A Dragon Lord was coming.

That is what my father said to me then.

And I could not ignore the feeling that it had a motive beyond destroying the capital.

But I had no evidence beyond that feeling.

My father thought so too because his eyes told me that.

There was no need for words.

At least until I broke the silence that had invaded the office.

"How many people know of this?"

"Those in charge of the Orders, your brother, Hilde, and soon the rest of the court will."

"Then I can assume that preparations are already well on the way."

As with any approaching battle, training needed to be intensified, evacuation plans needed to be drafted, provisions counted and more.

"Of course, my son. Hilde and your brother are already taking the necessary steps on the logistics side of things."

Back then that was reassuring, even if I already knew of their capabilities. Because thanks to them I was able to focus on another matter of equal importance.

"Father, when?"

"If they maintain the pace and route they have now, they shall be on our doorstep in less than two weeks."

The route that my father showed me on his map then was a route that seemed to strangely avoid any villages and major cities. Completely unlike any other expeditionary force that came before it.

Such route spoke of an attempt to focus all their strength in reaching the capital without…distractions.

But that also worked on our favor.

"Then we can assemble the Knight's Orders and the National Army and intercept them before they reach the capital. Even more so, we could mount a pincer attack on both flanks while distracting them with a frontal assault. Furthermore, I am sure that the Alliance of Nations will also provide reinforcements after knowing of a Dragon Lord's involvement. The Demon King of the Zenji Kingdom would even teleport some of their troops here as an immediate act of support."

I was truly confident in that plan for the nations of the Goddess’ races were, and still are, all united against the threat that the Dragon Lords pose. All offer support to the others and their soldiers fight as one, shedding blood as brothers. Even now, there are people fighting in the Draconic Front which lies in the land now known as the Lost Continent. A place that is a reminder of how much we have lost and the supremacy of our enemies.

The Kingdom of Fairies, Faerum.

The Beast-man Republic, Aiolia.

Such places are among those lost…those that are no more.

And the toll of those particular events would have been larger if not for the intervention of the Demon King, who, while aided by the Goddess’ blessing, used his spatial magic to teleport away the citizens of those nations. But that was not all, the Demon King, whose kingdom had been blessed with ample land, immediately provided refuge and that same land to those who lost theirs in a complete act of selflessness. Our Kingdom and the other nations did the same and doing so reinforced our sense of unity.

Actions that the Goddess…Miss Nerinne, smiled upon, providing continuous years of good harvests for our lands.

As such, I felt that if we made the right choices there, we could have made the Dragon Lord lose its interest in attacking the capital and caused it to return to where it came from.

After all, thinking of beating or killing them was just arrogance and ignorance, and as such, making them leave out of boredom was the best choice in that situation.

At least, until I met you, My Lord.

"Father, just give me the order and I shall coordinate everything."

Still, that was why I earnestly tried to ask father to let me take care of things but…what he told me in response shocks me even to this day.

"I shall not do such a thing and we shan’t take those measures, my son. We shall confront them here and push them back. That already has been decided."

"But why? I do not understand, Father. Waiting for the enemy to arrive and engaging them in a defensive battle with the Capital at stake is madness. Not making use of our trusted allies when being against a Dragon Lord is, again, madness. When was this decided? Who proposed this?"

As the crown prince and the leader of a knight's order, I knew that I could not lose my composure, even if it was frustrating to hear a strategy that bordered on suicide. Even more so, one that came from my own father.

"I did, Erevain. I, the King, did. Those orders are final and cannot be changed. You do not need to understand them, you only need to follow them. Or—"

"Or what, Father? I am the Crown Prince by my Mother's authority. I can contest your authority if I consider that your orders are in detriment of the Kingdom as it is her will and law. So, I…"

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Just remembering those words that I told him reminds me of the bad taste that they left in my mouth back then, for I am still not someone who throws around their power and position to get things done. But…I am afraid that I could not let such reckless plan be without reminding him.

Even if that meant to oppose the same father that was glad for my safe return.

Nevertheless, it was something that I could do for the Regents of this world are chosen by both deeds and blessings. One cannot be a Regent without one of those. Deeds can be heroic in nature, but they can also be done outside of the battlefield. One must bring change, help those who are going to be led and improve their lives. While blessings are simple, the Goddess must simply deem you worthy of said power and title.

Mother was a Regent.

Father was not.

And I…was one too, albeit mine was a special case for I did not, and still do not, know what I have done or was going to do to be considered the next King of the Kyrie Kingdom. And so, that is why I was the Crown Prince, instead of a simple Prince like my siblings.

As for why, when I was a child, Mother and her Holiness asked Miss Nerinne if I was worthy of such title and she, in her omnipotence, peered into the river of time and said yes.

She gave no prophecy, no hint as to what the reason would be, even when her Holiness asked Miss Nerinne, she answered that she only 'looked' for the answer to that question and nothing else.

Even so, life took an unpredictable turn and Mother gave my father the authority to act as King while on her deathbed. That was to be until I was of age to succeed the throne and with a set of rules put in place.

One of those said rules was that I held the right to contest the power of the King if I judged it to be in detriment for the Kingdom and its people at any time.

I truly never thought that there would be a time when I needed to exercise that right, but alas, I was proved wrong.

"So, I urge you to reconsider before you force me to take action and use the full extent of my position."

I still remember how my father’s face twisted in silent anger and his glare…

I did not want to see it then but…that glare was the one he showed to his enemies…

"We are done here. You are dismissed, Erevain."

Of course, such thing was useless as I already mentioned, no matter how scared I was of it when I was a child, and that only served to fuel his anger.

Even with all of that happening, I still wanted to clarify something to my father before I left.

Something important.

"Father, I love you but this...this cannot be."

"..."

______________________________________________________

"My Prince, I do not think that is a good joke."

"Because it is not a joke, Eric. That is what my Father's strategy seems to be."

Eric was as shocked as me after I filled him in on the details of my talk as we moved to our next location in the palace.

He even suggested that we assembled a meeting with the whole order.

Which was what we were going to do but...not that day.

"We shall discuss this with everyone in a few days. I cannot rob them from their families and their well-deserved rest in such a short time. Even more so, because there will be no other chance to do so after we go through with that meeting."

The plan for that day was to go to my personal quarters in the palace and meet with my second attendant, but we were nonchalantly stopped by someone.

"Oh? Whatever are you talking about? It sounds important, mind if I join in?"

His name was Ulthane Reignitz, a high ranked soldier and next head of the Reignitz noble household, known from his rashness and lack of concern for his own men or himself. The scar that crossed his right eye was proof of it. Even then, he commanded a whole troop of people loyal to him.

Some would compare him to Kristoff, saying that they were similar. But such thing could not be farther from the truth. Unlike Kristoff, Ulthane did not care about anyone in his troop and he would not volunteer to train someone, even if there was a need to do so.

He would not earnestly train them until he was sure to have reduced their chance of falling in battle, letting them remain ignorant of the ways of the battlefield and lacking technique, thinking that they either lived and learned on their own or they died like fools.

And in the fight against the mutated manticore, he would not have been the first to notice its enhanced speed and much less act like Kristoff did then, taking the blow that was meant to surprise us. No, he would have let some of us get injured and others killed as a way to distract the manticore and attack it.

That was Ulthane Reignitz.

"Do not approach the Prince in such a familiar way. Know your place."

"Right back at you, attendant. Or is it that you think that you are like a brother, an equal, to him just because of how much you stick to him? Pffft...give me a break. You are nothing more than a noble turned servant."

As one would expect, Eric did his job as my attendant and put himself between me and Ulthane. But as it is with people like him…he did not back down and tried to provoke him, even if it was a cheap attempt at it.

And while Eric and I could ignore his words, I could not let him disturb the work of the people in the palace.

So, I intervened.

"Haaa…do you have business with me, Officer Reignitz? Because if not, I need to keep going."

As his gaze shifted from Eric to me, his demeanor changed, abandoning his seemingly intimidating and confrontational disposition, and replacing it with one seemingly more friendly, outgoing even.

After all, he knew the difference between us and that intimidation would not work on me, let alone any other provocation.

"No need to be so cold, Prince. It was just my luck that I coincided with your highness on the way to a meeting. But that can lose all its meaning depending on your answer right now."

"To which question?"

While I did know of what question he was referring to, I did not say so to make him cease and desist with it and he was well aware of that, but he ignored my intentions anyway.

"Let me and my men join your Knight's Order. I am sure that we can be of use. Not only will you have more men to handle more tasks, but you would be able to stay in the capital and not be blindsided by any…developments.”

It vexed me but I was not surprised that he seemed to know all about the matters that concerned me.

Still, it did not matter, he wasn’t getting a reaction from me.

“Haa…you already know my answer, Officer Reignitz. You and your men were already tested and were found not worthy. You cannot join the Swords of Dawn."

The smile that he showed after seemingly grimacing at my response only gave me a bad feeling, one that I would learn to be correct later.

"Aaah, oh well, it was worth a last shot at it. That helps a lot in many ways, your Highness. You have my gratitude. Now I must attend to my meeting since it will be quite important. See you later, prince."

He even tried to push me aside with his shoulder, but he ended being the one pushed since his strength was inferior to mine and I did not budge.

And so, he left us frustrated with not even having that victory, walking on through the hall we came from.

"That insolent oaf."

"Stop it, Eric. Let us not waste any more time or energy with him. Mary is waiting for us."

"Yes, My Prince. Apologies."

In hindsight it was obvious with whom Ulthane was meeting, but back then I could not think that he would do something that foolish right after our conversation.

In any case, there was someone waiting for us since we had arrived.

My second attendant and childhood friend of both Eric and me.

Mary.

And she deserved to be aware of the situation.

To be continued...(cue new ending by myth and roid! FUCK YES! INJECT THAT RIGHT INTO MY VEINS!!!)