Chapter 3:
The Calsworth manor is situated deep within the city walls, in the old nobility sector of the city. Located to the right of our home, is the personal dwelling of the 15 year old Second Prince, the same prince that my sister has sunk her claws into. Further right, around a couple miles or so, is the Palace, where the Emperor dwells.
After a normal day, Evelyn and I would often hitch a ride on the Prince’s carriage, heading over to his manor to hang out. Though I don’t really get along with my sister, she is rather tame when she is around the Prince. Additionally, since we head to his mansion almost every day, the Prince and I have a rather good relationship, like close friends. His real name is Prince Nicholas Ixuria.
However, today was a different day than normal. Just yesterday, Evelyn and I ended up sleeping over, because I was physically unable to move after being subjected to the torment yesterday. So when I woke up, I headed over to the living hall, to eat some breakfast.
The living hall, not living room, was literally a giant room with old paintings decorating the wall, and a long rectangular table that could sit over 20 people. But it was only the three of us there.
“... mornin...”
“Good morning Axel”
“Good Morning! Happy Birthday!!!”
“.......”
“Yea… happy birthday to you too….”
Wait.
It’s my birthday?!
I’m 13!?
That means….
Ah, I forgot what it was! All I remember is that something really cool will happen today. I also remember that it was something really important. But I forgot what exactly it was though.
I am shocked awake by the realization. But still, I struggle to keep my face set, as I refuse to be the simple-minded idiot that is easy to cheer up. I’m not forgetting what she did to me yesterday. Then I remembered that my sister also shares the same birthday as me. What a kill-joy.
I begin to join them and began devouring the food.
The room grows silent. Personally, I like this type of atmosphere. It’s silent, everybody's enjoying their food. I’m not much of a talker myself.
The silence shatters when my sister’s cheerful voice rings out.
“Say, Nick, can you tell me more about the Awakening Ceremony?”
Awakening Ceremony? What Awakening Ceremony?
“Err.., well if you guys don’t mind, sure.”
The prince puts down his fork, preparing for a long speech. Ah how nice, I don’t have to actually talk. That’s what I like about him. He goes on long monologues every once in awhile, and I can just nod my head every once in awhile, pretending to pay attention.
“An Awakening Ceremony is a ceremony held for children——”
Evelyn shoots a glare at Nick, who cringes.
“Ehem, An Awakening Ceremony is a ceremony held for childr—, Cough, young adults at the age of 13. On their 13th birthday, a ceremony is held by their family if they are rich or noble, or held in a nearby temple, using an artifact that either the temple has, or an artifact that your family has. In my case, my Awakening Ceremony was held in my father’s palace, and the artifact used was the Crown of Ixuria.”
“Wait, an artifact?” My sister cuts in.
“Artifacts are usually items with a strong magical presence, usually containing a spirit that can be used to awaken the power of your bloodline, and/or purify/strengthen the bloodline that the spirit originates from. Through this ceremony, it ensures that my blood will be pure Royal blood.”
“How is an artifact created?” Here’s my sister again, with her stupidly obvious questions. Doesn’t she listen in class?
This time, I cut in.
“Listen, alright? An artifact is forged not by the flames of fire, but the flames of the spirit. Say in the case of the Crown. Not only is it a item that acts as a symbol of royalty, it is also an object treasured by the royalty. They are formed because people constantly emit a form of special energy pertaining to their blood. Thus, after receiving energy from the person, the item will slowly gain the power, ‘till it could unlock bloodlines. Later, if it receives enough life energy, it can also form a guardian spirit. In addition, the artifact can be used to awaken other bloodlines, but it is best when used to awaken the bloodline it is suited to.”
The Prince waves me off.
“Yes, and an example of that is the temple in the center of this city. There are relics of famous generals, hunters, and other professions located there, and the priests use and manage them to unlock the bloodlines of the common people. This way, the nobles would not be the only ones with bloodline abilities.”
Following up for the Prince, I said “Evelyn, the artifact that we use to awaken our bloodline is obvious. It is the Hero’s sword. It had such an aura, since it carried the hopes of the Hero himself and the rest of the people when he journeyed to slay the Demon King. Thus, it is extremely potent, and has lasted to this day. According to father, it is indestructible.”
“Oh no, what if I get a weak ability? Wouldn’t that suck?”
The Prince answers in my stead, “Don’t worry, usually the ability can be inferred while the person is still young. Perhaps your ability is being skilled in ki manipulation and magic. I think your tests scores show that you have an abnormal amount of ki, even for a Calsworth.”
“Oh phew.” Her chest heaves up and down in fake relief. I’m sure she already knew all of this, and just put on an act for the Prince. I’m not sure why she does that, after all, don’t we hang out with him all the time?
“Hey, maybe that’s why Father told me to come over in in the afternoon. Perhaps he wants to awaken my ability? Did he say anything to you Axel?”
“Oh-h yeah, he told me to come at night. He told me the ceremony will be ready again at night.”
That’s a lie. I never heard anything about this. How come he only tells her stuff, and not me? Is he not planning to hold the ceremony for me?
The silence returns. It seems they are interested in their food again. However, my appetite was gone.
The screeching of my chair sliding on the marble floor reverberates through the living hall as I get up from my seat.
“I’m heading outside.”
The Prince replies. “Ok, we’ll be staying in here though. Come back around 3 and we will go to your sister’s ceremony together.”
“Yeah, see you guys later.”
I step outside.
Alright! Now I have around 6 hours to waste. According to legends, the time system used by our world is actually based off of the time clock of the Ancient Ones. The Ancient Ones, as they are called, are a people long past that created many of the traditions and relics of the world today. Some of the things we use such as our current time clock and calendar were created by the Ancient Ones.
The relics or items left behind by the Ancients are often so highly valued that many adventurers of the Adventurer’s Guild go on numerous exploration and excavation missions to go and search the discovered relics. These missions are usually sponsored by the local kingdom as well.
Now back to my current situation. Since it is 9 o'clock right now, I have more or less 6 hours to use up before I head home to watch the ceremony.
Originally, I was going to go have fun by either heading over to the homes of my friends, or go over to the library. If I ever even had a talent in anything, it would probably be in reading and collecting books or antiques.
But first, I have to make a few preparations. One of my friends had previously told me about a rumor that flies around. It seems that nobles that are either unwanted or disowned by the family are often restricted from the Awakening Ceremony, and are either enslaved, or left alone with no family support.
With my current standing in the family, I doubt that my family will bear to use the powers of the artifact to awaken my bloodline. So I must prepare for the worst-case scenario.
I hate myself for doing this, but I’ll use my late mother’s inheritance to prepare for a situation such as that. That’s how drastic the situation is.
In the Kingdom of Ixuria, gold, silver, and copper coins are used as currency. Gold equal to 100 silver, and silver is equivalent to 100 copper. There is also the Ixurian coin, which is worth around 1000 gold coins.
My mother, before she passed away, had gotten my father to swear that her 20% of her possessions were to be passed along to me. Though my father is cold and indifferent toward me and my brothers, my brothers secretly told me that he is really soft on mother. So my father had stored it into the Bank of Ixuria.
My mother, married into the Calsworth family from another noble’s house had a lot of money and items. She was quite rich, so that even 20% of her possessions would total up to at least 20 Ixurian coins, or 20,000 gold coins. Compared to the 10 gold coins I could scrap up, it was a monstrous amount.
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Having thought up a plan of action, I went into motion. First I spent around 20 silver to hire a carriage to drive me around. Next, I went over to the bank and immediately applied for a withdraw of half of my 20 Ixurian coins. I did not want to waste all of it in case it was just a misunderstanding on my side.
Then, I went immediately went over to the Mercenaries Guild, and applied for a bronze-rank bodyguard unit of at least 50 men, putting up a contract that would hire them out for 500 gold per day. I deposited one Ixurian coin there. After immediately hiring a team of 5 iron-rank bodyguards for 5 gold each, I went to the nearby temple.
There, I bought several talismans of healing, various elements, invisibility, shielding, and attacking. Talismans from the temple are actually pretty expensive, especially considering how anybody could use them. For good measure, I even bought some exorcist talismans. I’m must’ve spent at least 500 gold there.
I was planning to buy as much as I could there, but considering the bewildered face on the priest, I knew I couldn’t buy too much. It’d be too suspicious if a noble’s child, and especially one of the respected Calsworth family bought so many talismans. So I just bought some and left.
Next, by paying 4 of my guards extra to go and head over to each item shop in the district, I managed to gather an even wider assortment of items. One of them even managed to get their hands on an old artifact, in the shape of a bracelet. It was expensive though, costing over 1,000 gold.
Accompanied by the one remaining guard, I went to the Capital’s Armory, nicknamed the Fiery Beast. Since I was still a minor, I needed to custom order an armor set if I wanted armor.
Opening the door to the Fiery Beast, the guard and I, dressed as inconspicuously as possible walked inside. In the first part of the Armory were the weapons and armor on display. With prices ranging from a mere 1 gold coin to 1,000 gold, everything was there. After taking in this amazing sight, I walked straight through, heading toward the back door located at the rear of the store.
There, I met with my uncle Svan, one of the two head blacksmiths of the Fiery Beast.
“Hi Uncle Egil!”
“Oh hey there kiddo. How’re you doing?”
“I’m doing ok. I just want to buy a bit of armor.” At this point, in my shopping spree, I had only around 6 Ixurian coins worth of money remaining.
“What for? I can’t see what you would need armor for. Don’t you already use the school set?"
“Yes, but even with that, I’m not having a good time in my combat lessons. Since I’m not that good at fighting, I end up taking a lot of blows every day. Say, can you make me something I could wear underneath my clothes? Something sturdy, yet light and not very noticeable.”
“Hah! You’re a sneaky little bastard aren’t you. Scheming to get an upper hand in a fight. But I like that. You’re like Uncle Svan when he was small. He would always get back at whoever messed with him.”
After laughing heartily for some time, his hand reaches to stroke his beard as he contemplates the armor I requested.
“Hm… something light yet strong? Oh! I have the perfect thing. Just wait outside, and I’ll have it made. It’ll be at least 2 Ixurian coins though. Did your father give you enough money?”
“Yes, I made sure to bring enough.”
“OK then!” He laughs again. “Alright, off you go, I’ll have it made by 2 in the afternoon. Come back then.” He then turns around while laughing softly to himself. “Haha, to think that a kid would visit a blacksmith to give him an upper hand in combat class. I wish I did that when I was small. I would’ve taken down my peers.”
Seeing that he was now busy with work, I left, walking back to the store.
But before I left the Fiery Beast, I bought 2 concealed daggers as a hidden protection. Too bad it's more likely that I'll stab myself in a fight than an enemy. But I guess that's what my healing talisman is for.
Now, putting away 2 Ixurian coins for the armor, I had a 3 Ixurian coins and around 800 gold coins left.
Using the guards as a medium, I managed to create a safe house located near the western border between Ixuria and the Shirus Empire. I had it made in a village called Cullfield. But with this, most of my money was gone. The items I bought were expensive, even by my standards.
By the time all this was finished, it was almost 2. I still had a bit of time before I could pick up the armor, but I went there to wait anyway.
I entered the Fiery Beast. When I stepped into the back room of the store, I could hear the roar of the flames, and the constant hammering of the hammer. I wasn’t sure if the armor was done or not. As I opened the door to the forge, I was suddenly greeted by a strong force of expulsion.
“Axel I’m not done yet! Wait just a bit longer. Almost done.” Along with those words, something similar to a force field carried me and threw me out of the door. Luckily, I was caught by my guards. By this time, the guards knew they had to protect me well, seeing that I must be a noble’s son with extremely high status due to the amount of money I have been spending.
“Well, since my armor’s not done yet, I guess I’ll just wait outside” I muttered, as I walked back into the store. Time went by as I admired the swords and spears dotting the wall, imagining what life would be like if I was actually good at fighting.
Suddenly the front door of the forge opened, and a big tall man walked in. This man was dressed in quality steel armor, equipped with a large battle axe along with a sword at his waist. He looked similar to a knight, but instead of a crest of a noble’s house, he wore an insignia at his shoulder of a Blizzard Wolf.
Walking inside, he gave off an imposing atmosphere. The guard to my right whispers to me, “This man here is the leader of the Frostsworn Mercenary Group. I heard he was a Gold-rank mercenary. I always wanted to get to know him.”
“I know” I reply. “He’s my uncle.”
You could practically hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. When I looked at him, and at the rest of the guards, I found that they were frozen in shock.
“What?!” they practically scream in shock. “What the heck!?”
Seeing this, I burst out in laughter, and soon enough, so does the big man in armor.
His imposing aura vanished, replaced by the laughter of a simple man.
“Greetings, Uncle Svan.” I said.
“Hey Axel. How’s your sis doing?”
“She’s doing OK I guess. Oh! Did you find any books or items on your trip this month?”
I ran up to him, inquiring about any new items he discovered. He knows that I really enjoy collecting antiques. I think that he just came back from an expedition mission in a cavern near the Frost dragons of the North.
“Nah, sorry kid, I didn’t find anything good. It wasn’t a completely pointless trip though. I found a ring of power. It seems to have quite a bit of power in it.”
“Can I have it?”
“Nope, this has to be brought to the castle for an inspection. You know that artifacts have to be checked in. Or else its power might run amok.”
“Don’t worry, I know. Well, what are you here for? I’m waiting for a special order from Uncle Egil.”
“Oh really? I’m just here to ask him to repair some equipment. What’d you ask him to make?”
“Oh, nothing special. Just a bit of light armor.”
“Okay…? I’m not too sure what you need it for. Are you going to slay a dragon, Axel?”
“Yeah!”
After some more banter, my uncle Svan and I walked into the forge. I told my guards to stay outside the forge, and look around the shop if they were bored. One of the guards, the one that was a “fan” of the Frostsworn, he was basically asking me with his eyes to get a signature from Egil for him. I nearly laughed again. It just showed how awesome my Uncle was.
By the time we entered the depths of the forge, to find Svan, the sounds of hammering and steel had stopped. Then, Uncle Egil walked out of the smoke of the forge to greet us, holding something what seems to be a glittering shirt.
“Whoa, who’s this moving lump of metal” he asked.
“HEY I’m —”
“Oh hey Axel, I have your armor for you. It’s right here.”
“What armor?” I look at him. He’s not holding any armor, but just a sparkling silver-white shirt.
“This” he says, as he throws me the shirt.
“This?” I reply. This is a SHIRT. What type of ARMOR is this?!?!
Egil goes on to say: “Here you go. Mithril chainmail. Practically unbreakable, and probably worth more than the whole Frostsworn Mercenary group. I had this lying around.”
“Happy Birthday Axel” he says with a massive smile on his face.
I am just shocked. Mithril?! Isn’t that metal one of the most precious metals in the world?
And he remembered that it’s my birthday today?!
I just stand there, shocked, while Uncle Svan’s jaw practically dropped to the ground.
Svan is the first one to react. “MITHRIL?!?! WAIT IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY?!?” His shouts reverberate across the whole forge. I can’t tell which part he’s more surprised about.
“NOOO I forgot it was your birthday. I was going to get you something good. Dang it, I don’t know if I can top Egil’s gift though. Really, gifting mithril armor. What a smart bastard.”
Huh? Something seems wrong. Shouldn’t he be more shocked at the fact that I am getting mithril armor, not at the fact it’s my birthday today?
“Shoot, what am I supposed to get for him? My collection of books? Wait I only have 2 though… How about cake? No that doesn’t work… ” Svan begins looking away, while muttering some incomprehensible stuff.
Egil smiles. “Hey Axel, try it on. I had it forged just for you. By the way, I was joking about the cost. As it’s your birthday, it's my present to you. I’m just sorry I can’t go to your Awakening Ceremony today. The King just commissioned a gift for his daughter.”
I tried on the shirt. I put it under my silk shirt, and it fit perfectly. Even better, it was super comfortable, as the chainmail was so finely made that it felt smooth on my skin, and the metal itself was magically attuned to my body temperature, so I barely felt the difference.
This mithril chainmail was probably lighter than my shirt even.
“Wow! Uncle Egil, you’re the best!” At this age, I was unable to fully appreciate the value of the metal. All I knew, was that it was extremely strong, and extremely comfortable.
When Uncle Svan heard that, he grew even more depressed in his corner. Becoming more and more desperate to give me a good present, he even attempted to give me the Ring of Power he found just earlier. I had to refuse, because it was the law to turn in any discovered artifacts.
After a bit longer, Uncle Svan and I, along with my guards left the store. We had the same destination, the Mercenary Guild. But before I left, my Uncle, who told me the value of the armor convinced me to leave one Ixurian coin behind. I hid it in the forge. I hope he finds it.
I had to go to the Mercenary Guild to accept the contract that I had put up, while Svan had to go to accept his reward for his expedition.
When I got there, my contract was accepted. There was a group called the Grey Wolves that accepted the quest. They had around 20 members, with one silver-rank, and the rest bronze rank. At this point in time, I had 1 Ixurian coin left, the extra money I had from the money I was originally going to give Egil. Suddenly, Uncle Svan walks up to me.
“I heard you were hiring as many trained men as possible. Hire my group too.”
What? Did I hear right?
A group of 10 men also stood up, as they began making their way toward us.
Svan continues talking. “My Frostsworn Mercenary Group is famous, and we just got back from an adventure. Surely you wouldn’t have any problems hiring us. ”
“This is my gift to you. We, the Frostsworn will be under contract to serve under Axel Griffin Calsworth, for a total of 10 days.”
He leans over to whisper to me. “All for the price of one Ixurian coin. I know you have one remaining. I don’t know why you’re hiring so many of us for, but I bet this gift of mine tops that of Egil’s right?”
Numb, I could only nod my head. Everything else seemed to happen in a flash. The ten men that came over turned out to be the lieutenants of the Frostsworn. They were all silver-rank. They helped draft the documents, and I literally only had to pay 1 Ixurian coin.
Considering the strength and status of the group, it was extremely cheap. Normally, a contract of this size would cost at least 10 Ixurian coins. I had to hand it to Uncle Svan. He definitely thought of a gift that could match Egil’s mithril. After around an hour of preparation and official documentation, the hundred strong mercenary group was ready.
Under my command, for the equivalent of a mere 2,000 gold, or 2 Ixurian coins, I had the 50-man Grey Wolves, and the 100-strong silver-rank group, the Frostsworn. I had my own private army, in addition to the 5 iron-rank guards that I hired earlier. I spent more to keep them, because I didn't want word of my actions to spread around the city yet.
And thus, equipped with my new mithril chainmail and numerous magical items yet as broke as can be, I headed to the Prince’s mansion to witness my sister’s ceremony.