Bran woke up inside a room made mostly of wood. The smell of tea and old bark permeated inside the room. His clothes were replaced with normal villager’s attire and he was given brown leather shoes. He walked to the door and opened it to see the Elder drinking his tea with a slightly younger villager.

‘’Ah, Good morning, traveler. Please, have some tea.’’

‘’Thank you’’ Bran nodded

He sat next to the two and was poured his own cup of tea.

‘’Forgive the quality of the tea, our village is quite poor.’’

Bran sniffed the aroma of the tea and was soothing his mind and relaxing his body. He tried to remember what that smell was but the information just wasn’t there. Bran just closed his eyes and kept taking the scent in, not even touching the tea.

‘’Traveler, may I ask your name? Though I would understand if you are hiding it for some reason. We will not pry.’’

‘’Bran, my name is Bran.’’ he replied

The two men flinched. ‘’I see, quite an unusual name, hohoho.’’ The old man laughed.

‘’Anyway, let us move to the more important topic which is also the reason I brought this man you see here to meet you.’’

Bran opened his eyes to look at the other man.

‘’Is it important?’’

‘’It concerns the very survival of this village.’’

‘’Is it the cows?’’

‘’Afraid not, it is your words ‘you are all mine’. When someone of your power says it then it becomes something that could dictate the fate of our future. That is why my son here, Freight. He is the supposed heir for the next village chief.’’

‘’And?’’

‘’Do you really intend to own this village?’’

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‘’Have I not said it clear enough?’’

Instantly, the two villagers prostrated themselves, heads on the ground pleading.

‘’I give up my status as heir, Milord. I have but one request. Please, save our village.’’ Freight spoke, his voice shaky and tears dripping down to the wooden floor.

‘’Is the village in danger?’’

The village elder explained their situation.

‘’Our village is on the edge of the Holy Empire’s border and just miles from what was once Demon Territory. We established our village here to avoid the unjust taxes from our previous Lord’s reign. When we couldn’t pay, they made family members into slaves without mercy. The taxes were raised for the war with the Beast Country; Björn. In the end, we cannot return as we will be considered fugitives. The land here will not yield crops since it is near Demon Territory and we believe it to be cursed. We cannot go even near back to where we came from. I was at my wit’s end. Bandits and rogues and the lot were picking on us, taking our food as they wished, using us as a food source.’’

‘’So that Lord person has slaves?’’

‘’Yes, hiding in the shadow of the Holy Empire he can get away with any crime if doing so in the name of God.’’

Bran closed his eyes once more and rolled strands of his hair around his finger while he was thinking. ‘’That somehow feels annoying.’’

‘’Pardon?’’

‘’Someone else having slaves is annoying.’’

‘’.....’’

‘’Let’s go kill the Lord.’’

Freight and the Previous Elder popped up in shock. ‘’Milord Bran, no disrespect but the military power of a Lord is levels above the Bandits you have fought. If you intend for us to fight alongside you, I’m afraid we have no people that can fight. It will be suicide. To risk our extermination from your whim, even if you are our lord that might be a little-’’

Bran stood up and waved his hand in front of him

‘’No no no no, I’m not doing it from a simple whim. When we invade their territory, you will have a new place to stay so it’s completely reasonable’’

‘’Still, we have no military might. It’s not strange for us to lose no matter how we come about this invasion of yours. And we risk the Holy Empire purging us for treason if word gets out.’’

‘’That’s not a problem if we don’t leave any witnesses, right?’’

‘’Huh?’’

The father and son both realized that they might have given their village to someone not as wise as he was strong. With only his whims to cater to, Bran got ready to set out and invade the city of Strutol.

In another realm watching down on Bran. Fausk was concerned with how Bran’s personality was developing. A being that runs on their will to follow their selfish whims is bound to fall apart in due time. He looked at Derus and expressed his concerns strongly.

‘’Fausk, this being; Bran.’’

‘’What about him?’’

‘’He has a destiny that is bound to upset the balance of the world. Either for peace or chaos, it will tip the fragile balance.’’

‘’Didn’t you tell me he was going to be a hero.’’

‘’Yes, I did but I did not say whose hero he will become.’’

‘’WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TH--!’’

The doors in the observation room burst open and someone entered.

‘’Meruph?’’ Fausk said recognizing the angelic appearance

‘’God Fausk, God Derus, you are being called by the Alpha regarding the Games. You are both late for the meeting and despite being an Elder God. Sir Derus, Alpha has expressed his intentions that even you are not exempt from the consequences.’’

Derus ran for the Door with his eyes wide and his heart pumping faster than ever before and his Himation fluttered as he ran. Fausk calmly followed and proceeded to the meeting.

In what looked like a corporal meeting room, Fausk and Derus with ten more deities sitting in their places. The alpha still not in the room. Smoke started to rise from the end of the desk and like a switch being flipped, all of the gods that were talking stopped and fixed their postures.

‘’In his glory, I present you: The Alpha’’