Bumi, Spring 3523. 13 years after the founding of the Argetlam Kingdom.
People imagined the life of a prince as full of luxury and happiness. They are wrong, At least for Wise.
"Your Highness, Your Highness. Please wake up. it is four in the morning now!” My maid Sarah woke me up softly. She and another maid, Lily were my caretaker. It seemed that now she was on duty.
“Five minutes more, still sleepy” I answered sleepily. It was not even dawn. It was required to wake up at four AM as a royal family since the age of six. The royal family was required to be disciplined from a young age for them to lead the kingdom wisely when they would rule in the future.
“You cannot Your Highness. It’s time to wake up. You are going to barrack outside the castle today, do you remember?” Of course, Sarah would not let me continue to sleep. She reminded me of my plan for today.
Wise is the only heir of the Argetlam Kingdom. He was six this year. He was born with CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain and Anhydrosis). It was a condition that made him unable to feel pain and temperature. From the day he was born and diagnosed with this disease, he was regularly monitored closely by palace magicians and doctors. Their duty was to make him save day and night.
“Okay, okay, all right. I woke up.” The reminder worked wonders. Wise woke up hurriedly this morning. He rarely got an opportunity to go outside the castle from the day he was born. His CIPA and his status required that. Assassination and kidnapping of an heir of a noble or kingdom was not unheard of. This was not a safe world.
Wise was 120 cm (3 feet 9 inches) tall. He had tanned skin from all the exercise he received since he was three years old. He had a cute face with a lithe body. She had a tall nose, blue eyes, and sharp black eyes.
The little Prince was having a monotonous morning yet again. Sarah helped him to have a full body bath. It was cold yet refreshing in the spring. Wise had to grit his teeth to endure the cold morning bath. It was all taught by his father, Russel Argetlam. He said that early rising and morning routine was a sign of discipline and nobility.
After Sarah helped Wise put on his clothes, which consisted of intricate layers of garments, Wise walked to the dining room to have breakfast with his parents.
In the dining room, Russel Argetlam, the first king of the Argetlam Kingdom, and Jane Shalimar, the queen of the Argetlam Kingdom were waiting for him.
“Good morning, my little Prince. Please take a seat! Today we have your favorite breakfast.” The queen said lovingly.
The Queen, Jane Shalimar was thirty-five years old now, but she looked like she was in her early twenties. She was level two in healer, light mage, and level one in bloodline purifier. She was 165 centimeters tall. She has chestnut brown hair, sword-like eyebrows, a tall nose, and a graceful figure. She looked like a dandelion, full of hope and strength.
Russel Argetlam was the first king of the Argetlam Kingdom. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties. He was 182 cm (6 feet) tall and well-defined physique. He has an average face with well-trimmed beards, sharp black eyes, and black hair.
His body was full of scars he received in his day in the army as a general. He was 150 years old and the peak level three knight and bloodline purifier. Level three practitioners can live up to 250 years old, so he looked younger than his real age.
"Thank you, mother," Joyfully answered my mother as I pulled the chair to sit. Wise ate his breakfast with enthusiasm. They ate in silence to savor the meals.
Today's breakfast consisted of boiled scaled chicken eggs, golden patterned ox beef sausage, a glass of light cow, a green yam, red broccoli, and red scaled snake fruit.
Because my father was home today, the breakfast was quite sumptuous. It consisted of level-one materials. They are rare and expensive as well. Wise rarely got an opportunity to eat them. Wise and his mother usually ate mortal-level food. The Argetlam Kingdom was too much in crisis to afford a sumptuous meal every day, even for the Kingdom's royal family.
The king's family enjoyed their breakfast silently. After finishing breakfast, Russel told Wise to come to the study room.
"How is your study and training, Wise?" Russel Argetlam asked Wise. He was stern as always.
"The teacher gave me an A for most subjects. A+ for warfare lesson." Wise answered timidly.
"Most lessons? Then what about kingdom law and social politics?" The King asked again knowingly after seeing his son had a guilty look on his face.
"They are C. The teacher said my approach is too utilitarian and never compromises. It would make me to be alienated by human nobels in the future. In the study cases, most nobles, except for a few, acted so corrupt and disgusting. How would we lead a better future with them leeching our Kingdom? Only clean and wise nobles are allowed to live in this kingdom." Wise argued about my approach on this issue and would not relent.
"For a wise king, a compromise for the overall benefit of the kingdom's royal family sometimes can avoid more bloodshed and our kingdom does not have that much army. But I digress, we will talk about it next time after your test next year after you see the reality of the kingdom. You are still stubborn as always."
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Russel was holding his head in headache for his son's extreme answer in those two classes. He already knew all the results firsthand from his teacher. However, he still wanted to hear directly from his son.
"Wise Argetlam, kneel and receive the order!" The king asked Wise to kneel in front of him to receive an order. Wise
"Before you can be arranged as a crown prince on your next birthday, you have to pass a year test. I arrange you as the regent of Desert Marigold regency in the southern province. You can do anything to this Regency in one year. However, once you fail to make it prosperous within the time limit, you will not become a crown prince. I would rather create another prince to replace you than let this kingdom be destroyed in your hand!"
Russel firmly stated his command to Wise.
"Your Majesty, your command is my utmost duty and honor to fulfill. I humbly accept and shall execute your order with the greatest diligence and obedience. May I express my unwavering loyalty and devotion to your service." Wise answered the order loudly. His eyes are full of firmness. He was prepared and impatient for this mission since the first time hearing the test from his teacher.
"I will aid you with a thousand gold coins and one company of fifty personnel. One level one practitioner, three late stages of apprentice level, nine middle stages of apprentice level, and the rest are early stage of apprentice level."
"His Majesty, can I choose my personnel?" Wise asked nervously. He had his criteria for his army. He didn't want his personnel to only consist of full combatants. He needed more auxiliaries for his plan.
"Very well. You can choose your personnel." The king nodded which made Wise heaved a sigh of relief.
"However, you only for today. You have to depart tomorrow when the sun rises." The king proceeds with his order. then he walked to the window.
"In this year you will see how miserable our subjects are. They were descendants of people exiled by the Orkney kingdom. Their ancestors were exiled because they resisted the order of the Orkney royal family and nobles. Even most of the order themself was absurd." Russel absent-mindedly told a story about the Orkney Kingdom, the Kingdom he overthrew before becoming a king himself thirteen years ago.
Fourteen years ago, Russel Argetlam used to be the only capable general to lead the army against the demon beast's horde. He made great achievements in the battle against demon beast tide and guarded the border many times. He never was defeated after hundreds of battles. Russel served the Orkney Kingdom and the people wholeheartedly.
However, the other generals are Orkney Royal Family members who only knew how to have fun and party. They are jealous of Russel. They used to blame him as a scapegoat whenever their hidden crimes were discovered, losing a war, or dereliction of duty. Those good-for-nothings cost the army lose the lives of countless soldiers and countless logistics.
When those good-for-nothings discovered Russel was going to marry Jane Shalimar, a descendant of the exiles, they reported him to the Orkney king. They added slanders and false charges of planning treason with those exiles.
Orkney King knew that it was slander he pretended that was furious. He sentenced Russel to be beheaded. He had long tried to find a reason to take down Russel because Russel’s influence in the army was massive. The Dragon Division is the strongest army in the kingdom and the king wanted to take it into his palm. No king wanted his retainer to be stronger than himself after all.
However, the king's sentence was hindered by the army under Russel, the Dragon division. They all knew that the charge on Russel’s head was all false. The Dragon Division knew how much Russel had sacrificed for the safety of the kingdom. Because the Dragon division was the strongest elite army in the kingdom, the King's emissary did not dare to proceed with the sentence lest they were killed by the angry mob.
After a long gruelling negotiation, they were forced to yield and reported back to the king.
After a sleepless night, the king changed Russel's sentence to be killed under the guise of exile in the desert in the southern kingdom.
The angry elite army collectively requested to guard Russel lest he got assassinated on the way to exile. Their request indirectly thwarted the king's plan. Meanwhile, Other armies under Orkney's kingdom did not dare to object to the request, lest they get killed by this elite army.
After fifteen days of journey, the Dragon Division almost arrived at the southern province. Suddenly, Russel got an intelligence that would change their world forever.
In the northern province, those other generals were having a party to celebrate Russel's exile. They even distribute booze to the whole army. The army had a party all night long before an army of demon beasts attacked the northern province without warning at dawn.
In just half a day, the northern province had fallen. Demon beasts ho proceed to march to the central province. The central province fell in thirteen days. Hearing that intelligence, Russel commanded the Dragon division to charge back to the capital.
Demon beasts’ hordes were exhausted after fifteen days of war. They besieged the capital for ten days before the Orkney Capital fell. The royal family and people under the Orkney Kingdom were decimated to the last man.
The Dragon division arrived late. Eight level three demon beasts exploded their demon cores to drag the King into death together. The king was a level four Knight and fire mage, however, that suicide explosion effectively killed him.
Now the horde didn't have a level three demon beast, they were defeated easily by the Dragon Division who had Russel, a level three practitioner. Tens of thousands of demon beasts were killed by the Dragon Division. The army managed to take back half of the central province. Sadly, they could not take back the rest of the land due to logistics.
Russel was appointed as a king by the Dragon division after some time passed. After witnessing the kingdom almost razed to the ground, Russel swore he would not let this happen again in his inauguration.
"Now you go back to prepare for the departure! Wise, don't let me down!" Russel Argetlam ended his story with this sentence.
Wise came out of the study room with renewed determination to make this kingdom better.
ten minutes after Wise came out, Jane Shalimar came to the study room.
"Husband, aren't you too hasty to send Wise to the southern province? he is only six years old." The queen asked Russel to reconsider his decision.
"He was a genius in warfare. Even I am not his match. However, the kingdom is not all about war. To protect this kingdom from demon beasts' horde, we need logistics. Without gold coins from the nobles, we do not have enough logistics. You know how wars are, it is like a gold-swallowing beast. I hope he will be aware of it in the test I prepared for him." Said the King while hugging his wife.