The sun in the sky hid, yielding the spotlight to the moon to miserably illuminate the lives of the people in the capital. Meanwhile, time granted Apolo another small achievement: he had finally arrived at the Ministry of Magic.
At this very moment, Apolo was heading towards the reception office of the castle where the wizards of the ministry lived, where the wizard Tobias was supposedly still working on delivering the dormitory keys. After entering the castle and navigating its complex corridors, Apolo managed to jog his memory and find the reception office. Without knocking on the door, the young nobleman opened it and discovered that the wizard Tobias was still at work in the ministry and was currently attending to another wizard. Completely ignoring the unknown wizard, Apolo approached the desk and ordered bluntly:
—Give me a room for one night!
—Right now, I'm assisting...—Tobias began to respond with a well-practiced smile, but his refusal was suddenly interrupted as he saw the giant reaching for one of the crystal balls displayed on his desk.
Apolo picked up one of the crystal balls from Tobias's desk and raised it as if to inspect it. After gazing at it for a while under the nervous gaze of Magician Tobias and the uncomfortable gaze of the magician waiting for his room, the nobleman lost patience and dropped the crystal ball from his hands:
*Crash*...The crystal ball collided with the stone floor of the office, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
—Stop!!—Tobias shouted desperately, watching as the reckless giant had just broken part of his life's work.
—Give me my key, you lazy bum!—Apolo roared, taking two more crystal balls from the table.
—Here you go!—Exclaimed Tobias, pulling a random key from his desk drawers and handing it to Apolo—Now, release those two crystal balls! It took me years of my life to get to this point; you can't just destroy it like this!
—Of course I can!—Apolo roared, dropping the two crystal balls to the floor, proceeding to snatch the key from the stunned Tobias's hand.
*Crash, Crash*...The two crystal balls crashed to the ground, causing the wizard in the chair to look at Apolo like a madman and Tobias to look at the broken glass on the floor as if he were being handed the corpses of his children.
—No!!, Why?, why did you break them?, I gave you the key! Why did you have to destroy them?—Tobias cried with tears in his eyes, unable to look away from the remnants of the three crystal balls on the floor.
—Because I felt like it; next time, be quicker at your job: Goodbye, bunch of useless people!—Apolo replied, turning away to leave the room, completely ignoring the disgusted look that the waiting wizard was giving him.
After reaching the office door, Apolo left the room and slammed the door shut with such force that it almost split in half.
*Crash, Crash, Crash, Crash, Crash, Crash*...Immediately, the sound of the crystal balls falling could be heard coming from behind the door.
—No!!!—Tobias shouted as if one of his children had been killed, while his weary mind forced him to break down completely in tears.
With a sadistic smile on his face, the nobleman ignored the heartbreaking cries of the poor wizard and headed towards the room indicated on the plate that came with the key. Upon arrival, Apolo didn't bother to use the key he had just obtained and instead kicked the door's lock, causing the sleeping wizard in the room to wake up suddenly, startled by the loud noise. The unfortunate wizard appeared to be quite old, his pale skin was quite wrinkled, and a few white hairs could be seen on his rather unsightly, mole-covered head. Since the night had been somewhat warm, the wizard had slept in his underwear and had only his underwear on, so in the uncomfortable gaze of Apolo, the wizard covered himself with his sheets while trying to make out the face of the stranger. However, his vision was not very good anymore, so the old man could only make out the blurry face of a young man with a pointed nose glaring at him with anger.
—Who the hell are you? Can't you see that this room is occupied!—The old man shouted, agitated by the stranger's interruption, while from his bed, he looked at the strange giant lurking at the bedroom door.
Apolo didn't say a word and instead looked at the grumpy wizard who had just shouted at him. Without saying many words and certainly no apologies, the young man slowly approached the frightened wizard.
—What are you doing? Get out of my room right now! Guards, guards, get this...— the old man began to shout, but his cries were interrupted because Apolo had grabbed him by the throat and had started to strangle him.
—Just a little bit more, Apolito. There is so little left to finish this long story that you don't need to be worrying about these stupid things...—The young nobleman murmured as he strangled the wizard on the bed even harder, but always taking care not to break the poor old man's neck, as if he wanted to enjoy the agony of the old man until the very last second.
*Aghhh*...The wizard groaned as he desperately stabbed Apolo with a dagger-shaped stone that had formed in his hand, but even so, the sharp stone couldn't cut the young man's thick skin. Meanwhile, Apolo stared fixedly into the dull eyes of the old man, in silence and without any emotion while the old man's head turned increasingly red as the lack of air began to steal his life, and his struggle became more intense. But Apolo didn't loosen his grip, and finally, the old man's struggle stopped: Before dying and understanding that his persistent struggle would not save him, the old man stopped and looked fixedly into the blurry eyes of the giant while crying, pleading with his gaze not to have his life taken away, the old man still had too many things to do, too many dreams to fulfill, and too many adventures to live; however, fate had as little mercy as Apolo, and the young man saw with his own eyes how the old man's eyes slowly lost their way as their brightness faded: finally, the poor old man saw blurred how his life, his dreams, his hopes, and his destiny had been cruelly snatched away by the selfishness of a young man with no path ahead.
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Apolo threw the wizard's body into one of the corners of the bedroom and used the desk in the room to block the door and keep it closed, as the lock had been completely broken by the kick he had delivered. Without worrying about the guards or anyone else, the young man went to sleep on the bed soaked with the sweat and tears of the old man as if nothing had happened.
Although it may seem astonishing, the night passed peacefully, but when the first ray of sunshine could enter through the window of the bedroom where Apolo was sleeping comfortably, a guard began to knock on the door violently.
*Tock, Tock, Tock*...Immediately, Apolo's sweet dream stopped suddenly, and on instinct, he looked at the bedroom door that was still being pounded on vigorously.
—Stop blocking the door and open it immediately! We are the guards of the ministry!—One of the guards shouted from the hallway as he continued to pound on the door.
*Aghhh*...Apolo held his head in pain; he had a tremendous headache to the point that he had never had such a headache in his life, and to make matters worse, the guards didn't stop bothering him by knocking on the door.
—Open it, or we'll break the door down!—The guard yelled angrily as he pounded the door even harder.
Apolo angrily stared at the door and then looked at the corpse that was looking at him inquisitively in one of the corners of the room, as if the old man were enchanted that destiny had finally sentenced his murderer for the crimes he had committed. Making a decision, the young man walked over to the corpse and, grabbing it by the neck, threw it out the window, shattering it completely into a thousand pieces.
—What was that? Open the door immediately!—The guard shouted in anger, slamming his body against the door, trying to move the desk that was blocking the entrance, but the furniture didn't budge, and the guard was having a hard time opening the door wide enough to enter the room.
Apolo approached the window, gauged the distance to the ground, and the state of the shattered corpse. Seeing that the door was about to be opened, the young man didn't think twice and jumped out the window, falling from the third floor of the castle to the hard ground of the ministry courtyard.
Surprisingly, the giant's legs didn't break upon landing, unlike the corpse turned into pulp next to him. Checking that he could still walk without any problems, Apolo ran until he found his carriage parked in the vicinity of the castle.
Upon arrival, the young man noticed that it seemed that the guards had realized that he had escaped through the window, so they had started searching the courtyard. Without caring much, Apolo opened the carriage and, ignoring the driver's doubtful look, he took a box that was on his seat. Opening the box, the young man revealed that it contained a rolled-up scroll, which was his ancestor's legacy, and the silver mask. Immediately, Apolo took the silver mask and put it on his face.
With the mask on, the young man walked casually through the courtyard, while the guards searched tirelessly for a suspicious person. Apparently, the entire search was rather improvised, and no one had given the guards a description of Apolo's appearance, so they really didn't know who they were looking for. Allowing the young man to pass through them without any issues, if any of the guards doubted him, Apolo would simply remove the mask in front of them and put it back on, leaving the guard completely stunned, staring into space for a few seconds, enough time to resume his march towards his new goal.
Using this method, Apolo arrived at the castle where the office of the Minister of Magic was located. At this place, no one was looking for him, and the young nobleman was able to enter without any problems, handing in the silver token as usual. Realizing that his intuition had been correct and he was not yet wanted for murder, it was most likely just a report filed by Tobias.
Walking calmly as if time were not against him, the young man arrived at the office of Finz and, following the usual reception protocol, he reached the worker's desk.
—Apolo...—Finz murmured with sweat on his face, seeing how the young man sat in the chair in front of him while finishing reading a letter that had just arrived.
— I'm looking for my sponsorship—Apolo said, handing his silver token to the worker, without bothering to greet Finz.
— I just received a notification that the guards are looking for you, kid...—Finz said, taking the token with trembling hands, following the protocol to verify it as he always did.
— Oh, unfortunately, I closed Tobias's room door a little too forcefully, and some of his crystal balls broke!—Apolo replied nonchalantly.
— So, it was an accident, I see...—Finz said, surprised by the young man's calmness, and even more surprised because he had come to seek his sponsorship. According to the letter he had just read, Apolo's least problem was the "accident" in Tobias's room.
While Finz responded to this, the guard at the door of the room where Apolo was waiting to receive his sponsorship received a visit from other guards, and after exchanging a few words, they approached together to look for Apolo at Finz's desk.
—Kid, you're under arrest for the murder of the wizard Narcissus of Snowy Mountains—One of the guards informed with an authoritative tone, drawing his sword and placing it on the young man's back, although the young man had not even bothered to turn around to see the face of the guard who was pointing a sword at him.
— I'm not going to waste time explaining to you how that wizard jumped out of the window and committed suicide—Apolo responded calmly, looking at Finz— I'll just tell you that clearly you won't arrest me, and instead, you will go to the office of the Minister of Magic to inform him that you regret the suicide of this Narcissus guy from... Where was it? Oh, I forgot...
— We already gave you the orders, kid. Don't make my job harder—The guard replied, putting his sword to Apolo's neck, but to his surprise, the young man hadn't reacted yet and was still staring at Finz.
— I also gave you my orders: I'm just contemplating what my older brother will do when they find out that the guards of the capital have mistakenly imprisoned his little brother. But no matter how much I think about it, I only come up with one answer, and most likely, they will kill the minister. While you, they will send you to some frontier fortress to die like pigs in some unknown battle that no one will bother to remember—Apolo responded, looking at Finz with determination— Tell me what you're waiting for, Finz? Solve this for me: nobility obliges, and if my brother is a king, then they will treat me like the brother of a king.
With sweat on his forehead, Finz looked worriedly at Apolo's calmness. The employee didn't know whether what the young man was saying was true or not, and in fact, he had his doubts. However, the truth was that his composure exuded power: the power of those who dare to believe themselves untouchable, and the most dangerous of these people are when they really are untouchable. Making a decision, Finz chose the most sensible option: to distance himself from this problem. Therefore, he ordered:
— Go and inform the Minister of Magic of both versions of the story, the murder of Narcissus and the suicide of Narcissus, and let him decide which one is true. It's the best for me, for you, for your wives, and for your children. Let's be smart and not ruin our lives over nothing.
— ... —The guard heard Finz's order; initially, he was his superior, but not of the other two guards. However, as a guard, he knew better than anyone that it was better to tread carefully in the Ministry of Magic, where nobles and fools with power were more abundant than any worker would like.
—We're going to inform the minister, please don't try to escape, we'll have a guard watching the door...—One of the guards who had come to fetch Apolo announced, also concerned about the calmness with which the young man sitting on the couch was taking the matter.