“Here is your seat, SIR,” The captain gritted his teeth as he said that last word. Somehow I felt like he hated me. I hesitantly took the seat offered by the captain of the king’s guards. On the other hand…

“Please, mi’lady. Take your seat upon the most comfortable chair in the entire kingdom,” The guard fixed up a cushioned seat just before he offered it to Asha.

“Er…thanks…” Asha took the seat confused.

“Mi’lady, I made this tea with the finest tea leaves in the entire continent. Have some, I, a lowly servant of the King, insist.” The captain bowed as he offered Asha tea. She held out a cup and captain happily poured her tea. Once he was done, he turned towards me with a constipated face, clearly disliking his next thoughts.

“Would you like some tea, SIR?” His spit flew randomly as he choked trying to say that.

“I…Ok?” I held out the cup and his hand shook as he poured me tea.

“Thank you, Kolm. That will be all.” King Argo entered the room and the captain bowed so low, he was almost kissing the floor.

Immediately after the portal mess, the king’s guards escorted us back to the palace. They quickly gave Asha a dress to put on and kicked us both into a room with Captain Kolm.

I asked the escorts why were we being escorted back but they didn’t know either. They just followed the orders of King Argo without question. I wished my subordinates did that. Every time I told those guys to do something it was always “Oh, you’re so lazy.” and “Why don’t you stop being such a bum?”

I didn’t have any problem with the whole ordeal except for the captain of the guards, Captain Kolm. He, for reasons that I couldn’t fathom, doesn’t seem to like me. Well, I didn’t like him either. Hmpf!

“Um…Your Majesty...Ah…” Asha couldn’t stop muttering, “Sorry, I’m just really nervous. I forgot my basic etiquettes, how rude of me!”

Asha quickly got off her seat and gave a bow, showing respect to the king. She then glanced at me with a threatening gaze.

‘Get over here and bow, you idiot!’ She told me with her eyes.

 ‘No way!’ I turned my head away angrily.

‘WHY NOT?’ Her eyes screamed death threats at me.

‘MY FEET HURTS.’ My mask eyeholes screamed back.

‘YOU WILL BE IN A WORLD OF PAIN IF YOU DO NOT GET HERE.’

“Ah ha ha. You don’t have to be so nervous around me. In fact, I should be the one bowing down to you, Lady Asha.” King Argo chuckled as he returned a bow to Asha, leaving her confused.

“Your…Majesty?” Asha questioned. The king didn’t answer and turned to me instead.

“Hero, what is your relationship with Lady Asha?”

“From the way she acts, she’s my mother.” I shrugged.

“At this rate, you’ll make your mother extremely pissed.” She fumed.

“Ah ha. I could tell you two are friends, at the very least…” The king was about to continue until the door was slammed open.

“WHERE IS MY GRANDEST DAUGHTER?!” Sarjay came in out of nowhere being restrained by royal guards.

“Please, sir. I told you Lady Asha is…Ah…” Captain Kolm tried to explain until the king allowed Sarjay in. The royal guards quickly fixed the door and left us four alone.

“Asha! Oh, I thought that you were being kidnapped out of your will because you were seen holding important royal secrets or magic. It seems that I was mistaken.” Sarjay patted his shoulders and took a seat as if nothing happened.

“You must be Baron Sarjay, then. Are you, by chance, blood related to Lady Asha?” King Argo kept asking weird questions but I didn’t interrupt him. This tea really was good. Later, I would have to gather information on where this tea came from.

“I am Asha’s guardian. Why are you asking so, Argo?” Sarjay leaned back as he poured himself a cup of tea. How this old fool was going to drink through a thick heavenium helmet was beyond my scope of questioning.

“I suppose the secret could be safe then…” King Argo muttered and started casting some spells. The mana in the air stirred as it moved according to the king’s will. Unlike those kingdom mages, this king really had good control of his spells. Though, the spells were not really refined that he would go insane from the intensity of the spells.

After a few minutes, the room was surrounded in a thick layer of air. King Argo struggled to stand as he supported himself up by holding onto a nearby chair. Asha got up to help him but the king politely declined.

“Ah…This is one of the highest tier spell. I am sure that you are unaware what it is but..”

“It’s doesn’t allow sound in or out of this room, right?” I nonchalantly finished his sentenced while sipping on my tea.

“…Yes. How did you…”

“If you’re just going to do that, use this next time.” I buried my hand into my robe and took out an amulet. I had already given one to Sarjay and this thing was extremely easy and cheap to make so I tossed the thing to the king.

“This is?” The king studied the amulet I gave him.

“Payment for leeching off the castle for the last few weeks. Pour a little mana into it and you could do the same spell, with greater strength,” I explained. Other than that, the amulet the king had given to me broke during the fight with the monster portal. I was too prideful to give it back and apologize, so…I guess this would make us even.

“Amazing. To give me such an artifact…Thank you, friend.” The king placed the amulet over his neck. It wasn’t an artifact but who was I to tell him that it wasn’t? If he wanted it to be an artifact, let him.

“Ahem…I believe that I need to explain an important secret that not many knows about. In fact, I could only count the number of people who knew this story with only one hand,” The king started to explain.

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A few hundred years ago, in what would be known as ‘The Dark Tea Party’, the kingdoms surrounding Angolia was being ravaged without restrain. The demons were at the gates of Angolia, and the holy shield surrounding it was slowly being cracked by the forces of evil.

In a last resort, the then king of Angolia took all of his sons but one along with the heroes’ party to march against the Hostess of Madness, the lord of the demons presiding over the genocide of all races.

A force of a hundred thousand, the greatest seen in the continent, marched against the maws of Hell. My ancestor, the stalwart and staunch steward and head of House Firehearth rode with King Fieryheart to defeat the demons.

It was funny. The houses Fieryheart and Firehearth were so close, you could say that we were practically brothers and sisters. We even looked the same, with our defining red hair.

But it wasn’t funny when the armies of Angolia was almost decimated trying to stop the demons. The King and his sons sacrificed themselves to allow the heroes to faceoff with the Hostess of Madness. In victory, we found only loss.

My ancestor returned home to find that the king’s last son disappeared without a trace. I could almost hear his thoughts, ‘It couldn’t be…The House I had sworn to protect….gone.’

Without the blood of the fire, Angolia would fall into disarray and panic.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Why so?”

For one, the crown of Angolia creates a barrier to shields the land of Angolia from demons. Only a Hostess would be strong enough to break through it. Secondly, the land of Angolia was born through fire. The right of rule was earned through sweat and blood. With a history like that, who could replace our Burning Kings?

“Who gave the right?”

Nobody was sure. Some said that a long time ago, a being known as the ‘Dreaded One’ gave the first ruler this land to rule over after a long bloody conquest.

“COUGH COUGH! KAGFFFH! GAHH!”

“HOW ARE YOU EVEN CHOKING?!”

“NEVERMIND THAT…KOFF... CONTINUE WITH THE STORY.”

My ancestor never had given hope. In a last attempt, he masqueraded as King Fieryheart. Thus, House Firehearth blanketed itself as its protector for almost five hundred years in order to continue its duty. My family had always been on the lookout for the descendants of Fieryheart even to this day.

“How would you even know any one of them are still alive?”

Because the last son of King Fieryheart was never found to be dead. Only gone.

“Hope…huh..”

Yes. Hope.

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We were silent for a while. The others could be thinking hard on this, especially Asha, who was an Angolian noble through and through. Not me, I was just thinking the story was only ok. I give it a five out of ten.

“Impressive,” Sarjay said.

“Indeed?” I looked up after giving my review in my mind.

“Of course. This…so-called House Firehearth. They had never betrayed their decree for five hundred years?” Sarjay asked King Argo Fieryheart. No, to be more accurate, Argo Firehearth.

“Although there was a few who swayed far from our duty, most of my ancestors believed in hope.” Argo nodded.

“Commendable.” Sarjay nodded approvingly. He always liked people of loyalty and integrity. I remembered back then, whenever one of our own would betray us, Sarjay would go on a murderspree. Like, ‘fire all over his body while killing any rebels’ type of spree.

“However, why are you telling us this?” Sarjay asked. The king pointed at Asha.

“I believe she’s a Fieryheart, the rightful monarch and descendant of the hero who sacrificed himself for the good of all.”

“…Ah…?” Asha made a dull sound and kept her mouth open.

“Wait, hold on a second. How are you supposed to test that?” I asked after putting away my cup of tea.

“Although I could already tell because she has the mythical Angolian Fire, there is actually a test. A simple one, in fact. This crown is fake.” He tapped the crown on his head.

“Fake?” I tried to see why that crown was fake. Hmm…There wasn’t anything that could show it was different from the Angolian crown I remembered a few hundred years ago. Oh, right. There was something small missing. THE BIG FUCKING FIRE.

“The true Angolian crown which supplies the barrier with magic catches on a harmless blue and white flame when a Fieryheart puts on the crown. My ancestor had a lot of trouble convincing everyone that the demons cursed the crown causing it to no longer to burst aflame.” Argo took off his crown and rubbed his crown quietly.

The king led us out of the room and into the deepest part of the castle. In here, there weren’t even any royal guards guarding this area. It was just us four and the darkness as our companion as we headed towards the palace vault.

“My ancestor found this vault a long time ago. He had this place emptied and used for only one purpose – To keep the real crown safe,” King Argo explained.

“This is too much to take in only a day…” Asha muttered as she nervously walked behind us.

The vault’s doors were made from stone and despite its age, it looked extremely well-maintained and sturdy. On the stone doors were the emblems of a large sword on fire, striking down a dragon.

After dispelling multiple magical barriers, the doors opened on their own, revealing a dark room with a pedestal in the middle of the room. The pedestal was being shone upon by a mysterious light coming from the ceiling. On the white pedestal was a lonely golden crown, waiting for its owner for more than five hundred years ago.

“Now, I would have passed this to Lady Asha, however…Lord Sarjay, if you are blood related to Lady Asha, I would have to test this on you first.” King Argo took the crown and faced towards Sarjay.

“Ahem.” Sarjay coughed, “That would be the case….if I was blood related to her, that is!”

“What?!” Asha screamed.

“Excuse me?” Argo was taken aback.

“In fact, I was only a wandering knight who swore to protect Lady Asha! Let me tell you my story! I once happened upon Follis when I saw a poor, starving girl.”

“Who was a poor, starving girl?!”

Sarjay silently kicked Asha in the shin and continued, “It happens so that Lady Asha was orphaned in a bandit raid. When I saw her, I swore that I would protect Lady Asha and take care of her until….until…I die or she becomes a Queen!”

“But my parents…” Asha was interrupted by a harder kick to the shin.

“An. Orphan. How sad is that?” Sarjay acted like he was wiping tears off his helmet’s eye holes.

“Indeed, such a sad tale!” King Argo teared up and wiped off his tears with a hankerchief.

“..Y…yes…I’m…an orphan…” Asha groaned on the floor.

“Thus, there is no choice!” Sarjay took the crown off Argo’s hands and walked over Asha, who was recovering from pain.

“Stand, Asha of House Fieryheart,” Sarjay ordered. In an instant, Asha stood at attention, with her back straight. Sarjay rested the crown on her head neatly and took a few steps back.

“And now…” I muttered.

…

…

“So..looks like I’m not a Queen. Aaah..Phew! For a minute there, I thought that I would have…”

She stopped when a chaotic dance of orange and green fire erupted on her head. In a panic, she started rolling onto the floor. The fire started to fly around and seep through the stone floor, spreading onto us. The fire started eating away at my robes and I started slapping the fires.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Asha screamed.

“I THOUGHT THIS WAS HARMLESS?!” I joined her in screaming. King Argo, being a calm and collected man, panicked in a more calm and collected manner. He was rapidly eating mana, throwing water and ice at the slowly increasing fire.

“TELL MY MAMA I LOVE HER!” I got down on my knees, despairing as my favorite robe was slowly being burnt away.

“ENOUGH.” Sarjay snapped his fingers and the flames obeyed. Slowly, they stopped dancing around and slowly shrunk into the harmless white and blue flame.

“Cough..cough…Well done, Lady Asha, for being able to contain the fire.” Sarjay nodded.

“I….ah….” Asha was on her knees trying to catch a breath. Being relatively immune to fire, she was only slightly blackened by the fire, though I could tell she wasn’t hurt.

I, on the other hand…MY ROBES! This damned fire of Sarjay’s ate through my anti-fire magic barrier and into my robes! Luckily, only the bottom part got slightly charred…but still….

“Everyone, all hail, Queen Asha!” Argo proclaimed. This was the weirdest coronation I had ever attended. I sighed as I leaned back on the pedestal. I was sure that pedestals were not supposed to lean back so it took me by surprised when this pedestal did.

As the pedestal leaned back, the floor started to shake. I crafted a blade out of smoke as I prepared against what possible horrors a hidden staircase could have.

“Sarjay and I will…go down and investigate that. Old man, guard Asha.” I made clicking noise as I silently ordered Sarjay forward. He took out a smaller sword since his great sword will just slow him down when fighting in tight spaces.

With a ball of fire as a source of light, we both eyed forward, anticipating a hidden monster boss or something. Instead, nothing attacked us as we both reached the base of the stairs. It seemed that there was a hidden room here. The room was probably as old as the crown itself.

The furniture inside it was dusty and crumbling. The room resembled a study room, a refuge from the outside and for the lonely. On a table was an old book. I placed a finger on the table and coursed mana through it toward the book. Embedding the book with magic, I made sure that the book wouldn’t crumble into dust as soon as I touched it.

“What does it say?” Sarjay asked. I would answer him except I was a failure in Commons. I handed him the book but he couldn’t understand beyond a few basic words. I clapped my hands lightly, summoning Lucia from my shadow.

“Lucia, decipher this thing.” I gave her the book and she started reading over it.

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My name is Alexander of House Fieryheart. First son of King Marcius. Every Angolian noble is expected to be righteous, brave and hardworking. Especially a royal blood of Angolia. We were expected to be the first one in danger, and the last one out. We were to face the anger of the people and the last to expect gratitude from the people.

Except...I AM NONE OF THOSE. I WANT TO CRY.

I had always been a lazy oaf who always tried to hide away from politics and all those nonsense. Yes! I admit it! I am a coward! Damn, damn, damn! Who cares?! Nobody would read this anyway!

In order to achieve doing nothing, I tried to hone my ability to hide from plain sight. When I reached the age of sixteen, I was so good at hiding that you couldn’t even see me when I crouch in front of you. I was so good at it that it had become a skill.

I don’t like swords, they hurt so much! I don’t even like the sound of swords bashing together, it’s soooo noisy! And seeing blood? Oh, by the Goddess. No no no no. Leading men into battle was just a nightmare to me. Just talking to ONE guy ruins my entire week!

So I tried to just hide in the shadows my entire life. Hopefully my second brother would be wiser and take over the throne. Do something. Overthrow me! But guess what? DEMONS! FUCKING DEMONS. They started attacking the entire continent! I was hoping, ‘Why not send knights and be done with it?’

Boy, did my father take my advice. So he sent out the knights. And the army. And the royal family. SHIT. Luckily, we needed someone to stay over so I convinced my 13 year old brother that he might need combat experience so we exchanged places with father’s approval. Sucker.

My family should be fine when they come back so maybe I should take this chance to escape from this life permanently. I’ll run to the secret family manor I found in Follis. I had been stocking money there for a while and with my ability to hide, nobody would be the wiser when trying to find me.

In fact, translated directly from Old Commons into Angolian, Fieryheart is Follis. So I’ll change my name to that! There, I’m not abandoning my roots, but I’m still running away from my roots! Ha! I’m a genius! With my money, maybe I can find a hot babe and settle. Or two babes. Or multiple of them. I remember that there were just ruins in Follis so I’ll go start a village! Build more things and create forests to hide me from public life! Genius! Then my descendants would just plants more forests everywhere! It’ll be like a hidden knight village! Teehee so exciting!

With this, Alexander Fieryheart is no more. I no longer need this diary, or this room to hide in. This shall be my last diary entry for there is no point in this. Born anew, I am now…

Alexander Follis.

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“...” Sarjay was silent. He opened a chest in the room and picked up a few books. I used my mana on them as well just for good measures. He studied the cover then the content.

As he looked over the book, I sneaked a peek over his shoulders. There were some...pictures...in the books.

“Does your lordship need to translate that as well?” Lucia asked as she approached but I stopped her.

“Nope. I can see that it’s lycan por-”

“WE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF THIS ANY LONGER.” Sarjay slammed the book down.

“On the bright side, we know Asha’s your descendant.”

“I SAID WE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF THIS ANY LONGER.”