Yul Kwen had been to Bandiv once upon a time. It had been a large kingdom, vibrant and full of life, much like Nel Quan. And if there was anything she could say for a fact, it was that she hated the kingdom of Bandiv.
Her father had fought for the kingdom when she was a child, standing alongside the king of Bandiv to conquer a [World Scenario]. The result had been tragic. Her father dead.
And what did the kingdom do to acknowledge it? Nothing. They forgot the face of their savior and simply went about their lives.
Her father had fallen to the scenario along with other powerful soldiers from Nel Quan, and King Brandis, fourth of his name had sent gold and a share of the scenario rewards in honor of the fallen.
That was all.
The very thought brought a scowl to Yul Kwen’s face. The kingdom had lost great men during that scenario. So many great men.
“Yul.”
Yul Kwen took her eyes from the window of her carriage to pay attention to her companion. She shared the carriage with a man with piercing brown eyes and hair the color of the moon, grey with a touch of blue.
He was called Jang Su and when she’d met him, the first question she’d asked him had been about his hair. Jang Su had given a simple answer. And even now, she wondered at it as she stared at his hair.
How does one make their hair a different color permanently in a world without magic?
If she wasn’t mistaken, Jang Su claimed it wasn’t magic. He had called it dye. A creation of his people designed to change the color of hair and other things.
It was amazing that such a feat could be achieved without magic.
“Yes, Jang Su,” she answered, then remembered to add: “And it is Yul Kwen. I understand our friendship, but we must maintain decorum while we are here.”
Jang Su nodded but kept a smile on his face. He was young, a year younger than her to be precise. He had three ear rings on each ear. From one earring dangled a cross, another was a simple ring, and the third held a thin rectangle with what looked like a rising sun on it. The second ear had the exact same arrangement.
His nose was also pierced. A single nostril carried a single dot, and so did his lip.
Jang Su was tall and when they stood she had to tilt her face up to meet his eyes. But despite how intimidating his piercings made him look, and how odd his grey-blue hair was, he was a kind soul at heart.
Yul Kwen liked Jang Su for it.
“So what is this place like, Yul… Kwen?” Jang Su finished with a frown. “Have you been to this kingdom before?”
Yul Kwen opened her mouth, ready to berate the kingdom for all the evil that it was, but stopped herself.
Her mother had warned her not to poison Jang Su’s mind with her bias. He was the most powerful of his friends but it did not mean that he was the most powerful there was. He was an impulsive twenty-year-old, and she didn’t want him making mistakes she would have to step in to rectify.
“It is a kingdom much like ours,” Yul Kwen answered, attempting at objectivity. “Their king has been called a wise man, patient and understanding. They say his judgement is just and he leads by example.”
Jang Su cocked a brow. “They?”
Yul Kwen was distracted for a moment. Her eyes studied his face, always mesmerized by how easily he cocked a single brow, how it changed his entire face. He looked less like his age and more like a man who knew gentleness.
She shook herself from her distraction. “Yes, Jang Su. They. There are records of his activities. Who he is. What he can do. What he has done. His Level remains unknown as all Monarchs aim to achieve and his kingdom is rumored to have a Sage.”
“Like Master Lao Bek?”
Yul Kwen snorted. “You do remember that Master Lao Bek is not his real name, correct?”
Jang Su nodded. “However, it is the one I call him.”
“I still don’t see why?”
“If I am to speak to someone on occasion, I would prefer that they had a name.”
“And you chose Lao Bek.” Yul Kwen stared out the carriage window once more, watched as they went past a shop that sold the most colorful flowers. “What does it mean?”
“What does what mean?” Jang Su asked, feigning ignorance.
Yul Kwen held back a sigh. She could hear his boyish grin in his words. He was ever so flirtatious every once in a while, and the grin was a trademark.
Her mother had advised her not to refuse his advances of love if she harbored similar feelings. However, Yul Kwen was not to prove a distraction. Jang Su was destined for a greater fate than to end up with her.
If she was lucky, when fate was done with him there would still be something left of Jang Su to love and be loved by.
“Lao Bek,” she said. “What does it mean?”
Jang Su shrugged. “It doesn’t mean anything. I just made it up.”
That surprised her. “And yet you gave him the name?”
“He needed a name. I gave him a name.”
Yul Kwen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this how it was where he came from? Did names have no meaning?
“I would suggest that when we return, you apologize to the Sage,” she told him without turning her attention to him. “You apologize for giving him a name without meaning. Then, if he is still interested in being addressed by a name, you will give him one with a befitting meaning.”
“Are names that important to your people?” Jang Su asked. There was no grin or teasing in his voice.
Only genuine curiosity.
Yul Kwen nodded, remembering something her mother had told her once, not long after the death of her father.
“A man is his name,” she said to him. “So all names must be important.”
Jang Su shook his head in what seemed like disappointment.
“I can agree that a man is his name,” he said. “But you sound like a man’s name is what gives him importance.”
“It is where his importance begins, Jang Su.”
Jang Su folded his arm, still sitting with a straight back. “And what is the meaning of yours, Yul Kwen?”
Yul held out her hand to him and he unfolded his arms and placed his hand on top of it, palm up. It was another thing she liked about their friendship--she rarely ever had to explain what she wanted with her words.
She leaned forward and traced a symbol on his palm.
“Yul,” she said. “Means Devourer.” She traced another symbol. “Kwen means father. My name, Yul Kwen, is written so.” She traced her name across his palm. “When written so, it means A father’s devourer.”
She looked up and found him staring at her. Their eyes met and she saw a sadness she couldn’t quite place there.
Was he sad for her?
“So you’re a father’s devourer?” he asked.
“I am my father’s devourer,” she corrected. “I am who he sends when he needs something done.” Silence filled her momentarily and she dropped his hand. “At least that was his intention.”
Jang Su nodded in understanding. “But things did not turn out that way.”
“They did not. Instead, he was taken from me by—” she silenced herself before she made a mistake.
Jang Su waited for her to complete the sentence. Ever the patient man.
She did not.
“And what is yours, Jang Su?” she said instead. “What does your name mean?”
Jang Su sat back against the carriage. He folded his arms over his chest and crossed a leg over the other.
“Like you, my parents believe that names are important, and so are their meanings,” he said. “A man’s name is the beginning of a man. I do not share those ideals, though. Names are important but their meanings are not. A man is not given importance by his name. A man gives his name importance.”
“If your parents believe as I do, then your name must have a meaning.”
“The name my parents gave me has a meaning, but I changed it when I was old enough to Jang Su.”
“That is a disrespect to your parents, Jang Su.” Yul Kwen’s mother would be appalled if she heard this. “And the name your parents gave you, what is it? What does it mean?”
“It means to be born of the heavens.”
Jang Su didn’t look happy with the name.
Yul Kwen offered him her own hand, palm up. “And what is this name?”
He smiled but shook his head.
“Something tells me that if I give it to you, you will call me by nothing else, Yul Kwen,” he said. “So I will not. You have met me as Jang Su, and I will remain Jang Su to you.”
Yul Kwen pouted but schooled her expression immediately. Judging by Jang Su’s expression, he had seen it but chose not to address it.
He knew her too well.
He was right, though. If he had given her the name, she would’ve addressed him by it anytime they were alone. Names were important by their meaning and by those who bestowed them. He had to learn this. Understand it.
But she would not force it on him.
“And Jang Su?” she asked as the carriage pulled up to the gates of the castle of King Brandis, fourth of his name and king of Bandiv. “What does it mean?”
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Jang Su stared emptily at nothing.
“A man gives meaning to his name by what he becomes,” he said. “For now, I am nothing. But it is my hope that one day parents will name their children after me, and when they ask this question, their parents will say it means to be a hero.”
It was an ambitious dream. But it was the same thing Yul Kwen’s mother hoped for. That one day, Jang Su would achieve the title of [Hero].
“So for now,” he smiled fondly at her. “I am nothing. So Jang Su means nothing.”
Yul Kwen reached out and took his hand.
“You are not nothing, Jang Su,” she assured him. “You are a guest to the queen of Nel Quan. And the crown princess of Nel Quan calls you friend. Until you become the hero, Jang Su has every right to mean friend to the crown. And all will know this one day.”
Jang Su’s smile deepened, but he said nothing. And as deep as it was, it did not reach his eyes.
In Yul Kwen’s opinion, there was too much sadness in his eyes for a man his age. But who was she to judge? She had no idea how life was in the world called Earth.
Before long, their carriage came to a stop and she knew they were at the palace. The soft footfalls of a jepat’s hooves echoed outside her door before someone spoke.
“We are here, princess.”
Yul Kwen gave no answer to her retainer.
She turned to Jang Su, instead. “Shall we?”
Jang Su smiled and leaned across to open her door. It opened to two lines of knights leading from her carriage to the palace entrance. A red carpet ran all the way from her carriage to the palace doors so that she would not step on the ground until she was within the palace walls.
At the center of the Knights stood one man. He was tall and simple, lacked a domineering presence much unlike his father.
When he saw her, he spoke.
“The crown prince, Deneret Brandis, son of King Brandis, fourth of his name, king of the kingdom of Bandiv, welcomes Yul Kwen Sook, crown princess of Nel Quan.”
Yul Kwen looked at Jang Su.
“What do you say, Jang Su of Earth? Is this a welcome you can get used to?”
Jang Su gave her an easy smile. “Perhaps.”
Liar.
He clearly didn’t care for it. It was a flaw she would need to help him rectify in time. The hero of Nel Quan could not be a man lacking in ambition.
The world had to be at his feet. Nel Quan deserved nothing less.
Yul Kwen stepped out of the carriage and onto a soft velvet carpet.
“Let us meet our host.”
…
He weaved the final sign just in time, and the notification flashed before the piece of wood struck.
Class Skill [Enchanted weave] is in effect.
Power went through Aiden, it strengthened his muscles and hardened his skin.
You have used [Weave of Lesser Endurance].
Effect: 16% increase in endurance.
Duration: 00:00:16.
The piece of wood struck his back and shattered on impact. Aiden felt the weight of the blow but neither the pain nor the damage. It was good to know that he could tweak the duration if he focused enough.
“Is this necessary, Lord Lacheart?” Valdan asked. “Why don’t you measure your speed in time?”
Aiden arced backwards, stretched. “Because anybody can do something in the nick of time. What I’m trying to do has to be instinctual.”
“So you’re not measuring how fast you can make the signs. You’re measuring…” Valdan paused. “What exactly are you measuring?”
“I’ve already figured out how fast I can make the signs, Sir Valdan,” Aiden said. “That’s movement speed. What I’m measuring is reaction time.”
Valdan held up the shattered piece of wood. “And how does this help?”
“Seeing how well I work under pressure. If I’m too slow, there’s pain. And I have to pick what enchantment I’m casting on the fly. Each enchantment works for different purposes. Speed, if I feel it can be avoided. Endurance if it cannot. Strength if I wish to take it.”
Valdan nodded.
“I find it intriguing how quickly you have adapted to this,” he said. “You fight with enchantments well.”
Aiden snorted, turning his attention elsewhere.
They were in their usual training ground with the sand covered ground and the sun descending as the evening slowly crawled to night.
Today, they were not alone.
At one end of the training ground, where the crack in the ground Valdan had made still existed, Letto practiced knife techniques with a soldier Valdan had brought with him on Aiden’s request.
From what Aiden could see so far, Letto had little to no talent for the knife but he had more promise with it that most of the other close range weapons he had ever touched since coming here.
“Do you think they can hear us from here?” he asked Valdan.
“Nerot is a level 22 [Blade master]," Valdan said. "His skills allow him a lot of things, but far hearing is not one of them. So we are fine, Lord Lacheart.”
“Good.” Aiden nodded, he didnt want people eaves dropping on his conversation unless he knew. “What do you know of the envoys coming to visit?”
“The envoys from Nel Quan, my Lord?”
Aiden knew the name, knew the kingdom. He’d even been there a few times. In his past life, their true fame during the demon king war was in General Jang Su. He had arguably been the greatest of them all in his lifetime, stronger even than Drax had ever been. What Aiden wanted to know was their current relationship with Bandiv.
The Sage was aiming to use him as a piece in some kind of game he was playing with them, and Aiden wanted to know all he needed to know.
The Nel Quan he knew was the Nel Quan of a few years forward. The kingdom now was a mystery to him.
“How important is the kingdom?” Aiden asked.
“To Bandiv it is important enough.” Valdan tossed the shattered piece of wood aside. “About a decade ago, the kingdom helped ours to complete a [World scenario]. World scenarios are vastly different from Quests in the sense that they are escalating events.”
Aiden knew what a world scenario was, but he allowed the Knight continue.
“A world scenario is what happens when a series of unique quests and or scenarios have been failed or ignored for too long and they have somehow created a compounding effect. Enough failed quests will eventually become a scenario but not all scenarios start from quests. And the more scenarios that are failed, the larger the level of the scenario they become. Eventually, a scenario capable of destroying a kingdom is called a world scenario.”
“And what scenario was this?” Aiden asked.
Valdan shook his head. “I was not a part of the king’s knights at the time so I do not remember the name, neither did I benefit from the scenario. What I do know is that a significantly high level beast tamer had somehow managed to tame an entire monster horde and wanted revenge on someone. I believe Bandiv was in his way and the king refused him and his horde passage.”
“And Nel Quan was called in?”
“Yes. From what I know, the horde was too much for the force Bandiv had. In summary, a temporary alliance was made, and Nel Quan lost its king to the scenario. So while we are allies, there are those who continue to hold the kingdom responsible for the death of their king.”
“I see,” Aiden mused. “So the relationship is amiable on the front-end but quite volatile at the back-end. Noted.”
“Why do you ask, Lord Lacheart?”
“I’m to attend the banquet the king is hosting for them. I just wanted to understand the political bearings. I doubt my presence is to directly play any political games, but I’ve come to learn that when diplomats and political figures gather, there is always a game and there are always pawns. I’d rather be a knowledgeable pawn.”
Valdan’s armored head tilted downwards in a way Aiden had come to recognize as an uncomfortable thinking gesture.
“If that is the case, perhaps they have brought their own,” he muttered.
“Their own what?” Aiden asked.
Valdan paused. Then he shook his head. “Nothing of import, my Lord.”
He bent down and picked up another piece of wood from a stack. It was brittle and weak. Normally, no amount of force could swing it hard enough to cause Aiden any real damage. But Aiden couldn’t say what could be done with it in Valdan’s hands.
Valdan didn’t immediately swing it. He turned to watch Letto’s training, instead.
“Did you notice a talent in Lord Smith, my Lord?” he asked. “Because I do not see it.”
“Not a talent,” Aiden answered. “Merely helping out someone I know.”
“But why the knife? Denid is a good instructor, and she will not be pleased to hear that he is learning to use the dagger.”
Aiden waved his worry aside. “Letto will never be good with the sword so there’s no point in forcing him to continue on its path. He’s less noble warrior and more sneaky thief.”
“He does display an unhealthy lack of confidence when he fights," Valdan mused. "Nerot seems to be getting bored already.”
“Then someone should remind Nerot that he’s not here to be entertained. He is here to teach.”
Valdan’s response shocked Aiden. The knight chuckled.
Aiden turned to look at him.
“Do not hold it against him,” Valdan said, ignoring Aiden’s look. “When I invited him, he was hoping he would be teaching you how to gain a skill not a different lord. You have become something of an interest amongst the soldiers, after all. At least Ded’s continued interactions with you have given him a certain level of fame.”
“Fame?” Aiden asked, surprised.
“Yes, Lord Lacheart. Fame. You are the only known Lord among your peers to leave the palace. And rumors of a ‘Noble’s bastard’ aiding in a goblin subjugation involving a Level 29 Goblin Shaman and two level 20 undead Hobgoblins has spread across the city to those who care to listen.”
Aiden snorted in amusement as he held back a laugh. “Level 29? Level 20?”
“That’s what the rumors say,” Valdan said dismissively, as if the correct details didn’t matter. “You are also the only Lord to be summoned to the king’s study without first writing a petition. And you receive special training, different from your peers. It is a palace, Lord Lacheart. And people talk. Your importance is lost to no one.”
Well, that was interesting. Aiden hadn’t been a subject of rumors since that one time at the Order when people thought he’d successfully stolen from the leader’s private chambers. The truth was he had actually gone in to save Zen from being stupid and following up on a stupid bet, only to find out that Zen wasn’t stupid.
The head of the Order had caught him the moment the door opened and had simply sent him back to his living space.
“It was a level 20 Goblin Shaman.” It was all Aiden knew to say.
“Do you know what rumors, stories, and legends have in common, Lord Lacheart?” Valdan asked.
“What?”
“The truth is always lost in the embellishment of how beautiful the story can be. And only the fewest people care. That said, please stop sending a soldier of the palace out of the castle on your personal errands. The boy still has a lot to learn.”
It was unfortunate that Aiden wasn’t going to stop sending Ded out until he got the information he was looking for. He at least knew that much.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” he said.
Off in the distance Nerot took Letto down with a leg sweep and a stab to the chest with his wooden knife. Judging by the pained grimace on Letto’s face, the entire ordeal must’ve been really painful.
“Do you know that the King asked if you would be fine with your brother joining our sparring sessions?” Valdan said out of nowhere.
Aiden hadn’t known that.
“I did not,” he answered. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that unless your brother is as talented as you with the sword, it would not be a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because not all competition, Lord Lacheart, is good competition.”
Aiden didn’t know if Ted’s talent with the sword could match what he was capable of right now, but despite being a [Summoner], Ted had been quite the swordsman in their past life. Good enough in the long run to give Drax a very difficult time.
“I say this because I was actually of the opinion that you would not like to share these sessions with other people.”
“And you were right.” Aiden gave him a grateful smile. “But a wise man once told me that I will need people if I want to go far and not just fast.”
Valdan nodded sagely. “Does that mean that I should be expecting more people? I can always find suitable soldiers to assist.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Sir Valdan,” Aiden laughed. “Letto’s only here because he needs special attention to meet up with the others. And yes, over time I will ask for recommendations to help some of the others where they are lacking should I ever notice it. But I’m not doing this to make friends.”
“As I once heard a wise lord say,” Valdan shrugged. “Progress not perfect.”
Valdan seemed to be misunderstanding something, and Aiden felt compelled to clear it up. He had once had people he called friends, but none of them currently resided in the palace. And none of them ever did.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something, Sir Valdan,” he said to the knight in a serious tone. “I know what is coming. I have an idea of it. I’ve read the books, seen the theories, understood the speculations. If we do not stop what is coming, and it comes, there will be nowhere to run. At the risk of sounding like a worse person than I already am, I am not helping my peers because I have suddenly developed a soft spot for them. I am helping them because once I am done going as fast as I can, I need them to be strong enough so we can go as far as we can.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Aiden knew they were the wrong things to say. He still held some level of malice towards the others for turning their backs on him the moment they'd learned that Ted was the Demon King in his past life, he just hadn't know it was still this deep. He had been angry, felt betrayed because they were all from Earth together and they had power. They could've stood by him, stopped the man hunt for him. But they hadn't.
You need to stop holding them accountable for what they did in a lifetime that no longer exists, he told himself.
He needed to put away the bias of his past life. Yes, there could be a repeat in this one, but it was a possibility not a certainty. People were the results of the decisions they made based on the experiences they had. Things could be different this time.
Valdan looked down at Aiden for a while, then he shook his head.
“That, my Lord," he said, "is a sad way to think.”
He raised the piece of brittle wood in his hand and swung it without preamble.
Aiden reacted quickly.
Class skill [Walking Canvas] is in effect.
He felt his mana burst out of him and fill the air, six feet around him as his hand weaved a quick sign as fast as he could.
Class skill [Enchanted Weave] is in effect.
He completed the hand sign as the brittle wood struck him.
You have used [Weave of Lesser Flame]
Effect: Fire damage
Duration: 00:00:18.
Radius: 0.00013km.
The wood ignited as sparks filled the air around Aiden. The temperature rose and the air burned. A moment after, the piece of wood caught aflame.
Aiden had failed this one. Even if he had been faster than Valdan’s strike, which he had not been, all he would’ve accomplished was ensuring that he wasn’t struck with a brittle wood but a burning, brittle wood.
I would’ve helped give them fire damage, he thought with a frown.
Valdan stood in the midst of the growing sparks the enchantment left around them, unbothered.
Aiden knew what the enchantment at its highest level could do. It was a force to be reckoned with, capable of setting even the air ablaze. Unfortunately, what could create a sea of fire at a certain level could only create sparks and significant heat at his level, the way his skill allowed him to use it.
“Again?” Valdan asked.
Aiden looked at the knight with a frown. The man was going to be anything but gentle for the rest of the training, and he knew it.
But Aiden was no quitter.
“Again.”