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Aliad - Tale of Zed [Dropped]
Chapter 21 - Distress

Chapter 21 - Distress

Last one for today............ The rest will be tomorrow............... 50 more pages T_T

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That day started the same way as yesterday. Breakfast with Arthur then heading to class.

Lunch was different though. Sasha, Kaiser, Alex and I went to the mansion to eat our lunch. Kaiser had a happy expression on his face as we went there.

Arthur was out somewhere so Alex went to the kitchen to cook. Sasha went with him saying that she wanted to have her brother eat something she made.

Kaiser and I sat at the dining table. He sat across from me wearing a satisfied expression and said, “Thank you for this Prince Zed.”

“Its nothing,” I answered, “How’d you know you were a prince?”

“My mother told me,” he said looking somber, “she’s taken care of me since we were chased out of the palace. We fled to a small village on a tiny island. There, we weren’t troubled by the aristocrats and we lived our lives peacefully.”

He continued, “When we found out that I could use magic, my mother was ecstatic and told me then that I was a prince. At first I was mad at my father for leaving us to that state but my mother kept on insisting that my father wasn’t at fault. She loved him.”

I listened very quietly at his answer. I tried to understand how it must have felt to live life like that.

“How did Sasha know that you were her brother?”

He lifted his head to the right and showed me a tattoo. It looked like a three pointed crown. “All members of the royal family are engraved this tattoo whether they are of common birth or not. Its engraved with magic so it is not easily reproduced.”

“Does Sasha have one as well?”

He leveled his head and said, “Yes, I caught sight of it when she brushed her hair when we were talking on the first day. I wasn’t sure of it was her so it took a while before I finally told her that we were siblings.”

“She was happy when I told her,” he said grinning, “but then she said that she would give the throne to me.”

He became somber again and he said much more quietly, “I want to tell her that I don’t want to take the throne. It’s the nobility’s fault that my mother was forced to leave.”

His eyes became filled with anger when he said, “Its their fault that my kind mother was forced to reduce herself into a prostitute!”

I was shocked to hear this. Who would’ve thought that I would know someone personally who was a child of a prostitute. I didn’t look at Kaiser with disdain but rather I looked at him with pity. I couldn’t do anything for him... I was powerless...

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I told you that,” he said recovering, “not even Sasha knows.”

“Don-” I started to say when Sasha and Alex came to the dining room bringing in the food with carts and saying, “Lunch is ready!”

There was an assortment of vegetables and greens. Ribs were made for us to eat and there also was a specialty dish from the Lunaria Federation. It looked like fried rice made with some sort of soy sauce and I could see chicken, crabs, and more vegetables on it.

“I’m really surprised that your kitchen has a lot of ingredients,” said Sasha placing the food at the table.

“Our kitchen has a special magic device that gives you any ingredient that we may not have specifically,” Alex said as he placed plates and silverware, “Its useful for when I’m just missing one ingredient.”

After they finished placing the food in front of us, we all began eating. Kaiser seemed to get in a better mood as lunch started when I heard a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” said Alex standing up.

“So Sasha, I hear your engaged to Zed?” asked Kaiser as he took a bite from the fried rice.

Sasha blushed a little and said, “Yes.” He closed his eyes and said, “I approve.”

“Zed looks like a nice guy, I’m sure he’ll take good care of you,” he said when he opened his eyes and smiled approvingly.

I was about to say something when Alex came in with a frightened expression and interrupted me by saying, “Prince Zed, we have visitors. Its King Vayasu Imadul of the Lunaria Federation.”

We all froze and looked at Kaiser. He had a scared look on his face and I pointed to the kitchen and he instantly ran inside.

After confirming that Kaiser was well hidden I stood up just in time to see Vayasu enter the dining room.

“It’s an honor to have you visit us, King Vayasu,” I said bowing down along with Sasha.

“No need for formalities,” he said laughingly, “after all we are pretty much family.”

I motioned for him to a seat and as he sat down I asked, “May I ask why you are here?”

“Can’t a father meet his daughter at school?” he said looking at the food, “My what a nice assortment of food you have here, may I partake?”

I motioned for him yes and Alex went to the kitchen to grab him a plate and some utensils.

That is how the King of the Lunaria Federation joined us for lunch.

As we were eating he said, “So Sasha, how is school?”

“I-its fine father,” she said trying to calm her voice and face.

“Is that so? And there hasn’t been anything strange that happened? Like for example a love rival?” he said accusingly.

“N-no one, Zed is all I care about!” she shouted grabbing my right arm and hugging it. “Is that so? And you Zed, are you taking good care of my daughter?”

“Yes she is in my perfect care,” I said hugging her tighter, “I’ve already set an excursion for us this weekend.”

Sasha looked at me and quietly said, “Really?”“Is that so,” he said nodding and took another bite from the rice.

“I will set some of my guards around you at that time. You won’t be able to notice them,” he said finishing up his food.

“This has been a wonderful lunch, Sasha your cooking has improved,” he said smiling at Sasha.

He stood up and said, “If you’ll excuse me I have to meet with Artemia.”

With that he left, leaving Alex, Sasha and I at the table. Alex had a frightened expression the whole time but he made sure not to look at Vayasu as to not reveal it. Sasha hid her face behind me and tried to keep calm. I had no way to block myself so I had to fake my expressions.

Once the door closed, we waited for one minute before we started moving. Alex opened the kitchen door and Kaiser went back to his seat. Kaiser looked like he sweated a lot during our lunch with Vayasu.

We acted this way because we knew about their relationship. If Kaiser was found by the Lunaria Federation’s nobles, he would no doubt be assassinated. We had to make sure that he wasn’t seen.

During that lunch, I had a feeling that he knew that Kaiser was here and so he placed his guards as well under the guise of protecting Sasha. It might work but for how long, I thought.

We didn’t touch the rest of the food then and just cleaned up before it was time to go to class. We said goodbye to Kaiser and Sasha. Kaiser looked like he had seen a ghost but with Sasha at his side he should come back. Sasha was able to calm down when she led her brother with her to class.

The afternoon and evening was the same as yesterday. Ralph had us do exercises until we were exhausted and Arthur made sure that we memorized the movements from last night.

We did a little bit of our magic training but since we were tired from the events of the day during lunch we went to go to sleep early.

A couple months passed by after Vayasu’s visit.

Arthur still kept on teaching us swordsplay. I got to the point where I could finally beat Alex once out of every fifty duels. I lost a lot of times but being able to beat Alex every now and then was alright.

Alex was doing well in his magic training. Not as impressive as mine but he was still fairly impressive. He also grew a little. He grew a couple inches and was now taller than I was. He also gained a bit more muscle because of the training from Arthur.

Sasha was the same as usual. We began dating the week Vayasu came.

I say we began because we never did before even though we were engaged. There was a small town nearby called Rouland and we went there every weekend, just the two of us... and her father’s guards. We spent each weekend being together and enjoying each other’s company.

Kaiser became famous at school. He was well known as the school flirt and when I told him this he said that he didn’t know or noticed anything like that. Even though he was known as a player, he himself didn’t know and was actually pretty shy about it.

Ralph still kept his classes harsh. He actually made us start running up the mountain with the others. He increased the distance every day so we never got used to it.

Incidents such as the fight between the nobles and the commoners rarely ever occurred anymore. If any they were usually about petty things like stealing homework. The closest thing to the fight was when they accused each other of being cheaters.

The answer key to some test was missing and the nobles blamed the commoners for stealing it. This resulted in a shouting match between the two and before it escalated it was stopped by the Ravenex Corps.

Speaking of the Ravenex Corps, our office space became much more than just a table. We had a storage cell for any confiscated items or students that disobeyed the rules. Part of the room accepted notices from students when there was something that they were worried about. We were also given food similar to how the cafeteria gets theirs.

Our organizational structure was fixed as well. It was a bad system in the beginning but now is starting to function much better. Our numbers were still the same but everyone was able to act on their own now.

In my case, I grew taller and have some muscles developing. Shorter than Alex, I stood at a height of 3 feet and 6 inches. Even though my blessings made me learn combat moves faster it still wasn’t enough to match Alex’s earlier training. I did however manage to use Acolyte ranked spells of all the affinities except for time and space.

Adept level was what I was practicing right now. It was a Saturday and Alex, Sasha, Kaiser, and I would be going to Rouland and have lunch there. Right now it was nearly time to gather but I wanted to train as much as I could.

I created a nice training spot behind the mansion that I created with magic.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I made plateau as high as the trees around me and created a crater in the plateau. Along one side was filled with scorchmarks as it was my target area. I would create stone dummies from the earth and I would hit them with my magic.

I was practicing the Adept level spell, ‘Fire Wave’. I gathered the Fire mana into my hands and when it was enough I casted it. The Fire mana burst into the ground and created a surge of flames headed towards one of the stone dummies in front of me.

When it hit the dummy it burst and scattered rocks all around. This particular ‘Fire Wave’ had Nature magic on it. The Spectrum affinities uses the same mana as the Primordial affinities but with a small amount of Spectrum mana inside. This caused the ‘Fire Wave’ to have a burst effect.

Satisfied, I gathered mana again for a different spell when I heard a voice say, “Zed, its time to go!”

“Alright!” I called back stopping the flow of mana and running to my room. My clothes for the outing were already set for me and I just changed as quickly as I could.

I went out the front door wearing a black and blue clean shirt and my new white pants courtesy of Sasha. Alex and the rest were outside waiting for me and as I entered their sight, Sasha wrapped her left arm on my right.

“You’re late,” she said with a pouty expression. She wore a pink frilly dress and a haircomb made of a jadelike material that I gave her.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I was training.”“You’re always training,” said Alex grinning. He wore a green shirt and brown pants.

“Don’t make my sister wait so long,” said Kaiser with his hand pointed at me and his face threatening, “I may approve of your engagement but that doesn’t mean that I’ll let her go easily.” He wore a plain white shirt with black pants.

After saying that we all started walking to Rouland as we talked about we could do there after eating.

Alex suggested to watch a tournament that they were having. The tournament was a ranking tournament, the only way, a warrior could rank up. Alex and I didn’t bother to do it as Arthur told us that if we would rank up only when he tells us we could.

Kaiser suggested that we fight each other at the dome again. Of course saying also that Sasha was not allowed to fight. Sasha got mad at that and punched her brother saying that he was only afraid of losing to her.

Sasha, after calming down, suggested that we separate after our lunch and do our own thing. She probably wanted to go sit at our tree and relax there.

Since Sasha was my fiancée, naturally I supported her. Because of that we decided to do what we wanted after our lunch. Alex would go to watch the tournament, Kaiser would go duel some random people, and Sasha and I would go to our private spot and relax.

We had lunch at the most popular restaurant in Rouland, ‘The Knight’s Decree’. It looked a bit rundown outside but inside it rivaled a palace in decorations. Right now we were at the atrium behind the front doors where a counter was in front of us and a woman was behind it.

We came up and she said smiling, “Welcome to ‘The Knight’s Decree’, what may we do you my lords and my lady.”

“We have a reservation under Rammert,” said Alex nonchalantly.

Her expression changed to shock but then recovered and said bowing, “Of course, right this way.”

She left her post and led us through a set of doors through the left. The inside was as spectacular as ever. Sasha and I always started our dates here. The inside was separated into different rooms. Each room only had one table which ensured privacy from anyone.

The restaurant was popular amongst couples, families and most importantly nobles. Since they usually catered to nobles, the interior designs would naturally look like a palace. It was owned by a noble who rose to that rank by being a merchant and was indebted to the Rammert family.

Just by using Alex’s family name, we were always able to come here and eat for free.

She led us to the Rammert private room. It was made specially for any member of the Rammert family under orders from the owner. It was made to be the largest room in the restaurant and had wonderful paintings decorating it. Vases filled with different types of flowers were to each side of a painting.

The center was a large round table that could fit forty people at once. We stat close to each other. Alex sat to my left while Sasha sat at my right. Kaiser took the spot to the right of her sister.

Before our host left, we ordered each our food. Alex ordered a steak, Kaiser ordered a fish, while Sasha and I ordered something akin to spaghetti for the two of us.

She left bowing and closing the door and we descended to talking. Minutes later the door opened and in came our food. Alex and Kaiser ate with gusto while Sasha and I ate slowly.

Soon enough they both finished and said they wanted to get started to what they were doing as soon as possible. We nodded and Alex left with Kaiser.

When they left she softly said, “Thank you.”I looked at her cute and happy face and I said, “I should be the one to thank you.” We stared at each other for some time when bursting in came Alex.

We looked at Alex and saw that he was ragged and tired looking. A small trail of blood leaked from his left temple and I immediately stood up going to him and guided him to sit at a chair and asked, “What happened?”

“They took Kaiser!” he said after gasping a bit. Sasha brought her hands to her face and screamed.

After making sure that Alex was leaning back to the chair, I ran to Sasha, hugged her while rubbing her back and said, “Its going to be alright.”

She calmed down after a while and I saw that a crowd was gathering outside our room. I looked sharply at them and they all left. I helped Sasha stand up, looked at Alex and said, “Can you stand or do you need help?”

“I’m okay,” he said standing.I nodded and led us out of the restaurant and try to get a carriage to get us home.

All the time as we rode back on the carriage I was thinking of who would take Kaiser. I didn’t want to ask Alex yet since Sasha was crying while leaning on me.

When we got back, I told Alex to go back to the mansion and helped Sasha to her dormitory. Her dorm mother saw us and took her from me and said, “I’ve got it. Thank you Prince Zed.”

I nodded at her and ran back to the mansion to question Alex.

It was a little over three right now and also a couple hours since Kaiser was apparently kidnapped.

When I got to the mansion, Arthur was gone as he had to participate as a judge at the tournament. Alex was in the living room laying down on the couch, one of his arms over his eyes and the other pointed at the ground

I stood across from him and asked, “What happened?”He recounted to me what happened just minutes after they left.

They got out of the restaurant and Kaiser invited him to have a duel. When he said no, Kaiser left running back to the school when people with black robes and cowls surrounded him and took him.

Alex tried to chase after them but one of them stayed behind and slashed at him with a sword. Alex dodged but he didn’t notice that he had another sword aimed at him.

Alex got hit with the blunt edge on his left temple and he fell rougly on the ground. Alex was stunned for a moment but that was enough for the black robed men to run away with Kaiser.

After finishing his story, Alex cried and I left, angry, heading to my room and wrote a letter.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own so I had to get help. I had to let the my father know so that I could get help on this matter.

I wrote the letter and sent it and made sure that Alex’s wounds healed by casting healing magic and waited for Arthur.

My father will definitely help but it would take a while so I needed to get Arthur’s help so that I could do something immediately.

It was night when Arthur came back and saw us in the living room. He looked worried and I told him what happened. He looked shocked and he said he would help me. He grew to like Kaiser and his willingness to fight.

“I have friends nearby, they will certainly be of help,” he said going out the door, “stay inside until I get back. When I do, get ready as we’re going to rescue Kaiser from them.”

He closed the door leaving Alex and I in the living room. Alex was sleeping on the couch and so I had Chronos lift him up and carry him to his room.

While he was doing that I said, “Malakir... why did this happen?”

“They must’ve found out...”

“What’s going to happen to Kaiser?” I asked, my eyes moistening.

“I don’t know.”

“Are they going to kill him?”

“...most likely...”

“I swear! I will save Kaiser! He doesn’t deserve what happened to him, I will save him! Malakir will you help me?” I asked rasing my voice and my anger raging.

“Its not our problem. This is an internal issue of the Lunaria Federation. There is no reason for you a prince of the Rigel Kingdom to do anything.”

“Malakir! I asked if you will help me!” I said angrily.

“... I am your summon. You are my master, anything you wish is my duty to do so.”

“Then why do you question my actions!”

“Because this will cause an international problem.”

“So?! Kaiser is my friend more than that he is my fiancée’s brother. Illegitimate or not this is my problem as well!”

“...”

“So again I ask, will you help me Malakir?” I asked my voice a lot more calm but still angry, “I have to save him.”

“I will follow you even if the world calls you demon.”

“Thank you,” I said gathering Ethereal mana around me.

“The first spell,” I said when the mana was enough, “Advent!”

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