training weapons rack, at which point we unlinked hands. I had to say that I felt a small sense of loss at that, and a fair bit of embarrassment when I realized my hands were sweaty. They never complained about my hot and moist hands. I didn¡¯t want to say it out loud because that would further cement my embarrassment and lay to waste their silent tact. I could only apologize to them in my heart.

    I wiped my hands on my dress and took hold of a training sword. It felt fairly used since I could feel finger indentations on the hilt, not to mention the dents in the wooden blade itself. There were some splinters, but I quickly brushed them loose. I remember reading about training swords in novels that describe them as heavy, but it seemed pretty light to me. I gave it some light, practice swings.

    ¡°Grandmother, you¡¯re holding it wrong.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I am?¡± I held the sword steady.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s like this.¡± Regio moved his fingers across mine, unwrapping them and re-wrapping them into the correct position. It took a few tries before we got my fingers in the right spot, but it paid off as I finally got the proper grip except I couldn¡¯t exactly tell the difference. I was the same way with a steering wheel until after I used it long enough so I don¡¯t think I could trust my judgment in this case.

    After that, I was led over to a dummy to do what I wished with it. Not that there was anything else to do with it except hit it. I raised the sword high over my shoulder.

    ¡°Grandmother, that¡¯s not how you¡ª¡±

    ¡°Hiyah!¡± I swung the wooden sword with all my might, smashing it against the dummy. It only resisted for less than a moment before it broke in half. Huh. I didn¡¯t think these things were so fragile. I glanced over to Regio to see him staring with his mouth agape. Lisa began to enthusiastically clap.

    It took a couple of moments to realize it. I looked down at my sword. There was a big crack on the wooden blade. It was large enough that it would probably break with one more swing. That was odd. I was pretty sure that the sword and the practice dummy were both made to last so that could only mean that it wasn¡¯t because they were fragile; it was probably because I was too strong.

    ¡°How did you¡ª¡±

    ¡°Hero System,¡± I said bluntly. It was really the only explanation; I certainly wasn¡¯t this strong before my summoning. Not even close.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Regio said as if he just realized it.

    ¡°You forgot, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°You just don¡¯t seem like one¡­¡±

    ¡°I completely agree,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m not a Hero. Not really, anyways. I just got chosen, I suppose.¡±

    Regio merely nodded. It was only now that I noticed that most of the field had stopped training and were staring at me. I probably looked amateurish, swinging the sword like I did, but they seemed like they were awed by my borrowed strength. Or would it be more accurate to say gifted strength? It was a pretty big advantage, but that didn¡¯t really translate into skill.

    ¡°Normally, I¡¯d feel bitter or jealous with someone near my own age, but it¡¯s hard to feel jealous about your own grandmother,¡± Regio said.

    I laughed nervously. I wasn¡¯t really his grandmother per say, but I suppose that Ranzel never told them about it. Now that I think about it, it would be almost impossible to explain it to these people who never experienced the wonders of science fiction. I couldn¡¯t just come out and say that I am actually the king¡¯s mother from a parallel universe where she¡ªI¡ªnever had a child. This would probably be way too hard for them to understand. So in that sense, I really did have to play as Ranzel¡¯s mother. I just hoped they wouldn¡¯t ever ask about their father¡¯s birth¡­

    ¡°Still, you weren¡¯t using your sword correctly. Straighten your back and hold your sword like this.¡± Regio moved into a stance. ¡°And swing like this.¡±

    I watched as Regio demonstrated his swing through the air a few times before I tried it myself. I had to admit that I was pretty clumsy, but I eventually got it right. The problem was that I couldn¡¯t keep it right. I would do it correctly one swing and then incorrectly the next swing, enough that I could see frustration starting to build up on Regio¡¯s face. After I managed to swing my wooden blade correctly three times consecutively, his patience finally gave out as he gave me a strained smile.

    ¡°How about we go somewhere else?¡±

    Sorry I¡¯m not a martial arts savant. This was my first time actually swinging a sword so I thought I did better than normal, but judging from his face, I guessed not. I felt a tug at my dress and looked down.

    ¡°Not happy, grandma?¡± Lisa was staring up at me with her innocent eyes.

    ¡°Want to go get something to eat?¡± I asked, changing the topic. I didn¡¯t really have an answer for her, and I knew she wouldn¡¯t say no to food.

    Of course, the little girl nodded enthusiastically. As we made our way out of the training yard, I noticed there was less tension on the faces of the people exercising and practicing there. Even a little smile here and there. I guessed that what I did made me seem more human than the all-powerful Heroes. I could imagine their reverence for Heroes, considering that one of them was their king. However, at the same time, I felt like I was committing a crime by destroying a legend. It was like telling a child that Santa didn¡¯t exist. That made me feel odd to say the least.

    As I was thinking about that, we made our way to the dining hall.

    ~o~

    ¡°I want to see the town.¡±

    Both of my escorts had surprised looks on their faces. All three of us were seated at a table filled with food with a maid and a butler off to the side in case we needed anything more.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the sudden desire?¡± Regio asked as he lowered his fork.

    ¡°It¡¯s not sudden,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, just look out the window. There¡¯s a whole city built around the palace. I think anyone would be curious from seeing that.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, mmm.¡± Lisa licked her lips of crumbs and said, ¡°Mama says that it¡¯s dangerous out there.¡±

    ¡°Dangerous?¡±

    ¡°You may not know this, but the capital is not a safe place. It¡¯s the seat of the government and prosperous so many travel here from the villages to take a little of that prosperity. However, few ever do,¡± Regio explained. ¡°Slums and crime are both rampant even with the number of guards patrolling the town. There are murderers, thieves, and assassins to worry about.¡±

    ¡°Assassins?¡± I blinked my eyes in surprise. There would always be concerns about assassins, but he was making it sound like it was as commonplace as thieves.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Assassins are a big issue. This kingdom is small, but it has more Immortals than usual. As such, our country has always been focused on defense rather than offense,¡± Regio said. ¡°Most of the cities have been fortified to withstand sieges and the infrastructure of our roads are developed enough to make travel swift. That¡¯s why the kingdom is nicknamed Fortress Nation Ashran. Because of that, not many are willing to attack us directly.¡±

    ¡°Then it should be more peaceful, right?¡±

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Regio told me as he shook his head. ¡°Assassins are more commonplace here. The reason is that they¡¯re trying to provoke us into war.¡±

    I frowned.

    ¡°Ashran has one of the best defenses, but it also has the weakest offense. If the nation mobilizes into invading another country, it¡¯s likely we would be crushed and the retaliatory strike would end our nation.¡± Regio looked withdrawn and tired. ¡°As you can imagine, many had died to assassins without us being able to do anything. More than half of our Immortals are dedicated to rooting out spies and assassins. That makes our counter espionage organization one of the best in the world.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty dreary picture,¡± I said. ¡°I guess that means a town trip is a no-no?¡±

    ¡°Heroes are one of the most valued targets in any country, especially since it is easier for them¡ªand you¡ªto rise to up the rankings.¡±

    ¡°Rankings?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the system to determine how powerful you are,¡± Regio explained. ¡°It¡¯s not exact or consistent, but it works. It ranges from one to ten with ten being the most powerful. You can only reach rank seven when you have passed the Threshold for Immortality.¡±

    ¡°Is it that hard?¡±

    ¡°It requires many life and death experiences to break through the Threshold. I have heard a rare few that did it through just training, but they were geniuses over sixties years old when they achieved it. Everyone wants to become Immortal while they¡¯re still young so you hear about many who throw themselves recklessly into dangerous situations,¡± Regio said. ¡°The casualty rates are high, and aspirants usually drop out before they make the breakthrough. If you have something to lose, it becomes harder the higher you rise as it gets much more dangerous.¡±

    ¡°You seem to know a lot about this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s common knowledge,¡± Regio responded. ¡°The dream of Immortality isn¡¯t restricted to nobility. In fact, most of the aspirants come from the commoner for one reason or another. That is why adventurers are a thriving culture in any country; soldiers are rarely put in life-threatening situations unless there is a war.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡± It really did. I would bet that even if you started impoverished, once you got strong enough to take higher ranking missions that had huge payouts, it would be pretty hard to justify risking your life to try to reach Immortality.  In a sense, you had to abandon your dreams for reality. Back on Earth, we called this: ¡°growing up.¡± I guess to become an Immortal, you have to keep living your middle school dreams.

    I guess that meant that this was perfect world for me, hahaha.

    It was only after the meal concluded that I remembered that I never got an answer whether I could go to town or not. When I asked, I was given a response that essentially came down to: ¡°Ask father.¡± So be it!

    ~o~

    I stood in the middle of an office room that was surprisingly utilitarian. There were no real awards, paintings, or decorations hung all over the walls. Instead, there an organized chaos of paperwork with stacks here and there. They seemed to be clearly labeled, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that they were just stacked there. There were also filing cabinets, though from the few that were open, they were stuffed to the brink. It looked more like the desk of a paper pusher than the office of a king. However, in the four corners of the room, there were armored guards who stood at attention. By the king¡¯s desk, there were two servants, one male and one female, both in business attire. Off to the side, Regio and Lisa stood in a daze. I supposed they weren¡¯t actually expecting me to come here.

    As for Ranzel, he hadn¡¯t even been paying attention to my entrance at all as he sat in his chair and continued to write on a piece of a paper on his desk. The thing that I noticed though was that he was using an ink pen. Seriously, it was an ink pen. For however many things that were of medieval style, there were some things that were a lot more advanced than they should be. I know it was because of Ranzel¡¯s influence, but it was like: if you can make those advance, why not make everything advance? I should probably ask about that later.

    ¡°I want to see the town,¡± I boldly said. When the minutes ticked by without a response, I started getting nervous and repeated my statement again in lower, more humble voice.

    ¡°I heard the first time,¡± Ranzel said, still writing his document. ¡°Forgive me. You caught me at a busy time.¡±

    I awkwardly nodded. I was starting to feel bad about interrupting his work.

    ¡°So when do you want to leave?¡±

    ¡°Well, as soon as I can. I guess you will need to get an escort for us¡ª¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Ranzel dropped his pen carelessly onto the table and stood up, finally looking up at me. ¡°I will escort you to town!¡±

    ¡­huh?

    ¡°King Ranzel?!¡±

    ¡°But Your Majesty, your work¡ª¡±

    ¡°My paperwork won¡¯t run away. It can wait.¡±

    ¡°But the proposal for¡ª¡±

    ¡°I said: it can wait.¡± Ranzel quieted the man with an annoyed glance.

    ¡°Eh? Um, you shouldn¡¯t abandon your work for me,¡± I quickly said. ¡°We can just go another day.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense.¡± He dismissed the notion without hesitation.

    ¡°Father,¡± Regio spoke up as he walked over to us. ¡°You¡¯ll be surrounded by the citizenry the moment you enter town. I don¡¯t think grandmother would be able to sightsee like that.¡±

    Ranzel seemed to deflate at those words.

    Nice job. I gave Regio a thumbs up. He stared at me, confused.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Ranzel regained his composure straight away. As expected of the king of a nation! ¡°Send for the crown prince.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, may I remind you that his lordship, the first prince of Ashran, is currently securing the outskirts from the newest monster horde,¡± the male secretary said.

    ¡°Then send for the twenty-fifth princess. I¡¯m sure Valkana has nothing on her hands for the moment.¡±

    ¡°As you command, Your Majesty.¡± With that said, the man swiftly left the room.

    Ranzel took his seat at the desk again, though he looked a bit disgruntled. I supposed he really did want to go to town with me. Ugh, now I was feeling bad about that too. I would have to make it up to him later.

    ¡°Mother,¡± Ranzel began. ¡°Your tour of the capital will have to wait until tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay. I can wait,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll leave now since it seems like you¡¯re very busy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I need to take a break anyways. How has your day been going?¡±

    ¡°Um.¡± I wasn¡¯t really prepared for the question, but it wasn¡¯t like I had anything to hide. ¡°It¡¯s not bad. I mostly toured around the palace with Regio and Lisa. Oh! That¡¯s right, I almost forgot. I have a question.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to keep asking me that. Just ask your question away.¡±

    ¡°Why is the technology here so weird? I mean, some things seem so advance like your pen, but other things are very medieval. It¡¯s a strange contrast,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s simple. They¡¯re imitations.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Consider them as knock-offs. Most materials of this world is different from Earth. Look at this pen.¡± Ranzel held up the pen. ¡°I recreated the concept from memory, but each of the material that composes it is make-shift, for lack of a better word. The metal of this casing is an entirely different substance from our world. The ore is dug up from under shallow waters, and it has a different melting and freezing point. Even the production of it on the blacksmith¡¯s anvil takes more effort. The result is a slightly more flexible material that is actually much more resistant to breakage. Even the ink that fills the custom tubing is made by mixing a variety of assorted leaves and roots. Do you understand what I¡¯m getting at?¡±

    ¡°So I can think up something like a car, but I would have to figure out how to use this world¡¯s substances to make it?¡±

    ¡°Because all of the materials work differently, it¡¯s impossible to create something that requires precise work even if you know all the inner mechanics. That is especially true of guns. Even now, the best we have been able to create is a musket, but those are pitiful in comparison to Earth¡¯s standard and ultimately too expensive for mass production.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Interesting. Very interesting. That meant I could actually recreate make-up as long as¡­

    Actually no, that was a bad idea. A very, very, very bad idea. Creating something like make-up using random substances and putting it on my face was just asking for trouble. I would probably burn off my skin or accidentally make it permanent on my face. I didn¡¯t relish the idea of looking like a certain homicidal clown.

    That really wouldn¡¯t put a smile on my face.

    ¡°King Ranzel,¡± the female secretary said. ¡°It¡¯s time for your meeting with the representative of the Merchant Guilds.¡±

    ¡°Is it now?¡± Ranzel sighed as he stood up. ¡°Forgive me for cutting this short, mother.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine.¡± I nodded my head. I had gained more than my fair share of knowledge from this, but I still needed time to process everything. I have already learned so much that my head felt full, especially since my imagination was starting to run rampant with ideas. Well, there was time for that later. I still needed to finish up my tour!

    ~o~

    ¡°So who¡¯s the twenty-fifth princess?¡± I casually asked while we walked down the hallway. Hand in hand, of course. They have already gotten used to it, but overcoming the prejudices that Regio had about Lisa would take a lot longer than just a few days so I wasn¡¯t planning on stopping anytime soon. Of course, there were plenty of stares from the palace workers and the servants which I pretty much ignored at this point. It wasn¡¯t because I had gotten arrogant or anything, but I got stared at so much that I had to either ignore them or go insane. I prefer the former.

    ¡°Her name is Valkana Ro. She is one of the two royal children who became an Immortal. As you can expect, she has a lot of influence in the court,¡± Regio answered. ¡°I can¡¯t say much about her since we never really talk to each other.¡±

    ¡°Auntie is nice. She brings me presents all the time,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°Only two?¡± It was a bit strange that there were only two Immortals, considering that he had over fifty children.

    ¡°Some are content to live out their lives in the palace. However, only Immortals can be considered heirs to the kingdom. The more ambitious ones attempt to reach Immortality, but almost all of them either perished or gave up,¡± Regio said grimly. ¡°Only the first prince and the twenty-fifth princess managed to reach Immortality. There are some more Immortals with royal blood, but they are further down the line of succession. Descendants of his children.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°The first prince is over four hundred years old while the twenty-fifth princess is around two hundred and fifty.¡±

    Ugh. It made my mind boggle that even my grandchildren were older than me by multitudes. What about their children? I asked Regio about that.

    ¡°The first prince¡¯s lineage reached down four generations before the last died of disease. He has not remarried since his wife perished,¡± Regio said. ¡°As for the twenty-fifth princess, her descendants currently have reached the fifth generation, and she still protects them to this day.¡±

    ¡°Is¡­is that so¡­?¡± Fifth generation? Oh my god, I felt so old even though I was supposed to be young. Since Ranzel had more than fifty children over five hundred years, I couldn¡¯t even imagine how many descendants I had now. ¡°And how of these descendants became Immortals?¡±

    ¡°I know of a couple. We also have a few who reached rank six, but they were unable to break through the Threshold.¡± Regio looked contemplative. ¡°The path is difficult. I heard that one Immortal managed to break through in a very close life and death battle. In the end, he had lost both arms, a leg, half his ribcage, and a quarter of his brain.¡±

    ¡°And he survived? Wouldn¡¯t he be paralyzed?¡±

    ¡°The healers regenerated all his body parts.¡±

    Imagining that was making the contents of my stomach swish around in my belly.

    ¡°Did he lose any memories?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No. Why would he?¡±

    ¡°He did lose part of his brain, right? Even though it was only temporary.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Everybody knows that memories are stored in a person¡¯s soul, not his brain.¡±

    ¡­what is this? Cloud saves? My mind boggled over the answer, but as it had a clear example, I couldn¡¯t really argue against it. Was the science of this world really that strange? While I was lost in thought, my escort moved on to another topic.

    ¡°There are some things that you will need to know for your trip when Valkana takes you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Huh? You two won¡¯t be coming with me?¡±

    Regio shook his head. ¡°My¡ªour mothers wouldn¡¯t allow it. The city is very dangerous, especially since this is the year of the Heroes Summoning. There will be more assassins than usual.¡±

    I could see his subtle warning. They were probably here with the intention of taking my head since I was the Hero. That actually made me surprised that Ranzel actually allowed my trip, though I suppose Valkana would be able to keep me safe. I was a bit sad that I couldn¡¯t go with Regio and Lisa, but it was probably better this way; I didn¡¯t want them getting hurt by those assassins because of me.

    ¡°The first thing you have to know is that¡­that¡­¡± Regio had an expression like he was constipated.

    ¡°That¡­?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know.¡±

    If I hadn¡¯t been holding on to their hands, I probably would have tripped. At my questioning glance, Regio waved his free hand in front of himself.

    ¡°I rarely go to the city. Perhaps once or twice a year with my mother.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been there before,¡± Lisa said when I glanced at her.

    They really were a sheltered pair of royal children.

    ¡°No use worrying about it then,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We still haven¡¯t gone around this corner of the palace yet.¡±

    ~o~

    A/N: About the make-up remover, she doesn''t know any better xD

 Chapter 4: Valkana

    ¡°¡­and this is the infirmary. The kingdom¡¯s most establish and prominent healers are gathered here. Even if you were to get just a scratch, come here and they will take care of it.¡± Regio swept his hand towards the room. Looking inside, I could only spot one woman wearing a white robe, busy writing something on a parchment on top of her desk.

    ¡°Do people get injured that often in the palace?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily. Injuries and sicknesses are not commonplace in the vicinity of the palace so the healers spend the most of their time in research under the kingdom¡¯s expense,¡± Regio said. ¡°You can consider them as researchers with a side-job of being healers.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡± I scratched my neck. ¡°Remember when you talked about that Immortal who got his limbs reattached¡ª¡±

    ¡°Not reattached. Regenerated.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°I was wondering how they did that. I mean, they must have some pretty sophisticated technology to do that.¡±

    ¡°Technology? What does that have to do with anything?¡± Without waiting, he continued. ¡°Only the most prominent in healing magic can even aim to become a palace doctor. It¡¯s a position with an incredible amount of prestige.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, magic.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know anything about magic. Well, anything besides stuff from fantasy stories.¡± I wasn¡¯t even going to mention movies or video games. Those would just fly over his head since there didn¡¯t seem to be an equivalent here.

    ¡°Why is that, grandmother? Doesn¡¯t magic exist in your world?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± If we did, then with our level of technology, I could imagine that my home country would definitely have been a magitech society. That would be pretty awesome in its own way, as long as magic in general didn¡¯t stunt the advance of technology, of course.

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t think we were primitives or anything. Our science had reached the point where we had weapons that could hit something from miles away, techniques for cloning animals for food, and spacecrafts that could reach other planets!¡±

    ¡°Oh? What do you mean by cloning and spacecraft?¡±

    ¡°Um, I¡¯ll tell you later. First things first, tell me all about magic.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not really knowledgeable about this subject,¡± Regio said uncomfortably.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    ¡°Any other questions?¡± Regio asked as we began walking again.

    ¡°Where can I learn how to use it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Ask father.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask him later.¡± While I really did want to learn magic, especially since it was both new and exciting, just like all those fantasy movies I seen, I didn¡¯t want to bother Ranzel again so soon. I had already asked him for permission to go to the city just a few hours ago. I didn¡¯t want to seem like I was ungrateful or spoiled enough to keep asking for more so soon.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost done with the tour. Just a few more places.¡±

    ¡°Almost there.¡± Honestly, I hadn¡¯t really been paying attention to the tour. If I remembered a quarter of the rooms I have been to, I would think that would be plenty enough already. As it was, I could barely remember one-twentieth of the rooms, and that was only because they were special ones like the bathroom. Compounding on that was the fact that there was just no possible way I was going to memorize the directions though all these hallways mazes, but on the bright side, I was sure that I could just ask a guard or servant to guide me through it all so it wasn¡¯t that much of a big deal to me. Even if I got lost, it wasn¡¯t like I was in a dungeon crawl where I could starve to death.

    Hm? What if there was nobody there to guide me? Hahaha, what a joke. This was the palace. The possibility of it actually being empty was about as slim as the capital being invaded. How would I know that? Well, in the event of an attack, I was pretty sure that everyone would be fleeing so it would be empty at that time. Heh. The power of logic.

    ¡°And this is the last one: the library.¡± A simple name for a not so simple room. I would have thought it would have a grander title, considering how huge it actually was. There were rows upon rows of bookshelves, each stacked to the brink with books of all kind. Even if I tried, I didn¡¯t think I would be able to read all the titles in here even if you gave a lifetime.

    It was only a brief visit, but I knew that this was an important place. I knew that I was going to be back here to¡ªah, who was I kidding? Besides reading fun novels, what would I do here besides fall asleep? No matter the world, textbooks would forever remain textbooks, especially when I could just get someone to explain it concisely for me. A ten minute monologue versus an hour-long dry read? It was a no-brainer.

    On that note, our tour finally came to an end. It was long and informative. I was getting nostalgic just thinking about it, even though technically, I was still on the tail end of the tour. In all honesty, I didn¡¯t really learn that much, but it gave me a feel of the whole palace as well as the many, many servants that worked here. Seriously, I started to recognize some of them after I passed them in the hallway like half a dozen times. Anyways, it was almost time for dinner so we headed back.

    ~o~

    Dinner today was a different affair. It seemed that Ranzel wanted to have a private one with just us two¡ªthough, the servants didn¡¯t count, for some reason. I didn¡¯t know why he wanted a private dinner, but it made it more than a bit nervous. I just hoped that whatever he wanted to talk about wasn¡¯t too bad, but I didn¡¯t think I did anything wrong so far. There were maybe one or two mishaps, though not anything that would require his attention. In any case, we were seated at an elegant candlelit table with plenty of dishes on it, as per the usual manner that royalty always seemed to dine on. The cuisine was different for today as well, though it would probably be impossible for me to identity what they were¡ªor even what they were made of.

    ¡°Valkana has agreed to escort you tomorrow.¡± It was probably because I had a confused expression on my face, but he soon clarified. ¡°The twenty-fifth princess.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± I really couldn¡¯t say much to that.

    ¡°Valkana is a hard-working and kind child so I hope you will get to know her.¡±

    ¡°I heard that she has five generations of descendants.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they¡¯re your descendants as well. I¡¯m sure you will have a chance to meet them at the Royal Compound in the city.¡±

    ¡°The Royal Compound?¡±

    Ranzel was patient in explaining. Basically, the Royal Compound was what essentially amounted to a giant apartment complex in the city. As the palace started to lack space because of the number of descendants that kept being churned out, most of the later generations were moved to the Compound which was protected by royal guards. However, to maintain the prestige of royal blood, they had strict rules to abide by. Those too prosperous or simply stifling under those rules could strike out on their own, and many did. Outcroppings of noble houses, both minor and major, with ties to the crown soon appeared, though at that point, they received little, if any, assistance from the palace. Some of these houses fell into ruin over time or were simply extinguished, but none of that was the concern of the palace.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯d like to visit there.¡± I could barely imagine what it would feel like. I remembered those stories of the main characters¡ªfrom time travel, coma, stasis, or such¡ªfinding themselves in the future and seeing their descendants. I guess it would be something like that. It made me wonder how they would act when they find out that I had the status of being the mother of the king, which would essentially mean that I was technically their ancestor. Their faces¡­it was times like these that I wished that a camera existed. I quickly asked the king if there was something like that, and to my surprise, there was. However, it was a clunky, magical spell that required the participants to be relatively still for ten minutes. So yeah, that wasn¡¯t going to work to capture the expressions of surprise, even if I knew magic.

    Actually, that reminded me.

    ¡°Ranzel, do you think I can learn magic?¡± I knew that I shouldn¡¯t be asking for this so soon after my first request, but I couldn¡¯t help it. The allure of magic, of doing the impossible, was too much for me to resist.

    ¡°What kind?¡± Ranzel simply asked as he ate what looked like a carrot stick.

    ¡°Um, what is there?¡±

    ¡°Too many specialized paths to talk about,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°I¡¯ll assign a general magic teacher so you can try out a little of each type of magic.¡±

    I nodded my head. That was probably for the best.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be shy to choose one of the darker magic. While many kingdoms ban some magic or another like necromancy, I do not do that here. I believe that it¡¯s like a gun; it depends on the wielder.¡± Ranzel continued to eat while he talked. ¡°This extends to all forms of combat including the melee and ranged arts. There are very little bans, and mostly for certain issues like human experimentation. Those are limited to prisoners of war.¡±

    My face turned a little green at his last statement.

    ¡°It¡¯s a necessity, especially in this warring world.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t refute that, but at the same time, I didn¡¯t approve of it. However, I knew that Ranzel grew up under the values that my other self taught so I couldn¡¯t think that it was anything except this world that had changed him. It must have been something drastic, and even just knowing the vague little I did about his immense history, I knew that there was probably plenty of possibilities to choose from. It did make me wonder if I would become the same way, if I had spent that much time here.

    The thing that stuck out to me was a phrase I remembered from my past. The world wasn¡¯t black or white; it was composed of shades of gray. The world was similar to yourself, so it would eventually change you, subtly. From a lighter shade to a darker shade. If my other self was here, would she recognize Ranzel as her son? That thought struck a note in my heart.

    ¡°Can you tell me about her? About your real mother?¡±

    Ranzel paused for a moment, his fork with its morsel almost reaching his mouth. As if in slow motion, that hand fell and laid his fork gently on his plate. ¡°Why the sudden urge?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not sudden. I had always wanted to know.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°To understand,¡± I said gingerly.

    ¡°You are your own person. You don¡¯t need to feel pressured to be someone else.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. I want to understand her. From that, maybe¡­just maybe, I can come to an answer.¡± The words came out of me, though I wasn¡¯t sure what I was talking about. An answer to what question? I didn¡¯t even know the question. It just felt like an answer¡ªsome answer, any answer¡ªwould help illuminate it all. It was a feeling rather than anything coming from logic. Just when I was about to add something else to it, he began to speak.

    ¡°My mother was a gentle woman, always smiling even when the pain became too much,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°She made mistakes. Many mistakes. To be human is to err, but she always bounced back from it. I remembered that she used to always play the virtual reality games with me as I was growing up. She always did love those games.¡±

    As I listened to him speak, it felt like that person was definitely not me. Yet, at the same time, I recognized some of my traits in her. It made me feel some regrets. I especially and fervently wished that I was still on Earth to be able to play those VR games! Oh, the dream of virtual reality had been so utterly close¡­

    ¡°Early on, she learned to lower her head.¡± His face seemed to darken slightly. ¡°I remember that vivid memory of someone yelling at her. She lowered her head then, and she kept lowering her head in the future. For both her mistakes and my own. My mother became especially forgiving. She didn¡¯t start that way, but the harsh life weighed heavily on her.

    ¡°I was twenty-four when I was brought to this world, to fight and die for a land that I did not believe in. Even when I went from battle to battle, as a necessity of survival, there were times that I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. You see, my mother, she lived for me. There was nothing else in her life except me. My initial existence was, perhaps, the cause of that; my birth had separated her from the life she should have led. I doubt that she lived for longer than a year after my disappearance.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I wanted to speak out, but I didn¡¯t dare say anything. What happened to my parents? To my siblings? If I had gotten pregnant at the time, would they abandon me just like that, or did something happen to them? It made me feel confused, but I listened on.

    ¡°I wanted to know what happened to her, and maybe return, at least to say good bye. For hundreds of years, I studied space magic in order to achieve that. I didn¡¯t know if I could go back or just see through a window, but I needed the closure. However, even after all these years, I had found nothing. I hired many researchers and poured so much into the project, but in the end, I had gained nothing. In the end, I simply accepted it and moved on.¡±

    Heavy. That was the only thought on my mind. All of this was too heavy, so much so that it was hard for me to speak. We simply sat in silence. Well, he continued to eat, but I just sat there.

    ¡°Are you not hungry?¡±

    ¡°I¡­um¡­¡± Instead of speaking, I picked up my fork and started eating. At least that way, I wouldn¡¯t have to say anything.

    ¡°I suppose your presence is therapeutic. I see in you my mother before the world had broken her in,¡± Ranzel said casually, almost too casually. ¡°There is nothing I¡¯m asking of you. I simply want to see you live a happy life. You are free to choose whatever path you wish; I will not restrict you.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­thanks¡­?¡± I really did not have any words for this. There was even this creeping feeling in my back like I wanted to hide under the tablecloth, just to get away from his stare that seemed to contained so much more now. It felt like I didn¡¯t even notice anything before, but now that I did, it was hard to handle.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Just like that, the dinner ended on an awkward note.

    ~o~

    I groggily woke up to the light shining on my face. I really wasn¡¯t energetic this morning, but I couldn¡¯t say why. That was because I didn¡¯t really remember anything that happened after dinner. I didn¡¯t even remember how I got to bed. It didn¡¯t seem like I got much rest. Did I have some kind of dream or nightmare? Ugh, I still wanted to sleep. I turned to the side and threw my blanket over my head. Ah, sweet bliss¡ªack?!

    My blanket was taken away, and I was exposed to the full glory of the morning¡¯s sun. It was too bright! At the edge of my hearing, I could hear a faint, complex noise that slowly gained in volume until I could finally comprehend what it was. Words.

    ¡°Your Highness, I beseech you. Please wake up properly for once.¡±

    ¡°I abhor your words and deny you at once. Return my blanket posthaste,¡± I mumbled out as I tried to covered my face with my pillow. ¡°Please.¡±

    Ah! My pillow was taken away. I scrambled to cover my eyes with my arms, but they proved insufficient for the task of true darkness. Truly, the battle was already lost. Feebly giving up my resistance, I rolled over to the side of the bed where Alina was standing next to. I looked up at her with blurry eyes.

    ¡°No,¡± Alina said.

    I tried pouting.

    ¡°No means no.¡±

    I sighed deeply as I gave up. Without much else to do, I slowly got up from the bed and slipped into my slippers. I stretched out my arms, rotated my neck, reached down to my toes, and twisted my waist. No, not at the same time; I¡¯m not superhuman. With the morning stretches out of the way, I waited politely for the maids to strip me of my clothes and put on something new for me. It was always a new dress everyday, and it wasn¡¯t really my decision what I got to wear. Not that I objected since these were super expensive clothes of such quality that I would never have been able to wear these back on Earth. However, I blinked in surprise when I saw they were actually giving me pants instead of a skirt.

    ¡°Is there a special occasion?¡± I asked.

    Alina stared at me strangely. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going into the capital today, Your Highness?¡±

    Oh, that was right! I quickly nodded my head in assent. Today was the day. I couldn¡¯t help but be excited about it. Perhaps it was the natural explorer in me that wanted to go out and see new things. I was nervous and antsy the whole time. If I was jumping up and down, I would probably have completed that image. By the time I was done with some light make-up and my clothes thrown on, the maids were just about ready to throw me out. Well, it was still a bit early for the meet-up so I went to the cafeteria and got some food. Of course, I was incessantly pampered by them through the whole process, making it take longer than it really should have.

    After that, I walked to the courtyard where I was supposed to meet up with the twenty-fifth princess and took a seat on a bench. It was still thirty minutes, but I wanted to come early just in case.

    ~o~

    ¡°Jennifer, is it?¡±

    That voice made me snap out of my daze. I was almost on the brink of sleep, so much so that it took me a second before the haze fogging my mind cleared. When I looked up, I found a tall woman bound in a full suit of knight¡¯s armor standing before. Without a helmet on, her long red hair flowed down to her waist and her angular face had a majestic quality, enhanced by eyes of sharp jade. She was not a pretty girl by any estimate, but she carried herself with a fierce confidence. Mounted on her back was a shield and double-bladed axe.

    ¡°Are you Jennifer?¡± the woman asked again.

    I slowly nodded. ¡°Valkana?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to escort you.¡± Her voice was soft yet demanding.

    I felt a bit of apprehension. This was the first time I had been in the presence of another Immortal besides Ranzel. The difference in demeanor was actually a bit awe-inspiring. I supposed that I had gotten too used to the relaxed attitude that the king had towards me. Nevertheless, I stood up from the bench.

    Yet, Valkana didn¡¯t move. She stood there, staring at me.

    ¡°Um, are you okay?¡±

    She blinked in surprise. ¡°Forgive me. It is not everyday that I see the ancestor of my line.¡±

    I weakly smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It was a surprise to me too.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine,¡± Valkana said as she smiled back. ¡°Even as his children, father never spoke to us of his life before his kingship. The beginning of our line had always been a mystery. To see such in the flesh is overwhelming.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°May I touch you?¡±

    That gave me pause since it was a strange request, but it seemed harmless enough. I nodded my assent. Valkan pulled off her gauntlet and gently brushed my cheek with her fingers. They were rough, the crevices in her fingers seeming as hard as battle-worn scars. It was like sandpaper, only more rougher.

    ¡°Soft like a baby¡¯s bottom.¡± Valkana slowly retracted her hand. ¡°I had heard you were beautiful, but I never imagined to such an extent.¡±

    I felt like turning my eyes away. I wasn¡¯t beautiful, not to that extent anyways. On Earth, there were plenty of models and actresses who were so much more pretty than I was.

    ¡°You do not believe?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure there are prettier girls.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps in their youth, but such things are fleeting and hard to retain come puberty. By adulthood, I have seen none last against the harshness of the Ashran sun.¡±

    I guess they didn¡¯t really have the concept of skin care. That actually made me kind of worried. Would I have the same kind of skin after a few years of living here? Rough skin may be fine for a boy, but for a girl, it was fatal! As you could see, I still hadn¡¯t adjust my priorities yet.

    ¡°Jennifer, we have dallied for too long. Mind you a detour to the Royal Compound? There are many that are curious about the Great Mother.¡±

    ¡°The Great what?¡± I asked as my eyes widened.

    ¡°The Great Mother. She who bore into the world the Legendary Hero King who released us from the Great Nightmare. The progenitor of our royal line.¡± Seeing my confusion, she continued. ¡°You.¡±

    ¡°M-me? How can it be me?¡±

    ¡°How could it not?¡± she asked with confusion in her voice.

    ¡°Well. That¡¯s, um, I¡¯m. I guess?¡±

    ¡°Have confidence in yourself!¡± Valkana practically roared out that statement. I shrunk back from her loud voice. ¡°You have given two boons to this kingdom. None can claim such an achievement!¡±

    ¡°Boons¡­?¡±

    ¡°One is the king,¡± she proclaimed. ¡°And the other is yourself.¡±

    A chill went down my spine as I saw the light in her eyes. I knew she was technically my granddaughter, but this was too much!

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Valkana coughed into her hand, her cheek slightly reddening. ¡°Mayhaps we should begin our trip?¡±

    It was only now that I noticed that the attention of the entire courtyard was now on us. A crowd of servants, palace workers, and guards had even gathered just to see this spectacle. I was at a loss for words, but I slowly managed to regain my composure.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s leave.¡±

    I followed behind Valkana as she led the way out. I didn¡¯t know the way through the many hallways, and even though I was going through it now, I knew that I wasn¡¯t going to remember any of it. I thought about asking them to make me a map, but logic inserted itself into here; a map of the palace would be really bad if it fell into the wrong hands. I could imagine it being especially hard on newcomers to the palace. It wasn¡¯t long before we reached the giant double doors of the entrance, both of which were wide open with armored guards stationed at either side.

    Beyond that was the outer courtyard, a splendor of flowers that made a fairy tale image. Lined up alongside on both sides of the pathway were columns of guards, stoic and still in their watch. I couldn¡¯t stop gawking as we made our way past them to the gated doors between the fences that blocked off the palace from the outer city. There were crowds of people outside, sitting and hawking their wares just outside the gates to those that came to take a look at the impressive visage of the castle and its occupant. Upon noticing our coming, they seemed to started chattering excitedly and massing outside the gates.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we go by the back exit or something,¡± I asked nervously. This seemed far too public for my liking. I had imagined that a trip to the city would be something like dressing up in a dark cloak with guards watching our backs from the shadows as we traveled through the city incognito.

    ¡°Why? They would recognize us anyways.¡± Valkana¡¯s stride didn¡¯t falter in the slightest, though mine did for a second. ¡°I come out often enough that nobody blinks an eye anymore. They are just curious about you.¡±

    ¡°Curious. Right,¡± I said skeptically.

    ¡°The rumors about you have been rampant.¡±

    ¡°And just who was spreading those rumors?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps a palace servant or a high noble who was at your summoning ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Were you there too?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It was an important occasion that the high nobles from all around the kingdom attended. It would be unthinkable for the second generation of the royal line not to attend.¡±

    ¡°The second generation? That means Ranzel is the first?¡± I asked as we reached the gates. The guards there quickly opened it wide as a troop of armored guards flooded out to open a path through the crowd for us.

    ¡°Yes. You¡¯d be the zeroth generation.¡± We started walking through the opened path as the crowd increased in fervor. Hands and arms were reaching out past the guards even as they used the shaft of their polearms to hold back the tide. A few fingers brushed past me, grasping at my clothes. I started becoming afraid that they would rip them off me.

    ¡°It¡­it¡¯ll be hard to visit town like this¡­¡±

    ¡°It will pass.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to happen anytime soon.¡± I ducked away at the dirt-encrusted hand that almost grasped at my face. That was close. My heart was beating in my chest.

    ¡°We¡¯ll head to the Royal Compound first, if you do not mind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­that¡¯s fine.¡± I was a bit distracted as my eyes were glancing left and right. ¡°Ah!¡±

    A feminine hand pulled a couple of strands of my hair out of my head. Valkana stopped and turned, glancing around at the crowd as if seeing them for the first time. Her face tightened. I had a bad feeling about this.

    ¡°Wait, Valkana, you don¡¯t need to¡ª¡±

    ¡°The next person who touches the Great Mother will lose that hand!¡± Her yell reverberated through the crowd. Every arm that had been reaching out past the guards quickly snaked back. She turned to look at me. ¡°Better?¡±

    I nodded on reflex. That was one way of handling it. The crowd seemed to have calmed down, as if their crazed mania from a moment before was just a dream. I had to admit that Valkana had quite the influence of these people. Whether that was from her own innate charisma or her reputation, I didn¡¯t know, but either way, it was effective enough, but did she really have to call me Great Mother? Now, there was no way this moniker wouldn¡¯t stick. I became exasperated just thinking about it. It was through this calmed crowd that we made our way towards the Royal Compound.

    ~o~

    I sincerely regretted my decision to visit the Royal Compound. As I stood on the elevated, being watched by the rather large crowd of people that were completely composed of my descendants and their loved ones, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that this was all a bad idea. I was curious¡ªintensely so¡ªabout my descendants, but they were all looking at me with a starry gaze like I was some kind of messiah. I swallowed the saliva in my mouth in nervousness. Looking to the side of the stage, I saw Valkana motioning enthusiastically to me. She wanted me to say a speech, but how did she expect me to create one on the spot? And besides that, I wasn¡¯t even an orator anyways. I was getting stage fright just by standing here!

    ¡°Good afternoon.¡± My voice spread loudly throughout the area, seeming to slightly echo. The megaphone effect was actually from a spell Valkana casted just before I came on stage. Hearing my greeting, the crowd went positively wild, yelling and cheering with abandon. Was this supposed to make me less nervous? Off to the side, Valkana was nodding happily in approval even though I had only said two words. It was only now that I realized that I seemed to have a cult following with my granddaughter as my biggest fan. This was not how I imagined spending my trip to the city on. Sighing in my heart, I knew that I had to continue before the crowd got restless. ¡°Many of you know me as¡­the Gr¡­Great Mother.¡±

    I barely choked those words out, but the crowd burst into cheers. It was almost too embarrassing to use that title, especially since I wasn¡¯t actually the birth mother of anyone. Sometimes, I hated the weird situations that I seem to always get myself into.

    ¡°What some of you don¡¯t know is that my name is Jennifer Ro. Most people call me Jen, though.¡± I immediately regretted saying that last part. I hadn¡¯t meant to, but my nervousness got to me, and I spouted the first thing on my mind. I licked my brutally dry lips. ¡°Well, I came to this world from another world very recently, but I¡¯m glad to see everyone here is happy and healthy.¡±

    The loud applause and cheers made me feel even more ashamed. Was this what it felt like to be an pop singer? What do I do now, what do I do now? Should I sing a song? I glanced at the side to Valkana, but she wasn¡¯t even paying attention to me; she was looking out at the crowd with a bright smile. So bright that I felt almost bad that I was inevitably going to ruin this somehow.

    Well, she should have thought about that before she tossed me into this mess!

 Chapter 5: Stage

    I started crying. I had stood there in silent, trying desperately to think of something to say. In the midst of all that, I started crying. Valkana was quick to pull me off the stage and put me into a private room, but it was already too late. I had cried in front of a crowd of people. It was so mortifying that if I could have put my head into the ground, I would have.

    Hearing the door open, I tensed up, but I quickly forced it down. There was no way any of them could have sneaked back here. My thinking proved correct when I saw Valkana enter the room and close the door behind her. She gave me a pleading look.

    ¡°You can¡¯t stay in this room the whole time.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Jennifer, it¡¯ll be alright. Just come out and say something. They¡¯ve waited a long time.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I can just snap my fingers and say something profound? That¡¯s impossible for me,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not this ¡®Great Mother¡¯ they think I am.¡±

    ¡°Even so, sometimes you have to do the impossible for the greater good. That¡¯s what it means to be a part of the royal family.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not. I¡¯m not royalty!¡± I clawed my thighs as I sat heavily in my chair. ¡°I was born into a normal family with a little brother and sister. We weren¡¯t rich, but we got along well. I¡¯m not smart, I¡¯m not witty. I¡¯m not even that athletic. There¡¯s nothing special about me.¡±

    Valkana walked over and knelt down beside me.

    ¡°You may not be special, but you¡¯re family. Don¡¯t say otherwise,¡± she gently said. ¡°Honor your ancestors, and honor those who had fallen in battle. That was what I was taught when I was growing up. It may be empty words to you, but it means the world to me, and it means the world to them.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Just try, Jennifer. That¡¯s all I¡¯m asking.¡±

    I felt conflicted, but I couldn¡¯t ignore her pleading tone. Against my better judgment, I sighed and said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s begin. They¡¯re waiting.¡± Valkana stood up. I got up as well, though at a slower pace.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a speech ready or anything.¡±

    ¡°Just say what¡¯s in your heart. They will understand.¡±

    ~o~

    What if my heart was telling me to run away? As I stared at the crowd with my feet back on the stage where I had begun, I could hear my heart beating in my ears, so much so that it was getting hard to breathe. They had been waiting, patiently waiting for a long time, but I couldn¡¯t see that from their eyes. All I could see was my own tiny reflection in them, distorted as if they were all condemning me. For running away, for being so slow, for being so quiet now that I was back on stage. Heart. Heart. Heart. What exactly was I supposed to say here? I couldn¡¯t hear anything from my heart. Well, not anything useful like a grand speech. Or any speech, even a terrible one. As my breath started to become more shallow, a hand wrapped around my own and squeezed gently but firmly.

    I blinked and looked to the side. Standing next to me was Valkana, staring straight ahead into the crowd without a hint of apprehension. The edge slowly left my mind, letting think a little more clearly. I had almost forgotten she was here, but now that I did know, it eased the tension on my heart. I slowly breathed in and gathered my thoughts. I was not an orator, and I certainly could not make a speech.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say,¡± I quietly mumbled in a low voice so it wouldn¡¯t be picked up by the echo magic.

    ¡°Look inside yourself. I believe in you.¡± The soft spoken words from the hardened warrior did little to ease my turmoil. I instinctively squeezed that hand a little harder. It looked like I was on my own.

    But I didn¡¯t have much time. Their expectant eyes bore into me, making me more and more nervous with each passing moment. The comfort of Valkana¡¯s presence was only a temporary reprieve, a rock against a troubled sea, but I knew it wouldn¡¯t last. Think, think, think! The words became jumbled in my head, and I spoke before my mind could properly understand where I was taking them from.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± My voice echoed out across the entire area as I spoke. The eyes watching me brightened as heads rose up. It was too late to back out; I could only follow through, even though I didn¡¯t know from where these words came from or where they led. This was the only path left to me now. ¡°I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship¡­but it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down¡­but it is not this day! This day, we fight! I bid you, stand with me!¡±

    What the fuck did I just say?!

    Applause rang out from the crowd, but it was definitely not as loud or as enthusiastic as before, and I could see them looking at each other in confusion. My face was probably as red as a tomato. I couldn¡¯t believed that I just ripped off The Lord of the Rings. Worse, it wasn¡¯t even the right situation!

    ¡°Jennifer, that is a passionate speech.¡± Valkana¡¯s soft words came to me as she clapped. ¡°But mayhaps it would be better suited to the battlefield, yes?¡±

    If I could bury my head into the ground, I would. I seriously would. In fact, why shouldn¡¯t I just do it now anyways?! It couldn¡¯t get any worse than this. I tried to extract my hand from Valkana¡¯s grip, but I couldn¡¯t. As if knowing my intentions, her fingers seemed to tighten ever so slightly. Even with my enhanced strength, I couldn¡¯t do anything at all. I looked pleadingly at her, but she seemed to smile at my pain. I didn¡¯t know she was a sadist!

    ¡°My fellow relatives, coming from all walks of life!¡± Valkana faced the crowd as her voice became loud enough to shake with the vibrations. ¡°You, who stand before me, are related in blood to me or those of royalty. However, while our blood may have branched out since then, we all originated from a single person, but before that person, there was another. That one stands before you now!¡±

    She raised my arm up high, forcing me onto my tiptoes.

    ¡°We look to the past, to honor our ancestors who gave us life. She, who taught our King the values that were far beyond our time, looks to our future, seeing the troubles ahead. The first Heroes Summoning drove back the monsters of the dark age. The second Heroes Summoning fended off the greed of man. This Heroes Summoning will no doubt bring a time of turmoil upon us. We must stand united, as the Great Mother has said!¡± A fire ignited in Valkana¡¯s eyes as her voice rose. ¡°The hour of wolves may come, when men break their bonds and fight one another, but through it all, we must to stand together. We must prepare to fight, so that the age of men does not come crashing down around us! Will we allow our generation to be known as the end of times? I think not!¡±

    A fierce firestorm of cheers erupted from the crowd, fueling the atmosphere that continued to expand and explode. In the midst of all this, Valkana looked at me with a smile.

    ¡°Jennifer, your warning shall be heeded. I shan¡¯t hardly believe you could produce such a speech that was beyond our time.¡±

    ¡°It¡­it isn¡¯t¡­¡± No, no, really, I didn¡¯t make it.

    ¡°It is,¡± Valkana said. ¡° If I had heard those words from you on the battlefield, I¡¯d have battled alongside you even unto death. Now I know where father got his eloquence for battle speeches.¡±

    Oh god, I felt worse. While I was wallowing in my shame, Valkana led me down from the stage.

    ¡°We must greet them one by one, for they have waited long for this moment.¡±

    I could hardly give my assent or dissent before she plunged us into the waiting arms of the crowd.

    ~o~

    By the time it was over, I shook hands, hugged torsos, kissed cheeks and brows, and talked with so many people that I felt deaden to the world. Everyone had names, and their names flew in one ear and out the other. It was honestly a blur, and by the time I reached the last one, I scarcely remembered how to even walk. Even if I was in a condition to enjoy the city, there was no more time to; a few hours had already passed by, and the sun was dipping just beyond the horizon.

    We made it back to the palace before the sun completed disappeared, though I couldn¡¯t remember how. When I finally became conscious of where I was, I was sitting at a dining table with Ranzel, waiting for the food to arrive. He was staring at me with an amused expression.

    ¡°I heard about the speech you made.¡± Ranzel raised an eyebrow. ¡°Lord of the Rings?¡±

    ¡°I panicked.¡± Would he mind if I hid my head under the table?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I did the same in the past.¡±

    ¡°Which ones?¡± I asked him skeptically.

    ¡°Gears of War. Fallout. I assume you recognize those ones? Memorable series of games from my early childhood, before the advent of Virtual Reality games. I had stolen from many more sources, but eventually, it became easier to compose than to rehash.¡±

    ¡°I let you play those games?¡± Those were pretty violent ones.

    ¡°You¡ªyour other self¡ªhad always told me that it is not the gun that commits the crime, but rather, the man holding the gun,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°A knife or a pen could be just as dangerous in the hands of one who knows how to use it. To add onto that, arbitrary restrictions lead to stagnation. If I were to ban a fruit knife because of its potential to slit my throat, it would take me twice as long to peel a pear.¡±

    ¡°So pretty much, I let you play gory games and watch all the horror movies you want when you were young?¡±

    ¡°Essentially.¡±

    ¡°I must have been an awesome parent.¡±

    Ranzel¡¯s eyes looked to the side.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s with that look?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Desert?¡± Ranzel waved to a nearby butler. ¡°Bring the strawberry shortcake.¡±

    I knew he was avoiding the question, but I didn¡¯t call him out on it. It was pretty obvious derailing, which meant that he wasn¡¯t altogether opposed to explaining it. I didn¡¯t think it would be hard to get the details out of him¡ªit was more like he was giving me a choice than anything else¡ªbut the subject was about how bad of a parent my other self was. It was a fact that I¡ªshe, me, whatever¡ªwas young and inexperienced so it was likely I made tons of mistakes, and it was just as likely that he was going to tell me about those very same mistakes if I was to ask him. Frankly, I was too exhausted from everything that happened today to deal with this so I let it go.

    ¡°Valkana told me to tell you that she apologizes for sidetracking your trip. She also mentioned that she has freed up her schedule for tomorrow if you¡¯re still interesting in seeing city.¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m interested!¡± I had snapped that out so quickly that I felt embarrassed immediately afterward. Ranzel merely smirked.

    ¡°I thought so. She said she will come pick you up in the morning.¡±

    With those words, the evening soon came to an end. The rest was pretty much a blur since I was too exhausted. The moment I fell on my mattress, I squirmed into my blanket and promptly fell asleep.

    ~o~

    I slowly opened my eyes, but my vision was a bit blurry. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, though it felt kind of strange. Ah, that was why. I hadn¡¯t been woken up by any of the maids. Usually, they would come in here and practically pull me out of bed, but today, they let me sleep in. I yawned a bit and moved my hand away from my eyes.

    Valkana was staring down at me.

    I stared up at her.

    Valkana didn¡¯t react. She was wearing full body armor, and she was simply staring down at me.

    I reached a hand over and patted the armor. That was definitely solid metal so this was not a hallucination.

    ¡°¡­what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Watching you wake up.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°What were you doing before that?¡±

    ¡°Watching you sleep.¡±

    ¡°And how long were you doing that?¡±

    ¡°Three hours,¡± Valkana said, not in the least embarrassed about what she had just said.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just wake me up?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to disturb your rest.¡±

    ¡°So you stood there and watched me sleep for three hours?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was official. My granddaughter was a creeper. I could just imagine her peeking in through my bedroom window with a camera. Well, the technology was not advanced enough here for a camera, but if she set up an artist with a canvas outside my window, that would be extra creepy.

    Jokes aside, I didn¡¯t think that she was here for that reason in any case. Well, at least I hoped she wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m awake now.¡± I pushed myself up to a sitting position and rotated the kinks out of my shoulders. I thought that I was starting to get used to the mattress, but it seemed like I was still adjusting. Actually, now that I think of it, wouldn¡¯t it be bad for my spine to sleep on something this soft? Sleeping on a firm mattress would be harder, but it would straighten out my posture and prevent me from having back problems in the future. Or at least, I think that was how it went. I couldn¡¯t quite remember the exact details, but I bet it was close enough in any case.

    I pressed my hand onto the bed, letting it sink it. I bounced a little up and down, letting my butt compress and decompress the mattress. My face became twisted with conflict. While I was all for the future of my spine and posture, changing out this incredibly soft and irresistible feeling mattress for something harder seemed almost like a crime. It was like putting a cake in front of you, but one you knew you shouldn¡¯t eat.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Jennifer, do you need me to carry you to the toilet?¡±

    I ignored her question. ¡°Valkana, what¡¯s better: softer or harder?¡±

    ¡°Harder.¡± The answer was instantaneous and without hesitation.

    ¡°Do you even know what we¡¯re talking about?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Men?¡±

    ¡°Beds!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Valkana seemed taken aback. ¡°Softer.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it? Only weirdos would go for harder. That¡¯s common sense.¡± I nodded my head. The answer was obvious from the beginning. This was like one of those moments when you would look back and think that the dilemma was stupid.

    ¡°¡­this is fascinating, but we must go prepare. Our trip to town would be delayed otherwise.¡±

    I nodded as I climbed out of bed. Once on my feet and in my slippers, I walked a few steps forward and stood in place, waiting patiently. It was only after a half a minute that I finally realized something was wrong. Why weren¡¯t they¡ªoh wait. I glanced around the room. There was only Valkana and I present; the maids weren¡¯t here. Had I gotten so used to other people dressing me already?!

    No, no, I wasn¡¯t like spoiled nobles. I could dress myself just fine. All I needed was¡­well¡­

    The clothes.

    For as long as I had been here, I had never seen the maids take any clothes out of places; those painstakingly sewn pieces of clothing seemed to magically appear in their hands every time I saw them. It was to such an extent that I could only vaguely guess at where they came from. The problem was that there were actually multiple dressers in the room. Considering that the room itself was as large as a small apartment, it was not by any means a small amount. I could imagine that each would be separated by category.

    I would have assumed it would have a closet to hang up the dresses, but surprisingly enough, there wasn¡¯t any. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was a design decision or part of their culture, yet it was going to make this a lot harder.

    ¡°Uh, Valkana,¡± I said to get her attention. Once I saw her gaze questioningly at me, I continued. ¡°Are any of my maids close by?¡±

    ¡°I believe they are doing chores around the palace.¡±

    I almost groaned at her response. The palace was huge so it wasn¡¯t like it was easy to call them without making a big fuss. Moreover, I didn¡¯t want to cause them trouble. I knew that if I suddenly called for them, they would drop everything that they were doing and rush over, worried that they might have done something wrong to incur my wrath. Still, there was no other choice.

    ~o~

    It took awhile before some of the servants I sent managed to find one of the maids. I didn¡¯t begrudge them how long it took, and I had even said previously that I would wait patiently, but they still had gone out of their way to make it as quick as possible. I didn¡¯t know if that was because they were afraid of me or if they were trying to impress me. I believed it was a bit of both.

    Just like I predicted, once Alina and a couple of the my other maids that they found were in front of me, they profusely apologized for leaving me alone. I was quick to reassure them and put emphasis on the fact that they shouldn¡¯t be worried, though I wasn¡¯t sure how effective that was; they were looking at me like I was a saint after that. I really didn¡¯t like those kind of worshiping looks. I had my fill of those after going to the Royal Compound yesterday.

    About that, actually. I found out from Valkana while we were waiting that they interpreted my crying a bit differently. Very differently. They thought I was crying for them. That I felt so happy about seeing my descendants being healthy that I cried tears of joy.  It would seem that my mysticism grew to an even greater height after yesterday. I was being portrayed as a kind and gentle Great Mother. If that wasn¡¯t enough, the speech solidified it for them. Now, they wanted to assign to me a bodyguard unit of the best warriors from the descendants in the Royal Compound. This was really getting out of hand. I was practically being deified as a saint to them, and it didn¡¯t look like there was anything I could do about it.

    In any case, after the apologizing session, my morning went quickly enough. They found me suitable clothing for my outdoor venture, though I made them show me where exactly they had gotten them. That put a little extra time on it, but it was worth it. After putting on my clothes, washing my face with a water-filled basin, and applying a little make-up, I was ready to hit the town. We donned nondescript brown cloaks and went through a series of hidden tunnels that led to an empty storage house in the city owned by a noble under the palace¡¯s employ. Noise in that tunnel echoed badly so we were quiet for the whole trip; it wasn¡¯t until we had arrived and walking up the cellar stairs that I finally spoke.

    ¡°I thought we¡¯d be going out the front like last time.¡± I knew it was a bit late to ask, but I was caught up in the strangeness of things that I didn¡¯t realize to question it until we were already traveling the tunnels.

    ¡°Father convinced me of the necessity of this.¡± There was a frown on her face.

    ¡°You don¡¯t approve?¡±

    ¡°I will be discovered soon enough, though I promised father I would try.¡±

    I nodded. There was nothing more that I could say to that, though I was kind of glad for his intervention. It wasn¡¯t that I thought we wouldn¡¯t be discovered since the princess was pretty famous, but that meant that there was still time before that to check around at least part of the city in peace.

    I was intensely curious about how people were living here. I mean, you would think that it would be like those medieval fantasy movies, but I knew it would be different because of Ranzel¡¯s influence. I mean, he had five hundred years to do something in his near dictator-like position. I wanted to see with my own eyes what it was like. Just as we were able to leave the household, someone stopped us.

    ¡°Your Highness. Princess.¡± A mustached servile-looking noble, dressed in fineries of fur and gold, bow to each of us in turn. His eyes were sharp in contrast to his smile. Maybe I was too used to my treatment in the palace this past week, but his mannerism put me on guard. He was doing the same courtesies, but it didn¡¯t have any of that heartfelt honesty that I had become used to.

    ¡°Speak, Rulos of House Mordrin.¡± Valkana kept a neutral face, though I noticed there is a deeper curve to her frown.

    ¡°I am honored that the royal princess knows of me and is willing to make time for my impromptu visit,¡± he said without a hint of modesty. ¡°Let me provide a free gift, courtesy of House Mordrin. The markets will be emptier today. Rumors of your outing yesterday has driven the commoners to gates of the palace in hopes of taking a gander at the¡­Great Mother.¡±

    ¡°I do not like your tone.¡± Valkana¡¯s expression tightened.

    ¡°Forgive this humble servant of the crown. A great and many rumors had come upon my little ear so I could not help but be a little wary.¡±

    ¡°Rumors?¡± This time, I was the one who interjected, causing both of them to look at me.

    ¡°Why yes, Your Highness. Among the peasant folk, they say that the Great Mother shall usher in a new age of prosperity.¡±

    ¡°How do they expect me to do that?¡± I asked, though I could see Valkana¡¯s frown deepen. However, this was something that had to do with me, so there was no way I was going to let this go.

    ¡°This is¡­a delicate matter. May I have your pardon to speak freely?¡±

    Valkana took a slight step forward. ¡°You may not¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said as I held up a hand to stop Valkana. She looked like she wanted to argue, but I gave her a look. Maybe it was a bit presumptuous of me to think I could order her around, but this was something I needed to know. ¡°I¡¯ll accept all responsibility. Go ahead and tell me. How do they expect me to do that?¡±

    ¡°Why, through birth, of course.¡±

    ¡°Birth?¡±

    ¡°Yes, according to these rumors, you will give birth to the new age of heroes,¡± Rulos said. ¡°Do take notice that this is just peasant speak and not my own opinion, but they say the reason the royal family has only produced four Immortals is because the blood of the king is derivative. Your blood, being the source, is pure enough that your children will undoubtedly become Immortals and usher in the prosperity of the kingdom, or so they say.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the stupidest thing I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± I said without an ounce of hesitation.

    ¡°Be that as it may, it is a widely believed rumor. Lies have a way of turning into truth if spoken by enough wagging tongues.¡±

    ¡°So what does this mean for me?¡±

    ¡°It means that Your Highness will need to be more careful in the future. Everyone wants to father the next greatest legend. Why, just a few days ago, there¡ª¡±

    ¡°We have been held up long enough. We best be on our way,¡± Valkana interrupted as she gave Rulos a mild glare.

    ¡°Ah yes, I must return to my estate. I bid you both farewell.¡± Rulos bowed to each of us again.

    There were more questions that I wanted to ask, but I had a feeling that Valkana knew more than she was letting on. I glanced suspiciously at her while we were leaving the house. How long had she known about this particular piece of information? Was this why we were going out through this secret way instead of through the front gate? Wait, why would that even matter? With how powerful she was, there was no way anyone would attempt anything. As I considered all the angles, I could feel my head overheating. There were just too many angles, too many conclusions.

    This was pointless. I couldn¡¯t focus on any of them because I didn¡¯t have enough information. Not only that, but I was suspecting family which made me feel bad. I had heard of those stories of family betraying each other, yet I just couldn¡¯t think like that; I know that it wasn¡¯t everything, but it was a type of safety net that I could always rely on to know who to trust when you were in the unknown like a tourist. That wasn¡¯t to say that you couldn¡¯t trust friends, but I had been betrayed before.

    Still, wasn¡¯t there a saying that one should clean out their own house before worrying about their evil neighbors? Actually, there was no saying like that, but it worked anyways. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop worrying about this until I made sure, and the only way to do that was by entrapment. I was going to make her inadvertently admit it and¡ªoh, who was I kidding? I wasn¡¯t smart enough to do that.

    ¡°Valkana,¡± I said before I saw her turning to glance at me as we walked out of the door. ¡°Are you hiding something from me?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay. I trust you.¡±

    And that was that. She was still staring at me for awhile even as we reached the cobblestone of the sidewalk. There was even a brief flicker of something in her eye, but I didn¡¯t bother to pay attention. This solution really was the best since if she really was hiding something from me, it would definitely be a guilt trip as long as she had any kind of conscience. Not only that, but I could lord over her with it forever. And ever. And ever.

    See? Simple and effective. Best solution ever, and I didn¡¯t even have to act like Sherlock Holmes. With that worry out of my mind, I stretched out my arms and smiled. Even though we were both hidden in cloaks¡ªand probably suspicious-looking¡ªI was going to enjoy this day as much as I possibly could. There were so many places to explore and new things to see.

    ¡°Come on, Valkana! I want to see how far we get before lunchtime.¡±

    ¡°Jennifer, wait! Don¡¯t rush that far ahead of me!¡±

    ~o~

    Author¡¯s Note: Hi.

    ¡­

    ¡­errr what? Not much to say. Well, this is the first author¡¯s note for this story so time to introduce myself!

    I¡¯m actually a third person view writer, so this is my first real attempt at a story in first person view. I used to abhor first person view in general, but that prejudice has mostly disappeared because of Worm and web novel translations. I really like combat, so it¡¯s pretty weird for me not to have fighting after this much. Whether I¡¯m good at it or not is an entirely different matter. Not that I would know how to do combat in first person view; it seems like it will be a whole different beast.

    Now that I think about it, this is my first real effort at an original story instead of a fanfic. It¡¯s a pretty interesting experience so far. Some people like to plan from start to finish, but I¡¯m not like that. I plan at most a couple of chapters ahead. Just the way I¡¯m built. I intend to release a chapter (around 5000 words) at least once each week. Not much else to say, really. I¡¯m enjoying this new experience, and hopefully, you¡¯re having fun reading. In any case, thanks for your patronage!

 Chapter 6: Attempt

    I never had a pet. It wasn¡¯t because I didn¡¯t want one; more like my parents would never let me have one¡ªoh wait, I did have a few pets. However, while they were technically pets, I would be hard-pressed to really count them as such. Back when I was in elementary school, in an effort to stop me from asking about getting a cat, mom bought me some goldfishes. Simple and easy to take care of. Very low maintenance unlike a cat or a dog.

    I killed them within a few days. It wasn¡¯t from malicious intent or anything, but I wanted something that I could touch. I got bored of watching them pretty quickly; the only real interesting thing that ever happened was the long strings of feces they let out. I resorted to poking them with branch from my backyard to get them to do something, especially when they stopped responding to my palm banging on the glass. However, that wasn¡¯t what killed them. What eventually ended their very short lives was the fact that I didn¡¯t change out their water.

    It became polluted with leftover flakes and floating feces¡ªboth of which they ate¡ªthat I just woke up one day to find their bodies floating just a little above the water¡¯s surface. I learned later that they needed fresh water every so often to live. She bought me more goldfish to have as pets, but I eventually got tired of doing the maintenance and allowed them to die. Perhaps, that was when I got the idea that I couldn¡¯t keep a pet since I would eventually get tired of it.

    However, I now had servants to take care of them for me.

    ¡°Can I buy one?¡± I enthusiastically pointed to the cat-like creature. It was fuzzy and furry, but it looked kind of like a mix with a rabbit.

    ¡°Jennifer, we are not at liberty to announce our presence. We cannot have the shopkeeper send it to the palace nor can we bring the creature along with us.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s adorable.¡± It really was adorable. Those long ears that begged to be scratched, those eyes that glistened as they stared at me, and that small, cuddly body that practically was made to be hug so tightly that it explodes.

    Not literally, of course.

    ¡°Mayhaps on another visit.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky I¡¯m not an impulse buyer,¡± I said with a sigh. It was true enough; I always was a person who compared and contrasted, checking the online reviews on my smartphone before I committed to anything. Unfortunately, that convenience didn¡¯t exist here, but I didn¡¯t think it would have matter; since everything was practically hand-crafted, it was harder to compare anyways. Though, price wasn¡¯t an issue now since I had enough money that it didn¡¯t matter, but I couldn¡¯t even use much of it at this time since I was restricted to only buying what I could carry. Which was why I was holding a large brown sack bag in my left hand.

    The bag was kind of unwieldy, considering that it didn¡¯t have handles like shopping bags, but my enhanced strength made the job of carrying it quite easy. I daresay that I wouldn¡¯t even be able to carry half of what I currently had in the bag if it wasn¡¯t for that. Though, most of what I had in there were just various trinkets I found interesting. I seemed to even have a bit more balance since I could walk fine without leaning or tipping to the side.

    ¡°Okay, Valkana, you win. Let¡¯s check out the next shop.¡±

    The moment we left the store, I took a look around. The sun was at its apex directly above me so it should be around noon or so, but even in this heat, there were plenty of people walking around this marketplace. Lots of stalls were stationed on the sidewalk, outside the stores. Even though there was actually a proper street, it was too crowded for anything but feet to travel along it. Was this really considered emptier like Rulos said?

    ¡°Jennifer, mind the pickpockets.¡±

    I nodded as I unconsciously reached down to confirm the coin bag tied to my belt. Instead, I felt flesh. Looking down, I found a little boy staring back with a nervous smile. We stood there for what seemed like an infinitesimal moment before he dashed to the side and disappeared into the crowd. I did what any reasonable girl would do. I chased him.

    No, wait, that wasn¡¯t reasonable at all. Even as I shouldered my way through the crowd, slithering and maneuvering through the crush of bodies, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why I was chasing him. Was I a dog that followed anything curious? In spite of that, I kept running after him.

    ¡°Wait!¡± When we reached where the marketplace ended, the crowd began to thin out. I slipped through them as if they were trees in a forest, but the child was far more agile than me.

    ¡°Stop!¡± He slid under a table stacked with fruits and ran past the shouting owner. If I was stupider, I would have done the same and would have had the fruits crash onto me. Instead, I ran around it, losing only a second more in the chase.

    ¡°I just want to talk!¡± Talk? Talk about what? I was just saying that so he would stop; I didn¡¯t have any burning question on my mind nor was there anything interesting about the poverty-stricken boy. In fact, why was I chasing him again?

    Ah, forget it. I will figure it out later when I catch him.

    And then I lost him. He slipped into a large broken crevice in a wall, getting into the building. I wasn¡¯t about to bust into the house just to apprehend him, and I didn¡¯t know the layout of the place to wait in ambush at the back door. It was a futile effort to think I would catch him at this point.

    Actually, now that I think about it, where was I? I looked around and saw clusters of shoddily-built houses that were practically falling apart. If this was Earth, they would probably be condemned already as hazardous living quarters on the verge of collapse. A myriad of dirty people were walking the streets, shuffling along in that soulless way as if they found their lives meaningless. They wore ragged clothes, barely patched up to keep it together, and smelled as awful as unwashed armpits.

    This was definitely the slums. The problem was that I didn¡¯t know where the slums was. I was pretty much lost, but I couldn¡¯t ask any of them either; I could see their hostile gazes, even though they made no move towards me. They probably thought I was some adventurer with my cloaked form, but it probably wouldn¡¯t be long before they eventually think I was some noble out playing. When that happens, I knew things would get really, really bad. All you had to do was think about the seven sins to figure out what would happen next.

    Well, even if I didn¡¯t remember the twists and turns, if I turn around and head straight back, I would eventually reach something. I mean, the palace was at the center of the city so as long as I could find a spot with a clear view, I could probably see the place and head there.

    Just as I was about to turn around, I felt a chill down my spine. I blinked and looked around. It was only now that I noticed that, while I was thinking, the streets had become a lot emptier. I heard the shuffling of metal scraping on the stone floors.

    One, two, three, four, five. Out of the alleyways in front and behind me, five figures dressed in black cloaks filtered out leisurely into the streets. Under their cowls, the glistening white of their Vega masquerade masks told me all that I needed to know. They moved in unison, strafing around me until they entrapped me from all sides like the points of a pentagon. I tightened my grip on my bag of trinkets. It wasn¡¯t much of a weapon, but I was sure that the weight of it alone was enough to break some bones. Not to mention that the trinkets themselves could be used as caltrops to hinder their movements¡ªoh wait, they were wearing armored boots, weren¡¯t they? I could see the glints of metal just below their cloaks. That was one plan scratched out.

    However, despite my expectations, they didn¡¯t rush in to attack me. Instead, they each pulled out a scroll and began speaking. I had a bad feeling about this, but all the exits were covered; if I tried to rush out, I would easily be intercepted by at least two of them. I just had to stall until Valkana could get here¡ªhuh?

    Their scrolls lit up on fire, burning rapidly to consume the entire parchment. Under my feet, a circle of light surrounded me.

    ¡°What?¡± I tried to move, tried to get out, but a wall of pure white surrounded me and blanked out my vision.

    ~o~

    ¡°Ack!¡± I fell to ground, landing on my front roughly. I felt so many pinpricks against chest and stomach, but I ignored that as I pushed myself up. Or at least tried to. A hand roughly grabbed the back of my head and slammed me back down to the ground, my cheek pressed against the dirt.

    Wait, dirt? My arms were pulled behind my back, but I could see moist¡ªnearly black¡ªdirt along with leaves and branches. I was in some kind of shade as well that seemed to extend as far as I could see. Before I could decipher more, I was pulled up to my feet. It was only now that I noticed that my hands were tied behind my back. I took this time to assess the situation.

    I was in some kind of forest that seemed large enough that I couldn¡¯t see where it ended. The trees were huge, and only a smattering of sunlight was able to get through. I was pretty sure there was something crawling on my cheek, though I wouldn¡¯t be able to get rid of it even if I tried to use my tongue¡ªand my tongue was long enough to touch my nose. Not that I wanted my tongue to actually touch something creepy, alive, and dirty. I was still used to the sanitation of the twenty-first century!

    I was in the middle of a camp, which was evident by the many bedrolls lying around as well the simmering campfire. There were plenty of traveling backpacks as well, which meant they had been prepared for a long journey or a long wait.

    Oh, and most importantly, I saw a bunch of gruff, muscular looking men who were staring at me with snide grins. Yeah, I was scared out of my pants right now. They each wore a kind of leather jerkin as if they were a traveling group of adventurers, but by the amount of people that I could see¡ªand I definitely did not have eyes on the back of my head¡ªthere were at least as many as a squad of twelve. This was a bad situation. I have to strike first, while the iron was still hot.

    ¡°Good afternoon,¡± I said, a lot more calmly than I was feeling.

    They stared at me in surprise¡ªor was it shock¡ªbefore they burst out into laughter.

    ¡°Glad I could bring some happiness to the world,¡± I said sardonically. Inside, my inner suicidal spirit was giving me a thumbs up.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll be givin¡¯ us more happiness than ya know.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll like to give this girl some of my happiness, hahahah¡ªow! Hey!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even fucking try, you mangy heap. Girl¡¯s our payday, and I ain¡¯t spoiling to get executed if we bring her in like that.¡±

    ¡°You three, shut up. We still haven¡¯t confirm her yet. Bring the driver. He saw the girl yesterday.¡± A bald, scarred man walked past her sight. ¡°And for Ranvia¡¯s sake, blindfold and gag her. I don¡¯t need a mess this close to the Capital.¡±

    A couple of strips of rough cloth were tied around my head, blocking my sight and covering my mouth. In the artificial darkness, I heard the shuffling of a few pairs of feet.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s the Great Mother doing here? This isn¡¯t what I signed on for!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll pay you extra.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. This is¡ª¡± I heard the sound of someone drawing a blade.

    ¡°You¡¯ll drive or else.¡±

    ¡°I¡­I¡­I¡¯ll ride.¡± The blade was sheathed. ¡°This better be worth it.¡±

    ¡°It is. Now get your horses ready. We go as soon as we pack up.¡±

    ~o~

    I admit that my consciousness seemed to fade in and out at times. I had been loaded onto a wagon so every time there was a large bump in whatever road they were taking me on, it snapped me right back to attention. I couldn¡¯t tell how long I had been like this, tied up as well as blinded and muted by strips of unsanitary fabric. Oddly enough, even knowing that I had been kidnapped, I kept thinking about how I was going to get sick from all the bacteria from the cloth and having my face pressed against the forest floor back then.

    I wondered also if I had gotten a cut on my cheek. I hoped not because that was going to get infected, and I didn¡¯t believe that they would have any antibiotics. I could just imagine it festering, maybe have maggots crawling in and out of the neurotic skin. If it ever did get healed, there was no doubt that there would be an ugly scar as well.

    It was kind of funny. I should be thinking more about how to escape or if Valkana and Ranzel would find me. Yet, for some reason, I just couldn¡¯t find it in myself to really be worried about that. Was it strange? Maybe it was because I realized they weren¡¯t going to hurt me anytime soon. That meant that there was still time. I remembered one of them saying we were close to the Capital so it should take at a few days to reach the borders since I remembered the city being nearer to the center of the country.

    ¡°So calm, little bird. What makes you not struggle?¡± The voice was sly but smooth, like the slither of a snake. ¡°You. Take the blindfold and the gag off.¡±

    ¡°But boss, orders are¡ª¡±

    ¡°I know what they are, but do as I say before you become a pesky little fly to me.¡±

    ¡°As¡­as you wish, boss.¡±

    I felt hands and fingers gently probing the back of my head. It took only a moment for the blindfold and gag to loosen, but the first sight that I saw was so bright that I had to squeeze my eyes shut. My mouth felt worn as well, so I exercised my jaw while my eyes slowly adjusted little by little to the light. I had to blink a few more times before I could finally see with some clarity.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Sitting across from me was a man every bit of a snake as his voice. He wore a leather jerkin like the others, armed with sheathed knives across his chest like a bandoleer and a rapier at his side. His eyes were sharp and his smile was absolutely predatory. I imagined that a forked tongue wouldn¡¯t be out of place on his face.

    ¡°So little bird, pray tell what¡¯s on your mind?¡± He reached out his hand and slid the back along my cheek. I could feel the jagged scars running along my skin like sandpaper.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just kill me?¡±

    ¡°I ask the questions, little bird.¡±

    ¡°One for one,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll give you something if you give me something.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. Still not afraid? If you knew me, you¡¯d be very afraid.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t struggled yet so you won¡¯t hurt me unless you have to.¡±

    ¡°Smart as well as brave. My, you¡¯re preening your feathers even when you¡¯re caged.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just being logical. Whoever is paying for this wants me alive and relatively unharmed,¡± I said. ¡°People can die from even the smallest of injuries so it¡¯s better to not risk it if you can avoid it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed.¡± He grinned widely, enough to make shivers run down my spine. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s do it your way. Of course, you will start, won¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about if I got a cut on my cheek and if so, I¡¯m wondering if it will get infected.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have a cut. This, I give as a freebie. Go ahead with your question.¡±

    ¡°Why all this? Why didn¡¯t you kill me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s two questions, not one, but the answer solves them both anyways,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s say that some people believe a certain little rumor, spoken by the bugs, about a little bird being able to give birth to legendary heroes. A little far-flung, I believe, but the coins talk and bid us this task.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m going to be sold to a brothel?¡±

    ¡°I believe it¡¯s the royal brothel.¡±

    ¡°Same difference.¡± Seeing the confusion on his face, I said, ¡°One brothel is the same as another.¡±

    The man burst out laughing. ¡°Why no, never so. A pagan brothel can never compare to the high-class brothel. Your fairer gender taints your neutrality.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but I¡¯m going to be doing the same thing in any case.¡±

    ¡°The clientele is very different, along with the prestige and power. You¡¯d live comfortably, I would imagine. Very comfortably.¡±

    ¡°I think I was living pretty comfortably already.¡±

    ¡°This is true, this is true. It is a downgrade, I believe.¡±

    ¡°Glad you see it my way now,¡± I said dully.

    ¡°Does not change fact, little bird.¡±

    ¡°Whatever. It¡¯s your move.¡±

    ¡°My what?¡±

    ¡°Your turn. You can ask your question now,¡± I explained.

    ¡°Ah, yes. Tell me, are the rumors of your birthing abilities true?¡±

    ¡°No. My turn,¡± I said, fairly annoyed. Well, two could play that game. ¡°How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?¡±

    ¡°¡­what?¡±

    ¡°Answer the question.¡±

    ¡°Choose another question.¡± He looked annoyed.

    ¡°Which came first? The chicken or the egg?¡±

    ¡°This is nonsensical. I had hoped you were smarter than this. We¡¯re done here,¡± he said.

    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! I got a real question now,¡± I said.

    ¡°My patience is limited.¡±

    ¡°How many snakes did it take to make you?¡±

    ¡°Gag her.¡±

    ~o~

    ¡°Are you ready to try this again, little bird?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready, I¡¯m ready¡ªow.¡± My jaw was hurting from having the gag in my mouth for a couple of hours. At least they didn¡¯t put the blindfold on me this time, but that dirty gag was pulling at my lips the whole time; it had been tied tighter than it should have been. I couldn¡¯t exactly complain to them since it was obviously on purpose.

    ¡°I hope the little bird can be a little smarter now, or shall this snake swallow the bird whole? Hmm?¡± He stared imploringly at me. ¡°Go ahead and ask your question.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± I had thought about giving a snide reply, but I didn¡¯t relish the thought of having the gag put on me again. In any case, I managed to vent some of the anger that I didn¡¯t even know I had so I was satisfied. Well, as much as I could be, considering the circumstances. ¡°How did you stop my bodyguard?¡±

    ¡°An apt question. I¡¯d had reasoned that you would ask something more in line with: ¡®Where are we going?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Would it matter? Border, town, nation, it doesn¡¯t really matter. I¡¯m more interested in how you did it than where my future is,¡± I said. That wasn¡¯t quite true, but even if he told me where we were headed, I wouldn¡¯t even know. There were so many countries and towns and what-not with their own different culture and people that it would be impossible for me to guess anything from it. More importantly, I wanted to know what happened to Valkana.

    ¡°A very strange bird, you are.¡± He smirked as he tapped his chin twice. ¡°Alas, I¡¯ll indulge this little bird of ours. Our employer¡¯s Immortal provided the distraction.¡±

    ¡°I thought Immortals don¡¯t leave their territory since they will age.¡±

    ¡°Uh-uh, that is another question. If I answer, I¡¯ll ask two questions on my turn, yes?¡± Seeing me nod, he continued. ¡°They may not like to, but they are still human with human desires. Some prefer greed more than years, especially those of the younger Immortals.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Very good. Now for mine. This world you came from, what is it like?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a huge answer. Far bigger than any of my questions.¡±

    ¡°Indulge me, and I shall answer enough questions to match the length, little bird.¡±

    I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn¡¯t I was going anywhere, and I had no reason to hide information about Earth. I mean, they couldn¡¯t even get there so to them, it would be more like fantasy than anything else. So I started telling him about my world, beginning with the city I lived in. He asked more questions as I chatted and rambled on, and I answered them easily enough. By the time I came upon the subject of technology, the sun was starting to dip behind the horizon. It looked like he wanted to hear more, but he relented and had everyone stop for the night.

    A camp was erected within a dense forested area, some ways off the road we had been traveling on. Smokey the Bear would probably have had something to say about the fire hazard they were creating with their campfire, even with as low of a flame as they kept it, but I didn¡¯t have any problems with it. In fact, in my mind, I actively encouraged the flames to spread out and light the forest on fire. That would at least injure them enough to slow down our traveling, if I couldn¡¯t outright manage to escape. However, despite my hopes, it never went outside the circle of stones they gathered around the campfire.

    Of course, I was guarded heavily by two of them. Since I was a summoned Hero, they were extra careful and practically helping with everything from using the natural toilet called a bush and feeding me spoonful of some kind of meaty mush. They were honestly professional about it, not even bothering to sexually harass me when they could have. I knew I should be relieved, but I felt kind of sad that I apparently had so low of a sex appeal that they weren¡¯t interested at all. I always prided myself on my skin too¡­

    Of course, if it was the opposite with them, that would be way worse, so that was a comfort. When the night grew on, I was put on a bedroll and told to sleep. However, sleeping with my hands tied behind my back and in the same sweaty clothes that I had been wearing all day was like a mild form of torture. Every second grew longer, enough that I spent my time just listening to the crackle of the flames, the low chatter of the night watch, and the howls of distant wolves. Yet, my mind grew duller and my eyelids became heavier as I gradually succumbed to sleep.

    Only to be woken up like a moment later by hands shaking my shoulder. Damn it, I almost got to sleep too. My eyes snapped open as I glared at the one who woke me up.

    The driver.

    ¡°Great Mother, we must hurry.¡± He grabbed the rope tying my hands behind my back and started cutting it with a knife.

    I glanced around and saw the two guards were lying on the ground unconscious, blood dripping down from their forehead. I was tempted to ask how he did that, but I suppressed it; this wasn¡¯t the time for that.

    ¡°Why are you helping me?¡± I asked in a hushed whisper.

    ¡°I may be many things, but I¡¯m not a traitor to my country.¡± The rope came free, and he pulled it off.

    I held my wrists in front of me, rubbing the raw skin. My shoulders were aching as well from being put in an awkward position for a long time.

    ¡°You must leave. Head south that way.¡± The driver pointed in a certain direction, deeper into the dark forest. ¡°A large town should be a quarter of a day¡¯s walk.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±

    ¡°No, not me,¡± he said. ¡°I must take my wagon and go the other way.¡±

    My eyes widened. ¡°But that would mean¡­¡±

    ¡°They must not have you, Great Mother. I will distract them.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ll die. They¡¯ll chase you and when they get you, they¡¯ll torture you.¡±

    ¡°My knife is enough to take my own life. More than that, I am not a man if I watch my country fall to calamity.¡± He handed me a sword from one of the fallen guards. ¡°Take this and go quickly now. Hide in the shadows over yonder until they hear my commotion.¡±

    He shoved me towards a small, hollowed opening in one of the larger trees. It was in here that I hid as he moved out of sight. Yet, in the midst of this, my mind was in chaos. My heart was beating fast and furious at the thought of escape, but what was I supposed to feel about this? Someone was sacrificing his life for me, yet all I could think of was my own freedom. Did I only value human life to this degree?

    I did not know his name; I could barely see his face. Yet, even as I huddle alone inside this tree, his impression was fading from my mind. The face, I could not see any details of it anymore. I only knew that it was a dirt-stained face. Even his words were getting jumbled, to the point where I only knew the meat of the conversation. Had it really only been a few minutes? Didn¡¯t it seem more like hours?

    I heard shouts and running footsteps in front of my tree, but I dared not look out. A minute passed before I silently crept out and made a break for it. My feet crunched loudly on branches and leaves, but it made no difference with the amount of noise they were making. I dived deeper into the dark woods, so much so that I was only guided by the moonlight that shone through the crowns of leaves at the treetops. I ran and ran, barely slowing down to even take a breath.

    I tripped, my foot having gotten caught in an outstretched tree root. Sliding roughly through the dirt, the sheath of my sword got caught on something and was pulled off the blade. Rushing to my feet, I glanced back for the sheath but I couldn¡¯t see it in the darkness. I didn¡¯t want to hold a bare sword, especially when I could trip again and cut myself on it, but at the same time, I didn¡¯t want to get rid of the only protection I had. I awkwardly held it to the side, the blade stretched outward as I continued running.

    Now that I had done this, I knew my fate was sealed. They only needed me for my womb. That meant that they could cut off my hands and feet to make sure I couldn¡¯t escape again. Even if their employer wanted me unharmed, they could probably still get a lot of money from the exchange or they could sell me to someone else. Basically, if they caught me, that was the end for me. I had no choice but to go forward.

    Then I heard voices far behind me. I couldn¡¯t make them out, but I knew they were catching up. My mind was in a whirl. How did they find me? The distraction should have brought them off my trail unless¡­

    Trackers! Goddamnit, trackers! Why didn¡¯t I think of that? Of course, they had trackers; they were slavers! Oh my god, what do I do? I couldn¡¯t escape trackers. If I had known¡ªno, if I had just thought about it, I would have known, and then I wouldn¡¯t have done this. Help me. Someone please. I don¡¯t want to be crippled. I don¡¯t want to die!

    ¡°Ah!¡± I tripped and rolled down a slope. My sword¡¯s blade slashed randomly in the dirt and stone as I barreled downward. Just as I was about to fly off a cliff, I grabbed the ledge with my right hand, digging in my fingernails. In my left hand, I stubbornly kept hold of the sword, waving that around aimlessly. I should have dropped the sword, but I couldn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t know why but my fingers wouldn¡¯t let go. I moved my sword hand up and tried to grab the ledge, but the hilt got in the way. I could feel my right hand starting to slip.

    And my fingernails snapped off. For a moment, the world froze. As if in slow motion, my nail-less fingers frantically tried to embed itself into the sliding dirt. No, that was wrong. I was the one sliding. The moment my fate was sealed, the moment my fingers stopped touching the cliff¡¯s edge, I felt a moment of calm. I should have been raving. I should have been screaming at the injustice of it all, but none of that left my mouth. I think I was even smiling. There was nothing I could do, and I knew that.

    Falling through the air. That was a once in a lifetime experience. I had never once done skydiving, but maybe I would have loved it if I had the chance to try it. There was just something invigorating abou¡ª

    My vision crashed.

 Chapter 7: Emergence

    I wasn¡¯t expecting to wake up, but I did. Turning over to my side, I coughed out an arrow of blood that stained the arid dirt floor. Flopping back, I simply stared up at the sky. The twilight colors of dawn was drowning the clouds in an orange glow.

    I could see the cliff that I fell from, high above. At this height, I should have been dead. Adding on to that, the ground beneath me was rock hard, so the impact was probably nothing to scoff at.  It was likely that my spine was injured. Well, moving was a pain anyways.

    I looked to the side. In my left hand, I was still holding on to my sword. For a moment, I thought about ending everything with it, but I quickly trashed that idea. Suicide should always be a last resort. It was hard for me to think of it in any other way; it was just how I was raised. Ignoring common sense, I tried pushing myself up, but my whole body screamed in agony at the action, forcing me back down.

    I was going to die here, wasn¡¯t I?

    It was a calm enough question, but the thought, the undercurrent that kept running through my head said:

    I don¡¯t want to die. I don¡¯t want to die.

    I braced my elbows against the ground and slowly pushed myself up. Was I screaming? I was pretty sure I was screaming. By the time I managed to sit up, I knew for a fact that I was screaming unceasingly. My vision blurred. My screaming was only interrupted when I coughed out another splatter of blood, though this time on my pants.

    I touched my back. It was wet and slick with blood. I licked the blood off my hand. I didn¡¯t know why I did that. No, I knew. It would go back into my body, right? I railed against the thought. I had to be delirious to think that, yet maybe I was. I licked my hand clean.

    I was crying. I was crying so much, but my throat felt dehydrated. If I cried too much, I would become too thirsty. Why was I thinking so rationally? I tried to stop it, wiping my dirty sleeves across my eyes, but I only managed to make it worse.

    I rolled onto my front and pushed against the ground. Tears fell and drool fell, moistening the solid and dry dirt. I pulled my knees up. I probably looked like a caterpillar, but I didn¡¯t care. Against the pain, against the mind-numbing agony, I crawled to my feet. Yes, I didn¡¯t know how I managed to do that, but I somehow crawled to my feet. How could someone crawl to a standing position? I didn¡¯t know, but the world was spinning enough that it made sense.

    I vaguely heard footsteps, but I didn¡¯t pay attention as my feet began to sway again. Soon, I heard a voice. I looked up.

    Standing in front of me was the snake-like kidnapper with a few of his men. He stared at me, and I looked back through my blurry vision. He said something, something about how long it took him to get down the cliffside, but I wasn¡¯t paying much attention. My hands. I looked down at my hands. Were they going to be cut off? I asked him that.

    ¡°You have been punished enough. Drop the blade and come back with us.¡± He didn¡¯t seem so much like a snake now. Wait¡­was I still holding onto my sword? My mind was slowly collapsing. I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He was offering a way out, so I took¡ª

    There was a glint of light, and his head fell off.

    I cried out as blood sprayed out of the stump of a neck. Was it dismay? It was like my hope was snatched away before my eyes. There was yelling and screaming, but I could only pay attention to that dripping stump.

    It was only when the noise stopped that I noticed someone familiar standing in front of me, blocking my vision of that stump.

    Who are you?

    I wondered. Then I remembered.

    ¡°Val¡­kana¡­?¡±

    Her axe dropped from her hand. She came forward and shakily touched my arms. ¡°Jen¡­Jennifer, you¡¯re bleeding so much.¡±

    Hearing those words, like it was magic, I felt all my energy disappear from my body. She caught me as I slumped forward. ¡°I¡¯m¡­tired¡­¡±

    ¡°Quickly now! Bring the healers here! Hurry!¡±

    My consciousness faded.

    ~o~

    ¡°I¡¯m alive?¡± Those were the first words I spoke when I woke up in my bed. Looking around, I saw that this was my room. I was clearly in the palace, and not in a dirty bedroll or on rock-hard dirt. I was here, alive and not in pain, though my body felt a bit numb.

    ¡°Your¡­Your Highness!¡± I turned my head to the side and saw Alina sitting in a chair at my bedside. She was crying while smiling.

    ¡°A¡­Alina¡­?¡± My voice was hoarse, and my throat felt incredibly dry. It also felt itchy enough that I wanted to cough, but it seemed like if I did that, it would rip my throat raw. ¡°Water.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± She rushed around and got me a cup from a nearby table with a pitcher of water. I drank deeply from the cup. It was only when I had devoured the last drop that my throat felt a little bit better. Not by much, but at least it wasn¡¯t like a scratchy chalkboard anymore.

    ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been asleep for a week, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°A week¡­¡± I collapsed back onto my pillow. To tell the truth, I was expecting death, coma, or months-long hospital stay, but I didn¡¯t see any bandages on me or any kind of body cast. In fact, it didn¡¯t even hurt to move around. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very complicated. I¡¯m sure His Majesty would prefer to explain it to you himself. I will call for him now.¡± Before Alina could leave, I grabbed her wrist.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± I said firmly.

    Alina shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s better for¡ª¡±

    ¡°Alina, you¡¯re my maid. Tell me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± She glanced at the door and then at me. With a sigh, she said, ¡°His Majesty will not be pleased.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I have only heard a few pieces, Your Highness,¡± Alina said. ¡°The princess rescued you.¡±

    ¡°How badly was I hurt?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say for certain.¡± Her eyes looked away. ¡°You were barely alive when they brought you here.¡±

    I remembered snake-like man¡¯s words about how Valkana had been distracted by another Immortal, but I needed to confirm it. ¡°Was Valkana attacked?¡±

    ¡°How¡­how did Your Highness know about that?¡±

    ¡°What do you know, Alina? Tell me.¡±

    Her fingers were clutching at her dress. ¡°There was an assassination attempt on the princess¡¯s life in the marketplace.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that place crowded?¡± I asked, perplexed.

    She slowly nodded.

    ¡°Then those people¡­¡± The horrible realization came to me.

    She nodded her head again. ¡°Twenty perished. Fifty were injured.¡±

    These people, I didn¡¯t know them. However, they were dead because of me, because I wanted to see the city. Yet, it wasn¡¯t their deaths that made me feel bad; it was from the fact that I felt nothing about them. Even as horrible as it sounds, they were just numbers to me. I took a slow breath and cleared my thoughts. ¡°What happened next?¡±

    ¡°The princess drove him off.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I nodded my head in thanks. ¡°You can tell them I¡¯m awake now.¡±

    ¡°Right away, Your Highness.¡± Alina bowed her head and quickly left the room, leaving me to my thoughts.

    Honestly, this whole world hadn¡¯t felt real. Not like a dream, but more like this was just a vacation of sorts, a trip down a rabbit hole in which I would soon return from. I knew that there was no real and logical way that could be, but in my heart, there was a little bit clinging onto that hope. Even now, I felt that if I believed in it strongly enough¡ªno, I should stop that line of thought right there. There was no point in this, and I had more important matters to consider.

    There was no way that my back¡ªmy spine¡ªhad not been broken. I wasn¡¯t a doctor or a physicist, just a simple student, but a fall from that height should have shattered me. I had seen pictures on the internet of suicides, of those that fell from tall buildings. They were not pretty sights, and I was sure that I bled out more than what I saw back there. I should have gone into shock or simply died from blood loss, but that obviously didn¡¯t happen. I reached back and ran a hand down my back, under my shirt. All I felt was just wholesome skin, without any scars.

    When I brought my hand back and looked down at it, I saw nothing on it. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. I could vividly see an overlap of red over it, but it wasn¡¯t real. The image stayed in the same form, even when I closed my hand. I felt nauseous. The memory came unbiddingly to the forefront of my mind, the moment I drank my own blood. It was a strange thing to do, and I still wasn¡¯t quite sure why I did it. There was one important thing I remembered about it though.

    It didn¡¯t taste bad.

    I hid my hands under the blanket. Out of sight, out of mind. It was juvenile, that was for sure, but I didn¡¯t care. Well, at least, that was what I had hoped for. However, that wasn¡¯t what I got.

    I sighed. This wasn¡¯t helping. I moved to get off the bed. Surprisingly enough, I didn¡¯t feel anything wrong with my body as I swung my legs over the edge; in fact, it was working as if I had never gotten injured in the first place. There was no pain or any hindrance that I could associate with healing broken bones¡­or ruptured organs? No, it couldn¡¯t have been that serious.

    Once I got up, I went over to the mirror and looked at myself. As I thought, except for the shirt and loose pajamas, there was nothing different about me. I even gave a little twirl, but I didn¡¯t see anything out of place. It was so weird. I kept trying to look for something, anything really, but there really was nothing. Was healing magic at this level in this world? It was far better than anything from Earth. Though, it was probably a lot harder and rarer to train in it too.

    I really should stop wasting time on this. Just as I was about to turn, I saw something displayed in the mirror. On the table on the other side of the room, according to the reflection, there was a sword. Not just any sword, but one that I was familiar with. I turned around and walked over to the place.

    The blade was laid bare on the table, its chipped and stained blade gleaming. It was cleaner than I remembered, but honestly, I didn¡¯t really get a good look at it. When I was holding onto it, I had been running through the dark forest. I ran my finger over the blunt side of the blade, making sure not to come close to any chipped edges. It was not slick or smooth, but rather, a savage and worn blade. In the end, I hadn¡¯t use it even once. What was the point of keeping it back then?

    ¡°You were holding it the entire way back to the palace.¡±

    My shoulders jumped, but I forcefully resisted spinning around. With some effort, I turned around at a normal pace. Valkana was walking towards me. She stopped beside me and looked down at the blade.

    ¡°A poorly made sword. Unbalanced, damaged, and worn. Made brittle by improper maintenance.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you come in, Valkana.¡± Now that she was closer, I could see that she had bandages just peeking out of her sleeve. ¡°You¡¯re hurt.¡±

    ¡°Poison. It will only take a month longer to dissipate.¡± I felt a chill at her words. With how their healing magic was, they were able to heal all my injuries in under a week. Just how powerful was this poison?

    ¡°How did you¡ª¡±

    ¡°It is not important,¡± Valkana interrupted. ¡°I must know how you fared during your abduction. The prisoners did talk, but I must hear it from your own tongue. I scarcely believe every word they spit out of their rotten mouths.¡±

    ¡°Is it really necessary?¡±

    ¡°Forgive me for threading on this painful topic, but I must know. Some had escaped. Every detail may hold a clue that mayhaps leads to finding them.¡±

    I sighed. It looked like I wasn¡¯t getting out of this. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s like this. When we were in the market, I saw a little boy¡ª¡±

    ¡°How old? What did his face look like? What was he wearing?¡±

    I frowned. ¡°You can¡¯t expect me to remember that.¡±

    ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Alright, fine. I don¡¯t remember much, but this is what I know about him.¡±

    To say that a boring conversation ensued was putting it mildly. Speaking it all out was actually less emotionally painful than I thought it would be. Perhaps it was the act of bottling it up that made it seem like something bigger than it really was. Or maybe I was taking too lightly now that I was out of danger; I did almost die after all. Whatever the case, I proceeded to recall as much as I could about what happened. She interrupted me at different parts of my story to ask about more details, which I tried to answer as best as I could.

    By the time that I was done, I was exhausted. It wasn¡¯t really from telling the main story; most of it was actually from the interrogation. I had to stop my story to try to remember as much information as I could to answer her questions. However, I didn¡¯t have an eidetic memory, and I certainly wasn¡¯t the greatest of students. Not even close. In the end, my details were basic at best with the only exception being if the person or object had a defining feature like a scar. Once I finished my story, I asked her a question.

    ¡°Was any of it useful?¡±

    ¡°I do not know,¡± Valkana said. ¡°I shall write a report and have the royal investigators see through it.¡±

    ¡°Well, I told my story. Now, tell me yours.¡±

    ¡°Mine?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°What happened after I chased after the child?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not importa¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that!¡± I stared at her sternly. ¡°It¡¯s my fault that you got hurt. I want to know what happened.¡±

    ¡°¡­very well.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been standing for awhile. Let¡¯s take a seat.¡± Seeing Valkana¡¯s nod, I headed over to a nearby table and took a seat. Valkana sat in a chair on the other side. She was quiet, but I was patient enough to wait for her. However, that patience was strained after nearly five minutes of waiting, but she chose that time to finally speak.

    ¡°I saw you leave. It would not have been a problem had there been no crowd. As it was, I had to slowly push through in order not to injure them.¡± Valkana looked contemplative. ¡°It was at that time, when I lost sight of you, that the Immortal struck his blow.¡±

    ¡°Who is he?¡±

    ¡°Faringa Rwen. His earned title is ¡®The Eclipse of Festic¡¯. This was given to him a couple of decades prior, at the skirmish between his and our country¡¯s borders where he spilled so much blood so quickly that the sun above were blotted out of sight by the amount of blood in the air. Famed for his incredible speed and skilled usage of a pair of twin long knives,¡± Valkana answered. ¡°He ambushed me, caught me off guard. From the rooftops, he dived into the crowd and cut a bloody swath to me.¡±

    My eyes widened slightly. ¡°That would mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Many died. I had heard that twenty perished and fifty were wounded. Each slash of his blades towards me ripped through any innocents in the way, all simply to unwound me, to make me angry. A foolish tactic. He was not yet even half a century old, yet he was recklessly foolish enough to not consider that my wealth of experience would let me see through his act. I cut his arm off and tore an eye out, but not before he wounded me with his poisoned blades.¡±

    ¡°Did you kill him?¡±

    ¡°He escaped. His speed is prodigious, but his strength does not match. Without the poison, he would not have done me much harm.¡±

    ¡°But you still came after me.¡±

    ¡°I did,¡± Valkana acknowledged. ¡°It was my fault you were abducted. I took a party of knights and trackers as well as a single healer with me to search for you.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t stop you when they saw your injuries?¡±

    ¡°I did not tell them about the poison.¡±

    ¡°It could have killed you,¡± I said.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Valkana simply stated.

    ¡°So you were going to kill yourself to find me?¡±

    ¡°If it was necessary.¡±

    ¡°B-but you shouldn¡¯t have to!¡±

    Valkana tapped her finger on the table. ¡°If I had not, I would not have saved you in time.¡±

    I bit my lip. She was right. If she hadn¡¯t come along when she did, I would have probably died. Yet, at the same time, I couldn¡¯t accept that she took such a huge risk for me, especially when there were others who could have done the search without her. I mentioned that to her.

    ¡°Faringa is still alive. If I had not gone, there would be no protection against him,¡± Valkana said. ¡°I told only the healer. He sustained me through the journey.¡±

    ¡°And on the journey back?¡±

    ¡°He was keeping you alive. I managed to suffice without his assistance.¡± Valkana looked pensive. ¡°You should not berate my decision as I cannot berate your decision to flee. Without that extra time, we would not have found you so soon. Mayhaps not even in time before you would reach the border if Faringa were to ambush us on the way.¡±

    I frowned, but again, there was not much I could say. To be more accurate, I didn¡¯t know what to say. The comparison wasn¡¯t quite the same, but I could see the symmetry. However, I was looking past that. The reason for both situation was the same.

    It was because of me. I felt bad for forcing this situation onto Valkana. However, I felt almost nothing for the casualties she talked about. The fact that I felt nothing made me feel worse. How ironic was that? Maybe the reason I felt nothing was that it felt more like statistics than any real person. I understood that a tragedy happened, that many people lost their lives or were maimed, but it was impersonal to me even though I was there at one point and saw some of their faces. It reminded me of the time on Earth when I had heard that a man was shot a few blocks down from my home; I completely ignored the news since it didn¡¯t really involve me.

    But it did this time. It involved me. I was the cause of their deaths, yet I still felt nothing. I understood that it was a tragedy, that maybe if I heard more information about the victims, I would feel sympathy. Or perhaps, I would just feel pity. I didn¡¯t quite know what to think of it.

    ¡°Can I go and see the marketplace?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not advisable at this time to be outside the palace, Jennifer.¡±

    I sighed. I couldn¡¯t really argue with that. I would have to shelve it for later.

    ¡°I need to become stronger,¡± I told her.

    ¡°I will not deny this to you, but I must still question.¡± Valkana looked at me with a serious look in her eyes. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay in here sheltered forever. I want to see more of the world, but I can¡¯t do anything without strength.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± She nodded her head. ¡°That is the way of the world.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell Ranzel to arrange an instructor for me?¡±

    ¡°No need,¡± Valkana said. ¡°I will train you myself.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re a princess.¡±

    ¡°And I am still your granddaughter. If that does not suffice, think of it as penance.¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything wrong.¡±

    ¡°I did much wrong,¡± she said in a uncompromising voice. ¡°I will heed no argument against that.¡±

    I held in a sigh. It was actually a little hard to speak to her, not because of her style of talking, but rather how blunt she was. There was no easy way to stop or get around a hammer strike, especially with how stubborn she was.

    ¡°So when do we begin?¡± I simply asked. There was no use in trying to deter her. In any case, now that I thought about it, this actually wasn¡¯t a bad result. Valkana was probably better than any instructor that could be hired for me, though it was probably overkill since, to be efficient, the level of the teacher should match the student¡¯s current need.

    ¡°Tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Not even another day to rest?!¡±

    ¡°You had a full week to sleep.¡±

    I frowned. That could hardly be called sleeping.

    ¡°Retire early tonight. Tomorrow, we begin at daybreak.¡±

    ¡°Does¡­does it have to be that early?¡± I was reluctant enough to get up in the morning, and now she expected me to wake up even earlier? This was madness.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said in a tone that I knew I couldn¡¯t complain against. At least with a royal hired instructor, I could at least get some concessions, but it seemed like Valkana was going for the full spartan course. If that really was the case, I was going to miss eating desert. ¡°The earlier, the better.¡±

    ¡°If you want early, then why settle for dawn? Let¡¯s wake up at midnight,¡± I said sarcastically.

    ¡°Then midnight we shall¡ª¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I quickly interceded. ¡°That was joke. Really.¡±

    I had almost forgotten that she was a dense, dense girl from a dense, dense world. Seriously, if she hadn¡¯t gotten to the point that she could differentiate sarcasm after all those centuries, then she probably would never understand. Either that or my sense of sarcasm was too otherworldly. I needed to remember to be more blunt with her.

    ¡°Okay, dawn it is. I wonder if I can even wake up at that time.¡±

    ¡°You need not worry. I will come to awaken you.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± I quickly said. I remembered what happened last time. Having a human statue stand over me when I wake up wouldn¡¯t be good for my heart. ¡°I¡¯ll have my maid wake me up.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I shall take my leave. We will meet in the same location at daybreak.¡± Valkana turned on her heels and left the room. It was only after she left that Alina came in.

    ~o~

    While Valkana was the one who informed of the general events that happened, it was Alina who gave me information behind the scenes. Quite frankly, I was surprised that she knew so much; it was the kind of sensitive information that I would expect only a high ranking official would know. I guessed that pretty much vouches for how much loyalty she showed to the palace, to be trusted with this kind of information.

    My kidnapping was being hidden. Instead, the only thing that was being made public was the fact that Valkana was secretly going into town to shop when an assassination attempt was taken on her life. Since there was so many witnesses, there was no point in hiding the identity of the assassin, so it was common knowledge that it was an Immortal from Festic. Each Immortal usually had a great many achievements before they got strong enough to become Immortals so they were essentially easy to identify. As you could imagine, there was a big uproar.

    Having an Immortal attack was very high profile, and in some cases, that was enough to instigate war. To calm the populace, an official envoy was sent to Festic to condemn the attacks. Well, to put things more in perspective, Festic was a neighboring country that bordered our own. While rather large in territory, it mostly consisted of swamps and marshes so the population was actually not as high as their territory would imply. However, their country had a lot of natural gasses that made it valuable. Perhaps because of all these factors, it was a pretty dangerous environment to live in. From the natural environment that you could easily die in without ever being found to the roving bands of greedy bandits and hidden coves of monsters, it was a place where death was just around the corner. It was for that reason that the territory was often ignored by other nations.

    That wasn¡¯t to say Festic didn¡¯t have its own defenses. The swamps and marshes would bog down troops and the monsters would seriously impede marches. That wasn¡¯t even mentioning the fact that the country had the best ingredients for the most dangerous of substances like poison. They were very adept at creating traps so a gas geyser rigged to explode would be the least of the many problems that would come from invading such a country. If I had to make a comparison, I would say this would be like attacking Russia in the middle of winter, except it was all year-round.

    ¡°The war hawks are clamoring for war,¡± Alina told me.

    ¡°Everything stems from my carelessness,¡± I said.

    ¡°Please do not blame yourself so, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I need to do what I can.¡±

    So I forcefully convinced Alina to bring me to where Ranzel was. It felt bad to badger her like that, but I was feeling worse at the moment so it seemed like just topping on an overfilled ice cream cone. How was I supposed to know that chasing after a child thief would end up in all this? Nevertheless, it did. I knew that I couldn¡¯t have possibly predicted such a thing from some inconsequential action, but it was a matter of fact that I left my bodyguard. I made myself vulnerable and an easy target.

    We made our way to the throne room. There were two guards that were going to announced our presence, but I used the authority that I didn¡¯t know I had to stop them. The doors opened and, from inside, eyes were directed to us, but most kept their attention on the nobles speaking before King Ranzel, who sat idly on the throne with his elbow propped up on the armrest. In between the King and the two speaking nobles was a large table with a map on it.

    ¡°Your Majesty! We cannot allow our enemies to step all over us without consequences. Say the word, and I shall organize the finest of my soldiers at your command,¡± a noble said.

    ¡°And do what? Retaliate by invading their country?¡± another noble asked. ¡°You overestimate yourself, Sir. Do you not notice the other nations watching us? By the time this ends, the beaks of the vultures will be upon us, ready to take us apart piece by piece.¡±

    ¡°Then what shall we do?! We cannot let this pass idly. They cannot be allowed to run ramshod all over us!¡±

    ¡°Just send some Immortals to make a mess of them.¡±

    ¡°Fool! The borders between the countries have been tightened. They cannot come into ours and we cannot come into theirs. If you had half a mind, you would¡¯ve realized this.¡±

    ¡°Sir, take back that insult or I shall duel you this day.¡±

    ¡°A fool will always remain a fool. I will gladly take your¡ª¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Ranzel smashed the bottom of his closed fist against the armrest, the loud noise resounding through the room. ¡°Do you not see that you both are embarrassing yourself in front of the Queen Mother.¡±

    It was only then that both nobles looked back to see me standing awkwardly in front of the opened doors. I had instinctively stopped when I heard their arguments, and I had been listening so intently that I had forgotten myself. Alina gave me a small pat on my back, giving me the start that I needed. I walked forward until I was halfway into the room. The eyes of the crowd on either side of the throne room were all focused on me.

    ¡°Mother,¡± Ranzel began. ¡°I see that you¡¯ve returned from your vacation in the countryside.¡±

    ¡°I have,¡± I said. Alina had already informed me of my cover story.

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m in the middle of a meeting, so we should talk another time.¡±

    It was a dismissal if I ever heard one, but I wasn¡¯t about to leave.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but overhear the argument just now.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You have an opinion on it?¡± He took on a more wary look.

    ¡°A bit, but I think you¡¯ve already made up your mind on it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still deciding,¡± he said, but I could tell that it wasn¡¯t quite truthful. I probably shouldn¡¯t have called him out on it since it looked like he was doing it to placate his audience. Still, I pressed on.

    ¡°Why invade?¡±

    One of the noblemen spoke up, ¡°Have you not heard what they did?! Blood demands retribution!¡±

    Ranzel gave the man a scolding glare. ¡°Be mindful of who you¡¯re speaking to.¡±

    ¡°F-forgive me, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Well, that is¡­what I mean is that there¡¯s no point in it if you aren¡¯t going to annex it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Explain,¡± Ranzel simply said.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± All of their burning gazes were focused on me. ¡°Even if you attack them, we¡¯re not strong enough to take them over, right? Won¡¯t some other country swoop in afterward?¡±

    Another nobleman spoke up: ¡°That would be even better. Let them all perish.¡±

    ¡°That would be worse for us. All we¡¯d be doing is weakening them for some other country to take over and get stronger with,¡± I said. ¡°An invasion wouldn¡¯t do us any good. It¡¯d just make us weaker.¡±

    There was a small chorus of agreement, but not enough to be substantial.

    ¡°And you have a solution?¡± Ranzel¡¯s eyes had a wary glint to them.

    ¡°Well, I¡­maybe,¡± I said. ¡°But first, there are a few questions I have.¡±

    Ranzel waved for me to continue.

    ¡°What resources and products are we importing and exporting to Festic?¡± I already knew the answer to this from Alina that we export food to them since they can¡¯t produce their own very well, but I needed to confirm it before I continued.

    ¡°Stop. I know where this is going,¡± Ranzel said. ¡°However, food can simply be imported from another country.¡±

    ¡°That would still drive up prices.¡±

    ¡°There are many countries that would like to see us fall. Their support, both public and hidden, will keep Festic afloat.¡±

    Well, that sucked. My idea went down the drain. I probably should have talked this out with Alina first before coming here to present it, but hindsight was 50/50. I was feeling more than a bit disgruntled at my idea having floundered before it even came to light. It was in this state of mind that he spoke to me.

    ¡°Do you have any more ideas?¡± Those eyes that stared at me looked as if they expected nothing more from me. That made me irritated.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t you just declare war but not go to war? Just punk them out.¡± I just threw it out there, but from the confused expression, I guess they didn¡¯t understand what I meant. ¡°I mean, trick them. Just make a huge army and put it at the border.¡±

    ¡°And what would the purpose of that be?¡±

    ¡°They will make an army as well to match, and we could just¡­stare at them for a few months.¡±

    ¡°¡­stare at them?¡± Ranzel asked incredulously.

    ¡°Well, yeah. Eventually, after a few months, they¡¯ll get bored and tired, right? They¡¯ll be forced to do something stupid since it¡¯ll probably strain their finances and supplies to keep an army at ready.¡±

    ¡°So siege tactics?¡±

    ¡°Kind of. More like a cold war. I know we can¡¯t surround them, but if we keep them on their toes and harass them, it will deplete their supplies. Since they can¡¯t produce their own food, there¡¯s going to be price gouging because of the higher demand, so it would be hard for them to hold on even with the support of other nations. And if they decide to invade, we¡¯ll have plenty of traps on our side of the border by then.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that.¡± Ranzel tapped his chin. ¡°However, Festic is a smaller nation in terms of population. It would not be too difficult for other countries to keep them alive for a few years, and the traps are unnecessary. Still, the damage to their morale is not negligible.¡±

    Prompted by his words, the crowd of both sides of the room exploded in chatter, but from the little I skimped off of them here and there, there wasn¡¯t really any objections. Some grumbles, but they were mostly agreeable. I was honestly surprised that a random thought I threw out would actually be taken in a good light, but some of what he said made me feel disgruntle. Traps were unnecessary? That was stupid. Still, I wasn¡¯t going to call him out, at least not in front of a crowd.

    ¡°This¡­this might actually work.¡±

    ¡°We only need natural gasses and plant ingredients from them. Even if the prices increase, they¡¯re nothing too essential so we can last a few years with just our stockpile alone.¡±

    ¡°Are they even known for their patience? They¡¯ll break the stalemate and attack. At that time, we¡¯ll crush them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a sound plan for now, but Festic will be a staging area for the machinations of the other countries. We must be wary of espionage and assassination squads.¡±

    ¡°Bah! Seal the borders then. We¡¯ll clench our ass so tight that nothing will get in.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t arbitrarily seal our borders, you imbecile. Think of the damage to the merchant trade routes!¡±

    ¡°Um, is that even possible?¡± I interjected into their loud debate. ¡°If you put the armies at the borders, then it¡¯ll get bad for internal security.¡± Just thinking about the kidnapping that I went through sent shivers down my spine. Even if there weren¡¯t any foreign elements coming in, bandits would start popping up to take advantage of the lack of security.

    ¡°Ah, so you don¡¯t know yet. Come to the table, mother,¡± Ranzel beckoned.

    I walked up to the table as the two nobles there stepped aside to make room for me. On the table was the map, but I could see clearly now that it was a map of this world. There was marker where Ashran and Festic were, showing how they bordered each other on one side.

    ¡°The borders of our country is not simply for show. There is a giant wall that extends around the entirety of our territory.¡± As Ranzel explained, the noble on my right put his finger down on the map and traced the borders of Ashran. ¡°You can think of it like the Great Wall of China, but taller.¡±

    I quirked an eyebrow. I guessed that was why traps were unnecessary, but just why would you need a wall that tall? Nothing could get past that except maybe a titan or three dimensional maneuvering gear, but thankfully, they only existed in fiction. Still, this kind of wall would take a lot of manpower to keep it properly maintained. I could only imagine a skeleton crew at best. I made a mention of that.

    ¡°Hahaha, Your Highness.¡± The noble on my left laughed gruffly with his full beard shaking. ¡°This is where you¡¯re mistaken. The wall is manned by spotters, civilians with good eyesight. Our armies are roaming inside the country, ready to respond if the signal is given.¡±

    Huh. That was actually a good strategy. This kept most of the army off of guard duty, making it so their skills won¡¯t be nearly as wasted. Still, I spotted a problem with it. ¡°What if they capture the wall before your army reaches there?¡±

    ¡°The Great Wall is crafted to last. It¡¯s been there for hundreds of years. They¡¯d have to climb the wall to get anywhere.¡± This is when I could see him smirk under his beard. ¡°Unfortunately for them, the defenses aren¡¯t so simple. The interior of the Great Wall contains lava! There are slits on the outer wall that can be remotely opened to pour lava down the wall.¡±

    My jaw dropped. This was insane. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the lava damage the wall?¡±

    ¡°There are permanent enchantments to prevent that.¡± The bearded noble folded his arms in front of him. ¡°The most vulnerable spots are the gates, but those are strategically placed and can be sealed. A fortress castle and town are usually nearby for support. If they could get through all of that, they would have my admiration.¡±

    That was actually pretty hefty. I could understand now why Ashran was called a fortress nation. Never mind attacking the country, sneaking in would be hard as hell without simply going through the gates.

    Not impossible, though. Since it was made hundreds of years ago, there were probably plenty of hidden tunnels into and out of the country, no matter how deep the wall extended underground. If that was the case, there was no point in closing the borders. I said as much to them.

    ¡°This is a known problem, mother,¡± Ranzel said from his throne. ¡°Periodically, we have the earth mages scour the countryside for them and collapse them.¡±

    ¡°Why not put booby traps in them?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Traps?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. Fear tactics. They would be afraid of using an existing tunnel because they don¡¯t know if it is dangerous or not, so they would have to keep making new ones. That would take longer to do.¡± It was actually a vicious thing for me to suggest. I knew that it would probably result in some deaths, but at the same time, I didn¡¯t really care. They were the enemy, after all.

    The noble on my right said, ¡°Hmmm actually, that''s quite¡­¡±

    A noble in the crowd spoke up. ¡°Why not? Kill as many as we can.¡±

    Another in the crowd said: ¡°What if the peasantry die from them?¡±

    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be using those tunnels in the first place!¡±

    ¡°If the villagers are using it to get past the wall, they might as well be traitors. I give my assent to this idea. It is sound.¡±

    ¡°Two inventive suggestions. The Queen Mother is more tactically-minded than at first glance. I second this.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. I give my agreement as well. Praise should be given where due.¡±

    I preened under the compliments as they continued speaking, but at the same time, it made me feel self-conscious. I fussily straightened out the wrinkles in my dress. Not that there really were wrinkles that mattered, but whatever. I didn¡¯t really think about it that much as I went to work.

    ¡°Your Highness, calm down,¡± Alina stealthily said as she stood next to me.

    I nodded and took a deep breath. Looking up, I saw Ranzel staring down at me from his throne.

    ¡°You¡¯ve just returned so you must be tired. Please return to your room and rest.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as I nodded. He gave me a way out, and I wasn¡¯t about to refuse it, especially I had already finished what I came here to do. With a bow of my head, I left the throne room with Alina. It was only when I was outside that I let out a sigh of relief. Next to me, Alina smiled.

    ¡°You should take His Majesty¡¯s advice and rest. Your magic teacher had already arrived a couple of days ago, and he has requested that you begin your lessons tomorrow.¡±

    Wait, what?

    ~o~

    A/N: This took a little longer since I had to make quite a bit of changes during my proofreading.

 Chapter 8: Learning

    How was I supposed to survive this? I collapsed in my chair as the maids around waved feathered fans at me. It couldn¡¯t come close to an electric fan, but I appreciated the effort. I had never felt so sore in my life. From the soles of my feet to the top of my shoulders, Valkana had worked every inch of my body and then some. Ugh, if I was like this now, tomorrow was going to be hell on my muscles. I was half-expecting that I wouldn¡¯t be able to move tomorrow if at all. Not only that, but I had a magic lesson in a couple of hours. How was I supposed to attend it like this?

    The day had started out pretty bad. I got awakened by my maids in the very early morning, so much so that I was practically dead on my feet. The only reason I managed to drag myself out of bed was from the fact that my maids really did drag me out of bed after I wouldn¡¯t get out for half an hour. I only gained some levels of consciousness once they had already switched out my sleeping clothes or training clothes. There was only time to eat  half of the breakfast they brought me before I had to rush to meet up with Valkana in the courtyard.

    From there, my day went from bad to worse. I thought it was going to be like those medieval movies, where they were always training by swinging around their swords at training dummies. Had I been more awake, I probably would have remembered that I already saw their real training style when I went touring with Regio and Lisa. That was to say, it was modern military style, which meant I was on the floor, heaving dust with my super poor push-ups and sit-ups. That wasn¡¯t even talking about the numbers of laps I had to run around the courtyard. While I did have enhanced strength¡ªand that helped¡ªit certainly wasn¡¯t enhanced endurance. It certainly didn¡¯t translated to technique or skill either. The amount of times she had to fix up my posture was embarrassing, and I kept messing up even then.

    ¡°Your Highness, do you feel better?¡±

    ¡°Not yet. Keep fanning.¡±

    I knew I shouldn¡¯t be taking advantage of them, but they were so convenient that it felt natural. Besides, they would probably be forced into a harder duty if they weren¡¯t attending to me.

    Or at least, that was what I kept telling myself.

    ¡°Alina, am I taking advantage of you?¡±

    ¡°No, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I mean, I am making you do this¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to serve you. I¡¯d feel happier if you made more use of us than you do,¡± Alina said. ¡°Please, use us as you wish.¡±

    And that was that. They wanted it so who was I to deny them that? It wasn¡¯t like I was abusing them or anything; I was just making things a little convenient for myself. While that may not sound much, but it was actually a big deal since there were no technology here.

    ¡°What do you know about the new magic teacher, Alina?¡±

    ¡°I only saw him once, Your Highness. He was covered in a black robe so I couldn¡¯t see what he looked like.¡±

    I shrugged my shoulder. ¡°Just as well.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± one of the other maids said, ¡°I heard some rumors about him.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Go on.¡±

    It seemed that my teacher was young. Really young. He was a thirteen year old genius¡ªa super genius, in fact¡ªbut he was eccentric enough to be considered an outcast. That was because he was trying to learn all of the different magic instead of focusing on one, believing that it was better to be versatile than to specialize. I could see that would come in handy, but at the same time, it was time-consuming. It was for that reason that he only mastered some of the basic spells of each magic type. I could understand the thought, though I knew the flaws to it too. For a soloist or a duelist, it would be massively helpful, but for party play, specialized was a whole lot better. Because of his eccentricities and stubbornness, there was apparently no sponsors for him. Though, I supposed it paid off since it made him ideal for the teaching position Ranzel had in mind.

    Still, being taught by someone younger than me was going to be weird.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired,¡± I whined. ¡°Can¡¯t we move it to another day?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go inform him, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait, wait. I didn¡¯t actually mean it.¡± I had already said that I would attend, and I wasn¡¯t so flaky on my responsibilities that I would actually cancel a meeting this late or ditch it outright. ¡°I wanted to complain just to complain.¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, he¡¯s here for your convenience, not the other way around. I¡¯ll reschedule the lesson for tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. First impressions are important,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, Valkana wants me back here tomorrow so I¡¯ll be tired then too.¡±

    Just thinking about tomorrow made my bones ache. Would I even be able to get up from bed tomorrow? Valkana did tell me that for heroes, they have a higher growth rate and healing rate, but this was a ridiculous exercise regime. Well, that was tomorrow. I yawned and stretched my arms out. Right now, I was just going to relax and let the fans¡­cool¡­my¡­my¡­

    I fell asleep.

    ~o~

    It was more than an hour later that I was forcefully woken up by Alina and sent off on my way. Well, not really sent off, per say, since she and the other maids had to guide me there. They waited outside the library while I entered alone. Unlike the other time that I was here, it was completely empty of people which was a little strange. Oh wait, not so empty. There was one person sitting at a table there, reading a book. He was surrounded by stacks of books that littered both the table and the floor around him.

    He was a teen by any standard, but he was short enough that I would have mistaken him for a late elementary student or an early middle school student. It didn¡¯t look like he hit his growth spurt yet, and he was cherubic-looking child with slightly marshmallow-like cheeks and a mop of silvery hair. If I had to guess his age, I would have said nine or ten at most, not thirteen. He was adorable in his own right, especially when he looked up at me with his saucer eyes. However, it was hard to ignore his arrogant expression.

    ¡°Library¡¯s reserved. Leave.¡±

    I frowned. That wasn¡¯t very polite. He probably didn¡¯t know who I was, but even if he didn¡¯t know my identity, he shouldn¡¯t treat people like this.

    ¡°Are you stupid? I said that the library is reserved. Get out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m stupid now, am I?¡± My smile became strained, and I could feel the blood rushing to my head.

    ¡°Yes, you are. Leave now or I¡¯ll have you thrown out.¡±

    I took a deep breath to calm myself down. ¡°Okay, I think you should¡ª¡±

    ¡°Guards!¡± The boy didn¡¯t even let me finish before he interrupted me. Within moments, a trio of armored guards entered the room. He then pointed at me. ¡°Arrest this woman for trespassing and for harassing a royal magic instructor.¡±

    I looked at the guards. The guards looked me. A moment passed before the front guard bowed his head.

    ¡°Your Highness.¡±

    The young boy¡¯s face paled. I had to admit, I took a bit of pleasure in seeing that.

    ¡°Y-your Highness, I-I didn¡¯t¡ª¡±

    ¡°Throw him in the dungeon.¡± The guards immediately complied with my words and surrounded the pale boy. The young child was shaking like a leaf, so much so that it almost seemed like he was about to cry. ¡°Just give him an isolated cell. I don¡¯t want him to get hurt.¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, please! I didn¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry,¡± I replied lightly. ¡°It¡¯s only for a night. Kids like you need to be disciplined early on or else you¡¯ll become arrogant, you know.¡±

    ¡°Y-y-your Highness!¡± The boy was lifted up by his arms. He was carried easily to the exit of library.

    ¡°Are you stupid? I said: don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll be fine. Trust me, you¡¯ll thank me in the future for this!¡±

    As I watched him get carried out of sight, I smiled. I should feel bad about this, but I really, really didn¡¯t.

    It wasn¡¯t long before I saw Alina enter the library.

    ¡°That little boy¡­ Was that your magic teacher?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± I said cheerfully. ¡°Want to go eat lunch?¡±

    ~o~

    After dinner, I was actually feeling pretty bad. More than six hours had already went by before I finally decided to check up on my wayward magic instructor. In all honesty, if he had been older, I probably wouldn¡¯t worry so much, but he was thirteen so I couldn¡¯t discard that nagging feeling at the back of my head that I was committing child abuse. Still, you had to get these children on the right path or they¡¯d turn into spoiled brats who would threaten to call child services if you raised your voice in the slightest. Hm, maybe that was a little too specific.

    It was for that reason that I was now walking down a flight of stairs with my posse of maids. The path was only lit by torches; there was no windows of any kind here. The guard that led us down into the foreboding depths kept glancing back at us, as if to make sure we were still here. The walls echoed deeply, letting me hear the cries and moans of those imprisoned deeper still. Just a glance to my side told me that the maids weren¡¯t faring any better; in fact, they were doing worse. The looks of fear, mixed in with a terrible sense of curiosity, was plain to see.

    The bottom of the stairs couldn¡¯t have come any sooner. Yet, this time, our guard led us through corridors instead. On each side was a line of prison cells, some empty while others occupied by men and women in manacles. A few of them scrambled to the bars with a plea on their lips, but most simply stared or not at all. It was pretty appalling, honestly, but I didn¡¯t know their crimes so I couldn¡¯t really say if it was morally right or not. No, I couldn¡¯t just believe that; Ranzel would have had his hand in shaping this so they were probably in there for a good reason, and not for something stupid like stealing a piece of bread.

    I couldn¡¯t keep my eyes off of them, but I was silent for the entire trip through. Luckily, none of my personal maids were in any mood to talk either. The guard silently motioned for us to keep up, so we rushed a little onward. It wasn¡¯t long before we reached a lone cell a little out of the way, one that was guarded by no one nearby. The reason was probably because it wasn¡¯t a serious punishment or perhaps it was simply how they did isolation punishments. In any case, I approached the bars and looked in.

    He sat there with his head in his arms with a tear stained face. His eyes were closed, and his lips were moving, but I couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying. The clothes he wore were dirtier than they were this morning, but he looked unharmed. Just traumatized. Maybe I had went too far.

    ¡°Open it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Your Highness?¡± The guard looked confused.

    ¡°I said: open it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± The guard fumbled with the ring of keys on his belt before coming to the right one. With a click and a turn, the cell door was soon open. I wasted no time in making my way in.

    Even as I made my way over to him, the young boy didn¡¯t seem to notice my footsteps. That fact only made me feel worse. Did I really traumatize him to this extent? I bit lightly on my lower lip as I crouched down in front of him. It was only now that I could hear what he was saying in his mumbles. The color drained from my face. I reached forward and pulled him into a hug. He stiffened at my touch, freezing as if petrified.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay.¡± I spoke those words as I gently put a hand behind his head, pulling him further in.

    ¡°Y-your Highness¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡± What was I thinking? I sent a child to a prison! This did more than scare him stiff, and it was my fault.

    ¡°N-no, Your Highness. I was at fault. I was too conceit, just because I became a royal instructor. If it was anyone else but Your Highness, I could¡¯ve been executed.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make excuses for my mistakes.¡± I could have done so many things instead. I could have just spanked him, for god sake. Instead, I wanted to have him have a taste of their own medicine. I pushed him away gently to hold him at half an arm¡¯s length and stared into his teary eyes. ¡°I won¡¯t excuses for yours either. This is what you wanted to do to me, do you understand?¡±

    He stared at me with confusion and tears in his eyes.

    ¡°If I had been a servant or a worker, I¡¯d have been tossed in here. Now you know how it feels.¡± I put my hands on his cheeks. ¡°Don¡¯t do to others what you wouldn¡¯t want done to yourself. Do you understand now?¡±

    He nodded his head.

    ¡°Good. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Daren.¡±

    ¡°Just Daren?¡±

    ¡°I was raised in an orphanage.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I slowly dropped my hands from his cheeks. ¡°My name is Jennifer, but my friends call me Jen. Or Jenny.¡±

    I took his hand and slowly rose to my feet, bringing him with me. He was a bit unsteady on his feet, but I took care to get him used to standing again. Seriously, it had only been six or seven hours. His legs couldn¡¯t have fallen asleep. Well, actually, if he had been sitting all this time, I guess it could. I looked at him as he massaged his leg with his free hand. Way to self-punish yourself.

    ¡°Come on. One step at a time,¡± I said as we slowly made our way to the cell¡¯s entrance. By the time we reached it, he was walking normally. It didn¡¯t take long for us to leave the dungeons, though the flight of stairs proved a little bit of a trial. I was tempted to just pick him up and carry him, but I knew that men had their pride, even when they were just little boys like him. I looked down at him. ¡°Pride?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked as he looked up at me nervously.

    Screw it. I picked him up, ignoring his cry of surprise. Normally, that would be an impossible task, but this heroic strength was really convenient. He was a little too big to big to put on my shoulder so I carried him, bridal style. His face went through a series of emotions, but I didn¡¯t deign to pay attention. We were only a quarter through the stairs, and if I allowed him to walk on, it would take forever to get out of here. There were a couple of maids that giggled, making my cheeks turn red a little, but Alina quickly put a stop to that with a stern glance.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I can walk, I can walk,¡± he said.

    ¡°I¡¯m the Queen Mother. Just shut up and deal with it.¡±

    Of course, he went quiet after that. I didn¡¯t like using my authority like this, but I wasn¡¯t going to waste time trying to convince a stubborn child. Besides, I wasn¡¯t in the mood. My muscles were still sore¡ªwait a minute, how am I carrying him in the first place?

    I stopped and blinked. The maids stopped as well and looked at me curiously, but I ignored them and started moving my arms and legs a bit. I even hopped a little bit, yet I felt nothing. None of that soreness that had plagued me the whole day. When exactly did that go away?

    ¡°Alina,¡± I said, catching the woman¡¯s attention. ¡°I feel fine now. No soreness at all.¡±

    Alina clapped her hands. ¡°That must be your heroic regeneration. I heard that the King was the same way.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Don¡¯t tell Valkana about this.¡± As much as I liked my fangirl of a granddaughter, I just knew in my heart that she would work me to death if she found out about this. I could imagine her arranging another shift of her torturous exercise regime during the evening. That made me almost shiver in fright.

    With that out of the way, we continued up the stairs. It wasn¡¯t long before we reached the end. I allowed Daren to walk on his own feet and had one of the guards escort him to his own room. As for the rest, I dismissed the maids, but Alina and a couple of guards insisted on escorting me. It wasn¡¯t like I had any real objections, especially since I didn¡¯t know how to get to my own room, so I let them come along.

    ¡°What do you think about him?¡± I asked Alina. When she glanced questioningly at me as we walked, I elaborated. ¡°Daren.¡±

    ¡°He is¡­¡± Alina looked a bit conflicted, but I could guess why. She was still trying to be careful with her words around me, which made me a little sad. It was reasonable though, since she was just a worker and I was her employer. However, her next words surprised me. ¡°I¡¯d not trust him.¡±

    ¡°I think the same way. His personality changed way too fast and way too easily. Do you think the first or the second is the real one?¡±

    ¡°You must be careful, Your Highness,¡± Alina said. ¡°Those of low birth will use scrupulous¡ª¡±

    ¡°This has nothing to do with blood,¡± I interrupted. I already knew prejudices exist here because of the caste system, and that I couldn¡¯t do anything about it, but it annoyed me just to listen to it. ¡°I¡¯d be wary of anyone who makes such a big personality change, but if it makes things easier for me, then I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that it would be better if we had a friendly relationship. I mean, he is my magic teacher after all.¡±

    ¡°Is it wise to let this go?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just a kid. I remember when I was his age, I did some pretending too. Playing around at being someone unique.¡± I wasn¡¯t proud of it, but I had quite a bit of experience with pretenses in middle school. It wasn¡¯t that I was dissatisfied with my life; it was just that it was easier to imagine myself as someone unique. The things that I did with black cape and a spear prop was enough to make me blush. I was sure that some of those pictures were still circulating the forums. Thankfully, I had more updated photos, otherwise they would have used that for¡­for¡­

    I stopped mid-step. I had forgotten. Through all the events and just living, I simply put it out of my mind. My family.

    Were they still looking for me? I have read these types of stories of regular people being summoned to different worlds, but most of them avoided the subject about the people they left behind. I guess that was because it wasn¡¯t as interesting or it would distract from the plot, but I couldn¡¯t do the same. I couldn¡¯t forget them. I had to move on; they had to move on as well, but how long would it take them? Days, weeks, months, years? How long would it take me?

    ¡°Your Highness¡­are you crying¡­?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I wiped my forearm across my face. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything I can¡­¡±

    ¡°Can you get me some warm milk?¡± I didn¡¯t really want any, but I didn¡¯t want to answer any more questions.

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Alina bowed her head before heading off, leaving me with just my guards.

    It was only then that I remembered one important thing. I turned to the guards following me.

    ¡°Do you remember where my room is?¡±

    ¡°We do,¡± one of the guards said. However, he looked as if he wanted to say something more. Finally, he reached into one of the gaps between his armor and pulled out a handkerchief, which he then held out to me.

    I was confused.

    ¡°Your eyes,¡± he prompted.

    It was only then that I realized that I was still crying.

    ~o~

    Sleep didn¡¯t come easy to me that night, but I felt better in the morning. I didn¡¯t even complain when Alina woke me up at the first light of dawn. I had wanted to be alone, but she stayed over last night, sleeping in a chair. I had offered one side of my bed her once, but she had vehemently refused. Honestly, at the time, I didn¡¯t have the will in myself to offer a second time; I hadn¡¯t wanted to be close to anyone. The farthest away I could get away from her was having her sleep at the other side of the room. Maybe she didn¡¯t sleep at all. I had barely gotten a few winks myself, but it seemed like my body could handle it since I didn¡¯t feel tired after stretching a little.

    ¡°I have sent some of my subordinates to bring your breakfast here.¡±

    I simply nodded.

    ¡°Are you feeling alright, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°Do you have family?¡±

    ¡°My mother, father, and three younger brothers.¡±

    ¡°How often do you get to see them?¡±

    ¡°Once a year.¡±

    ¡°Do you miss them?¡±

    ¡°I am wholly devoted to the royal family.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking about,¡± I said. ¡°If it¡¯s private, you don¡¯t need to answer.¡±

    ¡°¡­yes, I do.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I stated, for lack of anything better to say.

    What followed was an awkward silence as she helped me dress. I was starting to regret my spur of the moment questions until she said, ¡°I send most of the money that I earn home.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t keep anything for yourself?¡±

    ¡°The palace provides everything I need,¡± Alina said. ¡°I¡¯m from a minor noble house.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± I really did. Even if they were nobles, they could still be poor. That would be a tough situation between dignity and livability.

    ¡°Yes, my brothers have a hard time keeping their mistresses happy.¡±

    Wait, what?

    ¡°I keep telling them in my letters to reduce their spendings, but they¡¯re just too incorrigible.¡± There was a wispy little smile on Alina¡¯s face, which sorely didn¡¯t match her words or her tone.

    ¡°You¡­you¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°Give back my sympathy!¡±

    ~o~

    Sleep didn¡¯t come easily. I woke up tired and angry, but it was hard to stay that way after Valkana¡¯s morning regime. Mostly because I was dead tired by the end of it, so much so that it felt like I was a flopping fish. If Alina hadn¡¯t brought along a pitcher of water, I probably would have licked the sweat off her hands. That was just how wasted and dehydrated I felt. When the time came around for my magic lesson, I unwillingly dragged myself to the library.

    Just like yesterday, it was empty of people. In fact, Daren was sitting in the same spot as yesterday, surrounded by books. I walked to the chair across from him, pulled it out, and slumped into it. The young boy looked up with a cold glance.

    ¡°You¡¯re early by five minutes.¡± He looked back down at his book.

    I was taken aback by that. ¡°Your personality¡­isn¡¯t this too big of a change¡­?¡±

    He didn¡¯t respond as he turned the page in the book he was reading.

    Did his personality revert? This was just too weird. If it was to suck up to me, then his second personality would be better for that. It didn¡¯t make sense. While I was contemplating this, time passed by. Before I knew it, Daren placed a bookmark into his book and set it aside.

    ¡°The lesson will begin now.¡± Despite being younger than me, his strangely authoritative voice made me straight up in my seat. ¡°The library is reserved for our lesson, so we won¡¯t be disturbed. Are there any questions before we start?¡±

    I raised my hand.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste time with that. Just say it.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you timid and meek?¡±

    ¡°Hah? Don¡¯t be stupid! I just had a moment of weakness, that¡¯s all.¡± His mouth was held in a tight frown. ¡°If you have time to ask stupid questions, then you have time to learn. Now listen up.¡±

    I was in shock. Did he really have no fear? I was lost in the thought that I missed the beginning of his lecture. Still, I managed to infer enough to get caught up. For the rest of it, I listened intently. His style of lecturing was strange, though not so much if you considered his age. During his lecturing, he tended to use analogy instead of straight definitions. He also occasionally went off-track to go on tirades that were more like personal grumblings than anything else. Generally speaking, he actually sounded like he hated his peers, making snide insults against them every so often. It was honestly a hard lecture to listen to, but it basically went like this.

    To use magic, you had to have enough mana or spiritual power. You had a inborn mana supply that could be increased with age and training, but you could also siphon mana from the environment to supplement. Of course, there were different degrees for both of them like amount you were born with through genetics or how sensitive you were to sense mana in the environment. Both of these combined dictated your overall mana capacity.

    By using incantations, hand symbols, drawings, writing, or such, you could cast spells. In reality, those methods simply facilitated the process by focusing your magic into the right channels. If you were experienced enough to be able to channel your magic without those casting methods, you could pretty much instantaneously cast your spell. However, that was left to only the most experienced or reckless geniuses because casting methods had built-in safety precautions for mistakes. Without these safety precautions, you could easily blow out your limb by channeling magic just a bit wrong, even for the simplest of spells. And when I say blow out, I meant the body part actually exploding into a gory mess.

    That was magic in a nutshell. This, of course, didn¡¯t contain the rest of nuisances like concentrating under fire or aiming, things that were very necessary to effectively use in combat.

    ¡°Any questions?¡±

    ¡°I heard that you could do spells from all the magic types.¡±

    ¡°I learned some of the basic spells from every school of magic.¡±

    ¡°Why? I mean, isn¡¯t it better to specialize?¡±

    Daren sneered at me.

    ¡°It¡¯s a valid question!¡±

    ¡°Whatever. I don¡¯t need to tell you.¡±

    Was this the same child I saw in the dungeon yesterday? I was tempted to send him back there just to verify it.

    ¡°Stop looking at me like that. It¡¯s disgusting.¡±

    Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to send him to the dungeon. He needed to be disciplined. It was much worse than I thought.

    ¡°If I wanted an old maid staring at me, I¡¯d go find a real one.¡±

    I was going to do it. I was going to do it. I opened my mouth, and then I closed it.

    Just what was I thinking of doing? This was a child. An arrogant, snotty brat of a child, but still a child.

    ¡°Gross. I think I need a bath.¡±

    ¡°Guards!¡±

    ~o~

    Ah. I did it again.

    As I stood in front of the prison cell, staring at my openly weeping magic instructor kneeling on the dirty floor, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that I did something bad. Three hours. That was how long it took before my conscience finally kicked in and forced me to go check up on him. Looking at him now, I wouldn¡¯t have believed he had an ounce of arrogance in him. This was absolutely and utterly strange. It was best if I got a second opinion so I consulted with a close aide and told her the whole story.

    ¡°So Alina, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°Spirit possession? I thought they were simply folklore, but it may have some truth to it.¡±

    ¡°Possibly. Maybe we should take him to an exorcist.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s an exorcist?¡±

    ¡°Well, a specialized priest. He puts a hand on your forehead and says something like: ¡®Let the power of God compel you¡¯.¡±

    ¡°What does that do, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°It makes the spirit jump right out. After doing some creepy stuff, of course.¡± I really was influenced by movies too much.

    ¡°Oh, I think a paladin can do that.¡±

    ¡°Not quite what I was thinking, but close enough,¡± I said. ¡°Bring a priest and a nun. Just in case.¡±

    ~o~

    In the end, none of the three were able to find anything wrong with Daren.

    So we let him go.

    ¡­well, that was what I would like to say, but I wasn¡¯t so forgiving.

    So, I left him in the dungeon overnight.

    ~o~

    Author¡¯s Note: Sorry for the long wait. Stuff happened. But I¡¯ll try to get the next chapter out within a couple of days.

 Chapter 9: Obligations

    It was only after the morning ¡°exercise¡± conducted by my fervent granddaughter, Valkana, and the subsequent rest that I finally found time to visit the dungeon. I actually felt bad about it, once my anger wore off. I did put a ten¡ªoh wait, he was thirteen years old¡ªchild in a prison cell for an entire night. Even if he was an evil abomination.

    No, no, I shouldn¡¯t think like that. Even though his words had a way of getting under my skin, I understood that the environment that children grew up in often had a very distinct effect on their adulthood. If I grew up in a slum orphanage, I probably would resent the world too, especially if the caretakers were horrible. Even back on Earth, it wasn¡¯t easy for governments to make sure the orphanages were properly taken care of, so I had no doubt that in this medieval fantasy type setting, it would be much worse. I could just imagine Draven holding up an empty bowl to the caretakers and saying, ¡°Please Sir, I want some more.¡±

    I made my way down the dungeon¡¯s stairs with Alina by my side. Of course, I still had my two bodyguard hanger-ons. None of the guards impeded us as we traveled down the steps and through the dungeon. They still stared at me in awe when I passed by even though it was already my third time visiting the place. As for the prisoners I passed, many of whom were simply languishing in their cells, their reactions were varied, but I mostly ignored them.

    It wasn¡¯t because I was calloused or cold-hearted, but I wasn¡¯t naive to trust the words coming out of their mouths. They were basically variations of the same two lines: ¡°I¡¯m innocent¡± and ¡°I¡¯ll murder you.¡± More of the former than the latter, but that was to be expected from a dungeon located within the palace; it was probably for political or important prisoners than any of the really violent type. They called out to me as their last hope, but if I could tell the truth from the lies, I would be a politician. No, I would rather leave this to the experts.

    The moment I stepped in front of Daren¡¯s prison cell, I blinked in surprise.

    That was because¡­

    ~o~

    ¡°And that is how this happened.¡± I sighed. This was getting to be troublesome. Standing in the courtyard, I related my troubles to Regio. Except for our attendants consisting of guards and servants who stood a distance away from us, the courtyard was empty. That was because this was a private area reserved exclusively to royalty. I had thought about asking Valkana about this problem, but I had serious doubts about her brainpower in regards to anything other than muscle power. As for Ranzel, he was never in the running; bothering a king with something like this would never turn out well, even if he was my semi-pseudo son.

    ¡°I see,¡± Regio replied plainly. His gaze lowered. ¡°Has he been like that the whole time?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I looked down as well. Keeping a hold of the bottom of my shirt with one clenched hand was the short figure of my magic instructor. Noticing my gaze, he looked back at me with hollow eyes.

    ¡°This is a problem¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I sighed once again. His personality changing from rude to shy was pretty strange, but this was completely out of expectation. It seemed letting him stay in the dungeon overnight had rendered him catatonic.

    In fact, he had become completely silent as well. No matter what questions I had asked him, he never responded; he would simply stare at me with those lifeless eyes. This wouldn¡¯t normally be a problem since it would probably be fine to let him sleep it off. However, the problem was that¡­

    He wouldn¡¯t let go of my shirt.

    ¡°It looks like he has a death grip on it.¡± Regio lowered himself to one knee and gently held up the small hand gripping my shirt. He lightly tried to pry the fingers off to no avail. ¡°It¡¯s best just to break his fingers.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I immediately rejected it. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt him just because of a little inconvenience.¡±

    ¡°The healers will take care of the damage. There won¡¯t be any lasting effect.¡±

    ¡°On his body, yeah, but his mind is a different matter. I¡¯m not going to give some kind of trauma from the pain.¡± Especially since I probably gave him a different kind of trauma already.

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll have to wait it out,¡± Regio said.

    I frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not exactly the answer I was looking for.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not much I can do if I can¡¯t injury him, grandmother.¡± Regio snapped his fingers a couple of times in front of Daren, but there was no reaction. ¡°Talking to him is impossible while he¡¯s like this.¡±

    ¡°I guess I should have expected as much.¡± I really should have. All the signs were there already. With Daren¡¯s mind like this, it wasn¡¯t like I could convince him or threaten him. It was a bit of an inconvenience, but it would probably only take a few hours for him to snap out of it. I could handle that.

    What was the worst that could happen?

    ~o~

    I just had to ask that. It was like tempting fate. What happened was¡­

    Just kidding, nothing happened. After I parted with Regio, I pretty much headed the dining hall to get some food. It was a simple enough affair, except for the fact that I had to feed the child attached to my waist. I literally had to spoon-feed him, though at least he still had enough mental capacity to chew. Alina did try to do the work instead, but I felt it was a bit awkward since he was still holding onto my shirt the whole time, making it more difficult to position him in such a way that Alina wouldn¡¯t have to stay on her feet and bending over.

    After that, since there was probably not going to be a magic lesson today with my instructor being practically brain-dead, I decided to take care of something now that I was planning for later in the day. That was why, at the moment, I was sitting on a couch within a spacious room. It was actually a bit like a lounge type of room with lots of sofas and tables, though the one I was at with Daren was in the center of the room.

    For now, with the exception of Alina, my entourage was gone. Even the guards, I kept them outside the room. Sure, I had a harrowing near-death experience, but having to be followed around all the time was starting to annoy me. I mean, the palace was pretty safe so it wasn¡¯t like there were any reason for me to keep bodyguards around. Even the gaggle of maids were dumped on me; I was pretty sure the reason for that was because some of them had combat training. I would have to talk to Ranzel about it later just to get some space.

    ¡°Your Highness, they have arrived.¡± Alina inclined her head towards the door.

    I was just about to ask how she knew that when the doors opened. A single brown-haired woman walked into the room, looking nervously around her. Upon spotting me, she slowly made her way towards me, nearly stumbling twice in the process. The woman was a rather plain looking woman who didn¡¯t seemed comfortable in the expensive clothes she was wearing, but that was understandable; she had been forced through a thorough cleaning and dressing before she was even allowed to appear before me. I would say that I wouldn¡¯t have minded if she was dirty, but I doubted that daily showers were a thing for lower income working families.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be shy. Take any seat you want,¡± I said as I beckoned her over with a wave of my hand. The woman timidly took a seat across from me, though she hands in her lap. It was only because I was paying attention, but I noticed that there was a slight trembling in her figure.

    ¡°They¡­they told me you had information about my husband.¡±

    Huh? She hadn¡¯t been told? I glanced over at Alina who stood off at the side and tried to convey the question with my eyes. She merely stared back in confusion. I held back my sigh. It looked like I was going to be the one that would have to tell her. For a moment, I thought about foisting it over to Alina, but I quickly banished the thought. The man¡ªher husband¡ªsaved my life. He was the driver who freed me and distracted my kidnappers to allow me to escape. This was my duty and responsibility.

    ¡°Well,¡± I started. I didn¡¯t quite know how to do this. ¡°What do you know so far?¡±

    ¡°My husband has been missing for a few days,¡± she said. ¡°He left to drive customers to a nearby town a week ago, but he should have been back by now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, about that¡­¡± I took a deep breath. My heart was beating in my chest. It was now or never. ¡°Ahem. He¡¯s dead.¡±

    There was complete silence in the room, but I spotted Alina quietly palming her face. That was actually surprising since I didn¡¯t know they use that expression here. In fact, where did¡ª

    What was I doing? I was supposed to be telling someone that she had become a widow, but here I was, letting my mind run off. I turned my gaze back to the woman in question. There were a series of expressions that appeared on her face, some that I didn¡¯t even recognize, but I watched silently; it was the least I could do.

    ¡°¡­how?¡± She didn¡¯t wail or cry out like I expected her to. Instead, she had a stony expression. She was a strong woman, but I didn¡¯t feel any admiration; all I felt was pity for her. I doubted she would do so even if I asked.

    ¡°Protecting me.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Some of the tension left her face.

    ¡°You and your family are under my protection now,¡± I told her. ¡°Is there anything you need?¡±

    ¡°I wish to see my husband¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°We never found him.¡± It wasn¡¯t for lack of trying. From what I had heard, the trail had been messy and led into a river. After that, the trail was lost.

    There was a glint in her eyes. ¡°Did you see him die?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Then he might still be alive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­well¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t say that was impossible; I had read and seen plenty of stories where the main character survived those kind of things. Besides, drowning in a river was hardly the most dangerous of situations. ¡°The chances of that is low.¡±

    ¡°But not impossible?¡±

    ¡°Well, yes, but you have children, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked. ¡°If you run off, what will happen to them? They need a mother.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mistaken, Your Highness,¡± she said. ¡°I intend to wait for my husband to return.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not questioning your choice, but it might be better just to move on with your life.¡±

    ¡°I believe in my husband.¡±

    Seeing the determination in her eyes, I couldn¡¯t really argue anymore against it. I merely nodded my head.

    After that, I answered a few more questions before she left the room. They were trivial in nature, most pertaining to her new placement in the social strata. I answered them the best that I could, but it essentially was just me talking about being their silent benefactor. Besides providing them with financial aid and some amounts of support, I was pretty much leaving them alone. Publicly acknowledging them was out of the question; even if that were known to be under my support, differing organizations that had an interest in me would probably drag them in so it would be dangerous in the long run. Not to mention I was suppose to keep the fact that there was a kidnapping attempt under wraps. With what happened at the marketplace with Valkana, it would be like icing on a cake. Actually, that reminded me.

    Once I made sure that the widow had left the room, I turned to Alina. Whereas before, she was standing there stoically; now, she had an exasperated look on her face.

    ¡°Your Highness, you could have lied to her,¡± Alina said. ¡°Now, she¡¯s going to harbor false hope.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to start a relationship off with a lie,¡± I said. ¡°It may be easier, but if the truth gets out, she¡¯ll start doubting everything else I say, and regaining trust isn¡¯t easy. Besides that, I wouldn¡¯t want to be lied to, not for something like this.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that far, Your Highness.¡± Alina bowed her head slightly.

    I didn¡¯t bother to continue the subject. There was a more important matter on my mind. ¡°Did you get the list?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Out of her uniform, she pulled out a rolled up a white envelope. Sealing that envelope was a wax seal with an emblem that I didn¡¯t recognized. She handed it over to me.

    I ran my finger over the wax emblem. It was a bit messy with it practically being a glob of wax with an medallion in the center. With a slight pull, I broke it off. Pulling out the paper inside, I unfolded it. My eyes skimmed over its content before I slowly closed my eyes.

    It was a list of names. Not just any names, but the ones that had perished in the marketplace massacre. At the very bottom, there was a smaller section for the ones that were severely wounded, and by that, I meant crippling injuries like the loss of a limb or worse. When I opened my eyes, I stared at the names with the same eyes that I had from the start.

    Indifferent eyes.

    I thought that seeing this would make it feel more real, but I still felt nothing.

    ¡°Alina, you know this world better than me. What will happen to the survivors? The maimed and crippled ones.¡± This wasn¡¯t like modern society where a disabled person could a full life with medical technology and modern conveniences to help.

    ¡°The wealthy will hire a healing mage to restore any damaged or lost parts.¡±

    ¡°And the poor?¡±

    ¡°They will have to live with it.¡±

    ¡°And if they can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°For the comely ones, there is prostitution. For the rest, death or slavery is common.¡±

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I frowned. ¡°Slavery?¡±

    ¡°Selling oneself into slavery in order for a wealthy noble to finance their restoration.¡±

    I dropped the paper in disgust and leaned back against the sofa. I didn¡¯t like feeling powerless like this. It had been more than a week so all the relief effort had already been committed. That meant that if anyone were to take care of those seriously wounded, they would have done it by now. I wasn¡¯t so naive to think something like limb regeneration was easy; the cost would usually have a direct relation with the difficulty. Since it was expensive enough that people would sell themselves, it wasn¡¯t something that could be given for free. I imagined that it would be like making brain surgery free.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I glanced in the direction of the shout to see Alina holding Daren by his wrist.

    Huh? Wasn¡¯t he just right here? I looked to the spot next to me on the sofa to find that it was empty. I looked back at the two and saw Daren mumbling something under his breath. Alina put her other hand on his throat.

    ¡°If you finish casting that, it it¡¯ll be considered an attempt on Her Highness¡¯s life.¡±

    Daren shut his mouth, but he still stared defiantly at Alina.

    ¡°Just what is going on here?¡± I asked warily.

    ¡°The royal magic instructor was attempting to flee the premise, so I apprehended him.¡±

    ¡°Um, good work.¡± I raised an eyebrow. There was a lot of police terminology in there. Just from looking at the scene and hearing those words, I had a feeling that Alina¡¯s profession was probably not actually a maid. Well, it wasn¡¯t like it was a new concept or anything, so it was easy to imagine her as an assassin maid or something.

    ¡°What do you wish to do with him, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°Just bring him over here.¡±

    Alina nodded and dragged the strangely non-resisting boy over to me.

    ¡°Why were you trying to run?¡±

    He stared at me with a deadpan expression.

    ¡°I won¡¯t know if you don¡¯t tell me.¡± Even though I said that, I could probably guess. It wasn¡¯t hard at all, especially considering that I only known for a few days.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like how you¡¯re treating me.¡±

    ¡°Respect is a two-way road,¡± I said calmly.

    ¡°I¡¯m your magic instructor!¡±

    ¡°Then act like it,¡± I said coldly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to take this. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Daren started to walk toward the exit. Alina looked at me, but I ignored her and focused my gaze on Daren instead.

    ¡°Before you leave, let me ask you something,¡± I said. ¡°After you walk out that door, who will you be?¡±

    Daren stopped mid-step.

    ¡°Now, tell me. Who am I?¡±

    ¡°The Queen Mother¡­¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Do you understand?¡±

    I felt scummy. It felt like I was bullying a child. Actually, that was exactly what was happening. However, I wanted to learn magic, and I didn¡¯t want to wait while another suitable instructor was found. It was selfish and impatient of me, I know, but I didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°I understand.¡± There was a resigned look on Daren¡¯s face as he made his way back to the sofa. He took a seat next to me. Taking a glance at him, he looked like a beaten down puppy.

    I sighed. Damn my conscious.

    ¡°Look, Daren,¡± I began. ¡°I know I said some harsh things, but this is important to me. You said it yourself that it¡¯s only for a few weeks, and you¡¯re being paid pretty well, right?¡±

    He nodded his head.

    ¡°The sooner we start, the faster we can finish, right?¡±

    ¡°Might as well. You need all the time you can get,¡± Daren said, regaining a bit of his arrogant tone.

    Damn it, this guy just wouldn¡¯t stop. I had the urge to smack him on the head, but I didn¡¯t want to waste all the progress I made so far.

    ¡°Since this is the first lesson, we will start with the basics.¡± Daren took out a small slip of paper. ¡°This is affinity paper. Affinity to a type of magic is not something you¡¯re born with or inherit. It is based on the decisions you made in your past and your upbringing. Your disposition and history is key to what type of magic is more suitable for you. For that reason, people with harsher lives tend to gravitate more to the more offensive magic.¡±

    ¡°So an affinity to a magic makes it easier to learn it?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat. You¡¯re more inclined and motivated to learn that type of magic. Though, you¡¯re not strictly stuck with it. I have an affinity toward wind magic, but I was able to learn all magic types anyways. Earth magic has an opposite disposition so it is harder to get into the mode of thinking, but it is just a little bit of added-on difficulty.¡± He handed the affinity paper over to me. ¡°It¡¯s harder to change affinity as you get older, but it is not impossible. Go ahead and inject some of your mana into it.¡±

    ¡°Er, how do I do that?¡± I looked at the paper, rubbing my fingers on it. It seemed like regular paper to me.

    Daren sighed. ¡°Do I have to teach you everything?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what we hired you for, right?¡±

    ¡°Imagine a swirling pool. Now, imagine that pool dripping into a stream down into the paper.¡±

    ¡°That makes no sense to me.¡±

    ¡°Imagine a monograph¡ª¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s even worse!¡±

    ¡°What would you suggest then?¡± Daren looked annoyed.

    ¡°Sea horse.¡±

    ¡°A sea horse,¡± Daren said in a deadpan tone. He turned to Alina. ¡°What¡¯s a sea horse?¡±

    Alina shrugged, though she looked smug now that Daren was annoyed.

    ¡°It¡¯s a animal that lives in¡ªactually, never mind.¡± Now that I think about it, this world probably didn¡¯t have underwater exploration. ¡°What about a snake?¡±

    ¡°A snake? Fine,¡± Daren said. ¡°Okay, imagine a pile of snakes. Imagine one of those snakes moving out of the pile. Imagine another snake biting and holding onto that snake¡¯s tail. Then imagine another snake biting and holding onto the next snake¡¯s tail. Keep imagining more snakes doing that until¡ª¡±

    ¡°Actually, the pool explanation was easier.¡±

    ¡°Will you make up your mind?!¡±

    ~o~

    Daren tried several more analogy, but those didn¡¯t quite worked. In the end, when he finally just used the plain textbook explanation, I was actually able use it. It wasn¡¯t too different of a concept from what I read in fiction, so I understood that just fine. His analogies left something to be desired anyways, but you couldn¡¯t have a ten year old teacher without any consequences.

    ¡°Thirteen,¡± Daren said, his eye twitching.

    Did I say that out loud?

    ¡°Yes.¡± He held out his hand. ¡°Now if you can give me the affinity paper, I can read your result.¡±

    I handed it over to him. He took a single glance at it and frowned.

    ¡°You have no affinities,¡± he said. ¡°Normally, that kind of result would be impossible, but it¡¯s you so whatever.¡±

    I slapped him lightly on the back of his head.

    ¡°Ow!¡± He rubbed his head as he glared at me.

    ¡°Remember, respect is a two-way road.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you can¡ªow! Quit it!¡± I had slapped him lightly again.

    When it looked like he was about to argue again, I raised my hand threateningly, at which point he shrunk back from me.

    ¡°Fine. In any case, it means you have no particular leaning. You don¡¯t have any advantages, nor disadvantages. You can choose whatever magic you want. I¡¯ll name off some magic types.¡± He held out a closed fist in front of him and started to uncurl each finger one by one as he listed the names off. ¡°Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, acid, light, shadow, healing, time, summoning, necromancy, puppet, companion, alchemy, anatomy, nullification, archival¡ª¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! This is way too much. Just how many different magic types are there?¡±

    ¡°There are more,¡± he said vaguely. ¡°These are just the general magic categories. There are also hybrid magic as well as the specializations within each magic type.¡±

    Too many. I was all for character customization, but it was a bit too much to consider. It was like when I got so many face sliders; I would play around for it for awhile, but I would get tired of it fast. Honestly, it was best to research earnestly before choosing, yet I was not the type to look at a strategy guide to find the best skill build before actually playing the game. However, just from that selection, there were actually two that interested me.

    The first was time. If I thought about it in MMORPG terms, it wasn¡¯t anything but utility skills for a support class, but that was fine. I had always had a fascination with time. Every time I would be caught up in an anime series or a good webnovel only to realize that it was five in the morning. There were only so many hours in the day. If I had time magic back then, I would have probably cleared out my backlog of anime and movies to watch, which was far too extensive to complete normally unless I became a shut-in or something. That actually made me a bit sad since the entertainment in this place was severely lacking. Sure, they had plenty of medieval fantasy adventure novels, but I would prefer more variety. It made me miss things like Space Marines, bolters, and chainswords.

    The second was healing. It had far less of a lead in terms of my interest, but I supposed that was fair since that interest was only recent. More specifically, it was the massacre that brought out my desire. I hated feeling powerless to do anything, and I wasn¡¯t quite willing to force someone else to do something about it. Just because I wanted the sidewalk to be clean doesn¡¯t mean I should yell at a random bystander to do it for me.

    As for the others, they were pretty simple. Elemental magic was standard so that didn¡¯t really peak my interest. Summoning, necromancy, and the other two magic type I forgot were basically just creating or having a minion to do stuff for you. If I needed that, I would just ask for one of the palace servants or guards. Alchemy was probably like blacksmithing in that it¡¯s one of those merchant and creator classes so that was off the table. As for the last three, I couldn¡¯t exactly quite tell what they were; nullification at least sounded like it would make magic useless, but anatomy and archival just sounded plain weird.

    I explained my choices to Daren.

    ¡°Time is a magic type that is mostly studied by researchers,¡± Daren said, beginning his lecture. ¡°It is very difficult to use in battle. The reason for this is because it is a reaction style magic. It involves predicting your opponent to provide ample casting time because the magic has a smaller area of effect and a lower duration than other magic types. If you aren¡¯t precise enough in your prediction, you will miss with the magic. Even then, the outcome usually just involves slowing down time in that small area or reversing time.

    ¡°The reason that it has lower specifications than other magic types while requiring the same amount of mana is because it is a spell that imposes its will on the natural world. It goes against the basic order of the world so naturally, there is some resistance.¡±

    I slowly nodded my head.

    ¡°Time magic will always granted research funding so it attracts scientists. The reason for this is because reversing time far enough to reduce age has never been done, but in theory, it is possible. You can imagine how important this is, even to Immortals. However, at the moment, nobody has figured out a method to do it.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I nodded my head in understanding.

    He glanced at me skeptically, but he continued nonetheless. ¡°As for healing, that is a field with good money and prospect. Limb replacement is possible at higher ranks. Ultimately though, most healers never reach that rank. That is because it is a support role that often never sees combat so it¡¯s one of the more difficult ones to rank up, though it¡¯s nowhere as difficult as time magic,¡± Daren said. ¡°Unlike with healers, not many will want to form a group with a time mage, and that magic is a difficult prospect to solo with.¡±

    ¡°So basically, you¡¯re saying that¡­¡±

    ¡°Give up on time magic,¡± Daren said. ¡°Unless you plan to work in a research lab, making steady wages, it¡¯s not an ideal magic to study.¡±

    ¡°For someone that learned the basic spells of all magic types, you have some hard biases.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I have studied them that I know the flaws. Even the utility of it outside of combat is limited,¡± he said.

    ¡°The problem with it is the slow cast time, right? Why not do it circulate the mana manually?¡± I remembered back when Regio explained magic to me. He said that it was possible to cast magic without chants or casting time if you could circulate mana properly through your body.

    ¡°That would get rid of the problems for the reaction style, but there is reason that is never done. Chants, symbols, and the entire casting process has safety mechanics in it to make it very safe. If you screw up without them, pain will be the least of your worries; you could blow off an arm or a leg.¡±

    Oh right, I almost forgot that. Regio did say something about that, about how it was extremely dangerous, but I had an advantage that only the wealthiest had.

    ¡°There are plenty of healers in the palace. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ~o~

    Author''s note: The guilt is strong in me~.

 Announcement

    So I was writing the next chapter with Jen blowing off her arms and legs trying to learn how to cast it without chants. You know, with all the crying, screaming, gore, and delicious trauma. It was a bit too graphic for this site, according to a friend of mine. I didn¡¯t really think it was that bad, but I¡¯m kind of twisted like that. I suppose stuff like writing about the broken bone sticking out of the open stump is a bit much. Anyways, I have realized several things in the process of this chapter. Revelations, you could say.

    This past month, I have read ten times as much fanfiction as I do original stories on royal road. I don¡¯t mind low popularity or such, but I cannot continue to write without fuel! What keeps me going to a constant supply of stories that keep me inspired and happy. Unfortunately, that is a very hard prospect at the moment with royal road. I know there are a lot of good stories, but it is incredibly hard to search for them. Even the search function is starting to stale up, especially since searching by chapter amount is not even close to be as useful as searching by word count for obvious reasons. I have resorted to staring at the newly updated list or checking out the recent posts of people to find stories, but that is like a box of chocolate.

    This is especially problematic since the only way for authors to gain popularity is through the updated list and word of mouth. That prompts tiny chapters and rapid posting. Or rather, posting another chapter when your story gets off the updated list. It got to me when I saw the same story keep appearing. I even considered doing it for awhile. For some, this is the most beneficial style for them, but for most, it is just something that is practically forced onto them.

    So where does that leave me? It means I can¡¯t really find stories without playing a guessing game. When I see a story with a large amount of chapters, I automatically assume that they are a smaller word count. When I see a story with a lower amount of chapters, I assume the same thing. I mostly come here for reincarnation stories and transported fics, but it is getting hard to find good ones. Or rather, it is difficult to know for sure if it is interesting or not until you actually check a chapter. That might sound like what people should do, basically read a little bit, but it takes quite a bit of effort, especially when you¡¯re searching for a specific theme. It¡¯s really getting to me since I need a constant supply of entertainment. When writing a story based around transported to a fantasy world, I wanted to read reincarnation and transported stories of a similar nature to keep me inspired. However, I find myself reading fanfictions a lot more since the fanfiction website is a lot more easier to navigate, filter, and assess from their short summaries.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    So what am I leading up to? I decided to continue writing for my fanfictions. I loved writing this story, but I admit I was going off the high provided by Mushoku Tensei which I absolutely loved as well as Andur¡¯s Until Death and Transcendence. Pretty much the reasons I started this story in the first place. However, it¡¯s been a couple of months since I started so it¡¯s winding down, and I have gotten much more inspiration for fanfiction from reading fanfictions. I write what I read, pretty much.

    So what am I saying? Indefinite hiatus.

    Otherwise known by its other more cringe-worthy title: absolute abandonment.

    I¡¯m not going to sugarcoat it by saying that I might return in the future. In all likelihood, I won¡¯t since I¡¯m returning to fanfiction. I¡¯ll probably be writing up my fanfiction and be more focused on that. Why can¡¯t I do both? Time. But mostly because I like playing video games. There¡¯s just not enough time in a day~. I¡¯m proud to have written what now has a word count of around 45k, but this is the path I have decided.

    TL;DR: Reading motivates me to write. I just don¡¯t have the willpower to keep searching for stories through impractical means. Fanfiction that satisfies my itch are easier to find. Thus, I have more motivation to write for my fanfic than my original story. Therefore, I¡¯m going back to fanfiction. If you need to find me for any reason, I¡¯ll be at fanfiction.net under the same username. Actually, you could post here, and it¡¯ll email notify me.

    Anyways, thank you all for keeping up this far with my indulgence. My decision might seem fickle, but a factor into it is that I grew up in fanfiction and learned how to write there. High writing quality will always be in a low percentage no matter where you find your stories at, but having the right tools in your hands to find the gems makes it worth the effort. I spend more time trying to find stories here on Royal Road than actually reading, and that is a tragedy.