“Ughhh how long will this go on for?” A young boy’s voice full of irritation rang out in the room.
The teacher he was facing answered matter-of-factly “We are about halfway through this lesson.”
The prince of about 10 years grew even more irritated. He had short bright blonde hair, which was common in the royal family, was about average height for his age, was slender but fit (thanks to the physical training that his family had him do in addition to his education) and had beautiful features that were currently showing an open frown.
“Why do I have to learn all this stuff anyway? What does it matter how the kingdom came to be 1000 years ago?”
He was currently getting a class on the known history of the Manier Kingdom, the kingdom he is the youngest prince of. It was a lengthy monologue starting all the way back, before the kingdom was founded. The young prince had no desire to learn however. He didn’t really think it was important at all and even if it somehow held some importance, he didn’t care much either way.
“As a prince of the Manier kingdom it is important you know of your heritage. Whenever you interact with anyone in your official post as prince you have to act in accordance with the proud history of your family. To do that you must first learn your history.”
“What does that even mean? ‘Act in accordance with the history of my family’? It makes no sense. What my ancient ancestors did has nothing to do with me. More importantly my brothers are way more talented and fit to become king. In the first place I have no intention of even trying, so what kind of official role will I play where this stuff matters?”
“As a prince your role isn’t merely potentially taking over the kingdom as king. You will have to appear at official occasions in the court, help your sibling, whoever might become the next king, rule, sometimes you will have to act as an envoy or maybe even take part in a political marriage. In all of those scenarios it will become important that you are properly educated, so can I go on with the lesson already?”
To be honest the prince wasn’t convinced at all. He didn’t care much about court life. He didn’t want to attend any balls or parties, take part in ruling the kingdom, be an envoy to other kingdoms and most of all he didn’t want to be forced into a political marriage. Those were things his siblings did. They seemed suited to this life, while he only ever ran into hiccups and trouble trying to act royal. Further, if he married, he wanted it to be out of love. He dreamed of meeting a girl somewhere, slowly getting to know each other, falling for each other, not having someone he didn’t know, didn’t like, who likely didn’t like him either, forced onto him. He knew arguing this
with his teacher would be all sorts of meaningless, she was set in her old ways and wouldn’t budge. In the first place she isn’t the one who decided on political marriages, so even if he did convince her it wouldn’t change anything. It would only tire him out if anything.
“Yes. I am sorry for interrupting, please continue.” He said, barely suppressing his sigh.
“Thanks, now where was I ….”
The Manier kingdom has existed for a thousand years now and many things happened throughout its history, changing it bit by bit. Going over every single thing that happened and its impact on the Kingdom would be impossible, as well as not the point of this lesson. Instead we will jump forward in time, by about 800 years, when the biggest change to this kingdom - no, the world - happened that still massively dictates what is expected of the Royal family today.
As I am sure you are aware, in this world there are gifted ones. Able to control fire with their mind, fly in the sky, freeze entire lakes, there are many abilities these people possess from birth. By now, rare as they are, it is common knowledge. However these gifted ones haven’t existed throughout all of history. In fact for the largest part of history no such records were made at all, though many speculate the first king to be one such gifted person, no reliable source was ever able to verify any supernatural feat in this world before a mere 200 years ago.
On a day like every other, with no warning whatsoever the world started shaking. Shaking so violently that one might fear the world was going to end. But not just the earth was shaking, like usual, even the air itself and the heavens were shaking. Like a violent force daring to rip apart the very world, everything shook.
It didn’t last very long, just a few moments, but in those few moments much destruction rained down on the world. Cliffs and mountains formed where none stood before, waves washed over shores, buildings collapsed, entire forests got uprooted and many people died.
To this very day, no one knows what had happened or why it had happened, all we know is that the world had forever changed on that day.
In the following weeks and months reconstruction was under way. Many towns had collapsed to varying degrees, almost nothing was unharmed. And this confusion and fear spread through the people. For long times, the nation and I am sure the rest of the world as well, was in an almost lawless state. People who’s entire livelihood got destroyed had no other choice but to steal from those who got luckier. And in this chaos something emerged:
[The gifted ones]
All of a sudden there were people who could freely wield fire, or ice. Who could fly or breathe underwater, who could run like the wind or lift like a bull. The reaction of the people was varied. Some feared them, some revered them, seeing them as a sign of the gods to help rebuild what was lost and others again hated them, seeing them as demonic beings, no longer human in nature.
Of course, just like the people around them reacted in all sorts of ways, the gifted ones themselves reacted in all sorts of ways. Between using their powers to help and protect, to using their powers to suppress and steal from their fellow people or simply hiding that they had them in the first place, everything happened.
With the malicious actions of gifted ones and the newfound uncertainty coming hand in hand with the changes our nation, like many others, was on the brink of complete destruction. In fact many nations, like the one that once stood to the west of the Manier KIngdom did collapse. I believe the royal family in that country had died in the disaster and in the following chaos many malicious gifted ones simply took control by force, forming mercenary-like groups who vied for control of the lands using violence and fear.
The clashes that followed threw society into long lasting disarray, citizens having to worry for their life, land and loved ones at the hands of supernatural ability wielding madmen at all times. It only concluded in a sense of stability when one particular group gained enough force to fight or intimidate all the others into submission, forming an uneasy, almost nation-like scenario where the strongest gifted one governed the land as its ruler.
Of course many others didn’t agree with this forceful assumption of power. Gifted ones and unsatisfied, brave common people, who proclaimed this rule had no justification, sprung up many times and challenged the warlord for his position.
Like that to this very day the western nation remains uneasy, a tradition has formed of the strongest gifted one earning the right to rule by sheer violence, killing the former ruler and attaining his position. To this very day, 200 years later, this is still the case and more often than not the nation is ruled by power hungry madmen. Of course the worse they are, the faster they usually abdicate at the hands of a challenger or sometimes even at the hand of someone they believed to be an ally. All attempts at forming permanent governing bodies have failed.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
So then why was our Manier Kingdom spared such a grim fate? Why do we enjoy stability, a kind king and peace? It could have easily become even worse then in the west and the common people could be forced into perpetual war just to survive. Why has none of this happened here?
Wake up!
The sudden scream brought the prince back to the matter at hand. He had long since stopped paying proper attention. Dreaming of going out to explore the lands and meeting many different people, instead of listening to this dreadful history lesson.
“I have asked you a question, young prince.” The middle aged, female teacher talked with a stern voice.
"Ah, yes. Uhm…” The prince acted like he was thinking about the question, while in reality he was trying to recall just what the teacher had said. Finally he gave up and just answered:
”I don’t know.”
“Pay proper attention. I was talking about the day the world shook and the consequent mayhem. More specifically why our nation remained stable, while others didn’t. Do you know why that is?”
The prince thought about it, for real this time. He had heard the question and tried to think about what his family had told him before. Surprisingly however he arrived at an answer that came not from his family, but from a local townsman. It was a story about the “gifted king” who led the nation through the chaos 200 years ago.
“Was it because of the efforts of the king at the time?” The prince half asked, half answered.
"Precisely. It is no exaggeration to say that the gifted King single handedly saved the kingdom from total ruin. When all was in ruin and the gifted ones emerged many people felt lost and hopeless. No one knew who to turn to, who would protect them and help them rebuild what they couldn’t alone.”
The woman took a breath and shook her head before continuing.
“However, that is no different from all over the world. What was different in the Manier Kingdom is that not a random peasant with newfound powers and delusions of grandeur stepped up to protect the people, but instead the oldest son of the king, who had died in the shaking, emerged as a gifted. He was still young, but had charisma and abilities like an experienced leader. He foresaw that just like him many people would have gained many unexplainable powers and quickly took action.”
The young prince was actually paying attention for once. He was intrigued with this gifted king who even the common people 200 years later still talk about as a great man. What kind of person would he have to be to bring together a destroyed kingdom, full of super powered peasants with all manner of aspirations and common folk who just had their entire livelihood taken from them. He just couldn’t imagine the stories he had heard to be accurate. The many stories made him out to be some sort of unbelievable superhuman. Like how he would personally step in to protect every endangered peasant he met, never losing a single battle, how he formed a platoon full of gifted ones in less than one month and took them around, suppressing any and all threats that arose, be it inside or outside threats, how he would learn and excel at every subject he came across, freely sharing his knowledge with all who asked or how he would personally help with reconstruction once the social turmoil has settled down. Many called him the reincarnation of the first king, who managed to establish the Manier kingdom with nothing but a tribe so small by modern standards it wouldn’t even be a town.
It all sounded too unbelievable. Especially considering how all the royals the young prince knew were arrogant and stuck up. He couldn’t imagine any of them tilling a field or personally helping a peasant if he tried. The only thing that really stuck it seemed was their strength. Because all his family members were powerful gifted ones, with him being the sole exception, a gifted one who had absolutely no talent for battle.
The teacher's speech continued and took him out of his thoughts.
“He quickly took control of the gifted ones of the kingdom, making use of his charismatic nature to enlist them in his quest for reconstruction, leading and ordering them around the kingdom to soothe the scared population. Once he took control of the social turmoil he began reconstruction, focusing on essentials like living spaces and food for the common people, often sleeping in the fields or even going sleepless to ensure that everything would proceed as quickly as possible. Despite his eccentric nature there is not a single text to be found from that time painting him in a negative light.”
“‘Eccentric nature?’” The prince repeated, showing interest in what the teacher had told him for the first time.
“Ah well, there are many reports of the king's behavior from that time that could only be called eccentric. He would frequently try to learn the abilities of different gifted ones, get so lost in thought or training that he would nearly drop from exhaustion, randomly elevate commoners into nobility if he liked them, disregard tradition and proper procedure, appear on royal duty in filthy, unwashed clothes or forget to wash himself. Many such anecdotes are left over, yet despite his at times very clearly not regal conduct no one complained. No one could possibly complain. They were well aware of the fate many other countries and regions had suffered and that he was the only reason they didn’t suffer the same. He lived freely and unpredictably. The last thing that he did as king was similarly bizarre. He crowned his daughter, not his son, at the young age of 20 years old, turning her into the first and so far only queen this kingdom has seen and left the court and royal capital at the young age of 40 years old. That is the last time his name, Renholt Usyl Manier, was heard. No one knows what he did or what happened to him afterwards. Remember his name well.”
Renault Usyl Manier, huh. Somehow I can’t help but doubt the stories about him. With how all the other royalty and nobility are.
The young prince's ability was a form of mind reading. A very weak one at that. He could mostly only roughly understand what people were feeling and if he concentrated on it intensely he could get a rough understanding of what someone was thinking about in the form of a concept or picture shooting through his mind.
Weak as it may be, it was enough for him to understand someone's nature. For example if someone talked about their children, but he couldn’t feel affection or love from them it was easy to tell they were merely faking it and didn’t actually care about their children all that much. And just like that he had more sombering experiences in the palace than he could care to count, even at his young age.
Nobility that spoke of helping the common folk, their feelings betraying nothing but twisted ambition, ministers thinking of their greed while talking about funds they need for ‘reforms’, or knights who spoke of their ‘duty’ to defend the common people while feeling disgust. No one actually felt what they spoke. Granted not all were equally as bad, but even his siblings and parents, who seemed to genuinely want to help common people, did so out of a sense of arrogance. It took the prince a while to understand that dissonance he felt from them, but when he was 9 it clicked. His family didn’t think of common people as people in the same sense they would their own family. They viewed them as some sort of helpless animal that needed protecting, incapable of making its own decisions.
That sense of dissonance he felt from all around him disgusted him. It was the reason he quickly started avoiding those around him and those around him started avoiding him in return, not wanting their true feelings read. Only his direct family didn’t avoid him, but it wasn’t like he was particularly close with them either.
Similarly the teacher standing in front of him in this spacious, almost empty room, radiated a sense of disgust to the young prince. If he cared to look deeper he would probably see that she is comparing him to his more talented siblings, that she thinks he is unworthy of the lineage she so faithfully serves, etc.
For that very reason the young prince frequently ventured out of the palace, visiting friends he made among the common people. Like the children from the blacksmith in the shopping district. They were honest. At least compared to the people he was usually around. If they said they cared about someone, they usually did. If they said they revered the royals, he actually found respect in them. He couldn’t really reciprocate most of the feelings, but he enjoyed the honesty, and so it happened that he got used to wandering around the town instead of spending time amongst his family and equals.
Today as well, he was merely waiting for the class to end so he could get out of here and go have fun in the town.
It seemed like his teacher would still go on for a bit, but nonetheless the young prince, his name Alexander Manier, thought to himself, full of anticipation.
Where should I go today? Maybe I could visit Mabel from the clothes store? Or I could go play ball with the knight’s children. Either way, I can hardly wait for the lecture to be over!