After following Lancelot out of the academy and getting into the carriage that had come to pick me up, we were swiftly on our way to the Castle of Evelias Royalty. I will not lie, in this moment, I was a bit afraid and scared of what may happen next. In the game, Lancelot did not appear until the second half of the second year - after Alis managed to take down a Lesser Dragon that had entered the Evelias territory.

However, suddenly, out of nowhere - Lancelot appears before me just a little over a week after the studies at Evelias Magic Academy begins... Could it be linked to something I have done?.... Maybe it is because of my entire spheal where I accidentally used the 'Black Flare' magic during the Magic Test where Merlin oversaw everything. It isn't out the question that Merlin reported that to the King...

Infact, I can guarantee that this is the most likely case, considering the entire nature of Merlin and the spectacle I put up back at the practical lesson.

'Should have expected that one move to come back and bite me later...'

I thought to myself, before exhaling a bit heavily. Lancelot, who was in the carriage with me, looked at me with a curious gaze.

Lancelot: "Is everything alright Mister Anker Hilldervia?"

I looked at him with a slightly confused expression before shaking my head and laughing a bit lightly.

"My apologies - I was just in my head. Please don't mind me."

I replied, with Lancelot giving me a slightly sceptical gaze for a moment, before turning his head away and looking out of the window of the carriage once more. I simply shed a small sweat, before exhaling lightly again.

Even though I am trying my best to appear calm and collected, I was very much panicking slightly on the inside. I was simply thinking of what I should say to the King when I meet him, as I needed to make sure that I didn't screw it up and blow away my entire cover and reveal my true identity right infront of the King of Evelia.

If that happens... Well, I can say goodbye to a peace.

Well, technically speaking, if I was to suddenly start a war with Evelia, we were early enough in the story for Alis to be unable to use the Sacred Blade of Hope as well as for the to be absolutely no one around who is able to face me. I mean, even if Alis was able to wield the Sacred Blade of Hope, it didn't matter as I had it in my possession, which very literally meant that they had no way of actually harming me at all.

One could say that speaking in strategic level, I am in a very good position right now — such a good one, that if I was a lot more careless and tyrannical and less... Well, myself — and started a war or invasion of Evelia, they would fall in quick succession.

As our carriage rode through the centre of the Kingdom, I, through the windows of the carriage, spotted many, many eyes of the common folk fall onto the carriage. They all looked surprised and some even a bit distressed.

I wasn't very suprised by this — after all, in Evelia, the Royal Carriages are very, very rarely used, only really ever if the King is going somewhere or if it is needed to transfer high ranking individuals to a battle field — considering that these Royal Carriages are made of extraordinary durable material and then laced with anti magic and extra physical protection circles.

We moved through the center of the Kingdom for a bit, before eventually the carriage turned towards the giant castle in the very back of the Kingdom. It wasn't too long now until I was brought infront of the King for our meeting.

I will not lie, the closer I got to the castle, the more nervous I grew. I couldn't help but feel like I was going blow away my entire cover and reveal to the King who I actually was on accident.

For the rest of the journey to the castle, I remained silent and sort of inside my head, while staring out of the carriages window. Lancelot would try striking up a conversation about me or my family every moment here and there, but I would simply ignore him, which led to him just also remaining silent eventually. Then, before I knew it, we had arrived to the Evelia Royal Family castle.

The guards at the front gates rushed to open them, before surrounding the carriage and then escorting it into the castle grounds. We left behind the lively scenery of the Kingdom and entered a very tidy, neat and filled with guards scenery located in the Castles front garden. All the guards were dressed in a lot more exquisite armour — however at the same time, their armour showed signs of weathering and time with slight rush, damage and even cuts and scratches all over it.

One would assume that the armour would be kept as tidy and 'shiny' looking, however in Evelia, armour that is shiny is seen as 'Coward' or 'Newbie' level, while armour with signs of damage and time is respected, as it shows that the metal of that armour and the individual wearing it has been 'tested' — whatever that means.

Riding up to the main castle itself, the carriage stopped before a guard opened its door, allowing me and Lancelot to exit. The Commander of the Royal Guard stepped out first, with me getting out of the carriage after him, before looking up at the castle infront of us. Again, it looked a lot more impressive than in the game. All the locations that I had previously seen in just a 2D image looked a lot more impressive in person — which feels like common sense and logical. However, even with the thing looking a lot more impressive than in the game, I still wasn't super 'wowed' by the castle.

I had seen it a little bit too much through the game and had already pretty much memorised how it looks and where what is located inside it - I even had memorised all of the secret entrances and hidden rooms located within it, as I took my time exploring this thing during my more boring hours of playing it game.

After staring at the castle for a brief moment longer, I looked down and quickly caught up to Lancelot, before the two of us — escorted by 6 other Royal Guards that surrounded us from both sides — got escorted into the castle itself.

Inside, again, the place looked very impressive. The architecture was grand and royal, while remaining somewhat minimalist, the colours were very soft and weren't too vibrant, the carved imagery of the Old Inara war with the first Hero battling against the Demon King of Sins was absolutely incredible to see in person — even more so now that I actually was the aforementioned Demon King of Sins in this world.

Everything inside of the castle looked very good, but on average, I still believe that the interior of my Demon Castle was better. My had a lot less colours and the architecture was more jagged and rough, yes, but it simply was a lot more interesting to look at compared to this kind of generic castle interior you would be able to find in just about any fantasy story that I knew of.

I was led through a long hallway, eventually reaching a pair of large doors. The 6 Royal Guards who had been escorting us immediately took stances on either side of the doors, while Lancelot opened the giant doors and entered the room on the other side of them — the Throne Room.

I took in one last deep breath, before taking my first steps into the room.

'This is it. Time to see what the King was with me.'

I thought, following Lancelot into the throne room, before the doors were shut after me.

Inside the Throne Room, I was led down a large red carpet, that had gold decor on either side of it. The throne room itself was like a gigantic hall, with large windows on either side, letting in a very majestic and beautiful light into the room, while large chandeliers made of what I believe was white crystal or white crystal quartz hung from the ceiling, these being used to light up the room during the evening and night time.

Towards the otherside of the room, where were around 30 Royal Guards stationed - 15 on each side of the carpet. Farther back, there was a large throne, made of White Obsidian, a very rare resource that had some kind of connection to the Gods that the people of this world worshipped. The throne had all sorts of engravings on it as well as a crimson red inner lining, which was made from Red Bear pelt, which was a material considered to be very, very luxurious and very much rare. It most of the time was used by royalty of each Kingdom, to make themselves appear to be royal, however it also was used in the making of high ranking armour and gear that could allow for unparalleled protection from magic and physical attacks, while weighing a very little amount.

As I was brought closer to the throne, Lancelot looked up at the individuals around the throne and the King on the throne.

Lancelot: "I have brought him."

He stated, before bowing towards the King and then moving up towards the throne, taking a stance next to the other individuals around the throne. On the head count, I could see Merlin and Gilgamesh both on the left side, with Lancelot joining them, while I saw a young teenage boy and a girl around my age on the right side, as well as a maid with glasses and black, tied back hair next to them both.

The Boy and Girl were the children of the King - Prince Cecil Brimmingstar and Princess Kiki Brimmingstar. In the game, Cecil was actually one of the possible routes and then eventually - and canonically - the Husband of Alis. Meanwhile Kiki... Well, she wasn't much a character. While she was the Princess, she never got that much attention and in fact was killed off by Dvirt.

Her death is actually one of the catalysts for that lead up to the Black Sun appearing, meaning that she - to me - was a very important person to keep alive. If she dies, one of the catalysts that lead to the black sun and the final act of the game will come true.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After I walked a bit closer up to the throne, I immediately kneeled infront of it and looked down.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

I spoke diligently. The King of Evelia sat on the throne silently, simply looking at me. The King wore heavy white robes and golden brass armour, which covered their entire body. They even had a mask like helmet cover their face, with the crown on the helmet.

While it may seem strange for a King to hide their Identity like this, it later was revealed that all of this was necessary because of a certain law that the human society has — which is... Actually, I will let that be revealed on its own with time.

After a brief while of silence, the King rose his right arm, signaling that I can raise my head, which I promptly did, while remaining on my knee.

King Ymir Brimmingstar - King of Evelia: "I am known as Ymir Brimmingstar, the King of Evelia. It is also my pleasure to finally meet you, son of the Hilldervia House."

The King stated, their voice distored and almost sounding warped, like it was being masked by a voice changer. With introductions out of the way, the King looked at me with what I can only assume was a more suprised expression under their mask.

Ymir: "I must say, I did not expect you to be so young. When Merlin first told me about you, I imagined that you'd at least be at the same age as my son."

The King expressed their surprise, to which I simply played it cool and let out a small and light chuckle, however did not speak a word. Then, the King lowered their right arm back onto the thrones armrest.

Ymir: "Anyways, allow me to not waste time and move onto the reason I have called you here. Merlin told me that you are able to use the lost magic known as 'Black Flare' — is this true?"

The King asked.

In this moment, I shed a small sweat. Being quite direct with their question... But I must remain calm and just think before I act. If I start showing my stress and nervousness, that'll only drag suspicion to me — and that wasn't what I wanted or needed.

"Yes, that is, in fact, true."

I replied.

The King seemingly narrowed their eyes onto me under their mask.

Ymir: "Show it. Prove to me that Merlin and you, are not liars."

This statement sent a visible shock through the room. Merlin, Gilgamesh and Lancelot all remained silent, but looked at the King with shock, while Cecil and Kiki both looked at their parent with just plain disbelief.

Cecil Brimmingstar: "Father, surely you aren't trying to say that Sir Merlin would lie to you?"

Kiki Brimmingstar: "Yeah, Sir Merlin would never do something like that!"

The two kids conversed, while Ymir simply gestured to them to remain silent, before exhaling.

Ymir: "I am not calling Merlin a 'liar' — not directly anyways. However, I wish to see Young Master Hilldervia prove to me that he can indeed use the lost magic."

The King replied, keeping their gaze onto me the entire time. I definitely felt the pressure from the King pile ontop of me. Last time I used it, I had lost control over my body and used it randomly.

And while I was able to use it again with no problem, I haven't trained with it at all for all these years, as I didn't think it would be needed or necessary at all. However, I guess everything in life does come back to bite you in the end...

I remained on my knee silently, unsure on what I should do next. The King, seemingly grew impatient and looked at me with a more serious glare.

Ymir: "Well? What are you waiting for, show it."

He stated. I was very much hesitant to do so, but at the same time, didn't want to cause a ruckus by rejecting his request. Eventually, after a bit of debating in my mind, I stood up before lifting my arms up above me, closing my eyes, with all the Royal Guards immediately running infront of the throne and taking out their shields, preparing to block — just in case.

Smart move from them, considering my uncertainty on being able to control the magic myself...

I hesitated for a bit longer, before releasing a small exhale and deciding to simply get it over with. I channeled the magic through my body, ensuring it to be the Black Flare magic and not accidentally channeling my regular Demon King magic abilities.

Luckily, I managed to channel a small bit of the Black Flare magic, before imagining it shaping into a fireball in-between my hands. Immediately, the magic flowed through my body and then arms, before forming at first a small black fire ball, before growing in size and forming a large serpent, made of black flames, which wrapped itself around me and looked at the individuals around the throne, hissing loudly.

Everyone was on the edge — Merlin was preparing to attack with magic, while Gilgamesh and Lancelot prepared to draw their weapons. Kiki quickly hid behind Cecil, while the maid took a stance infront of the two kids.

The only one unphased by this, was the King who simply looked up at the Snake and then back down at me, letting out a small grunt as they did.

I kept my eyes shut, focusing the magic, before deciding that enough was enough and cancelling the spell — forcing the black flame serpent to return to the small black fire ball before disappearing into small dust in the air. Afterwards, I lowered my arms and exhaled, opening my eyes and looking at the King. Hopefully that was enough proof.

The King stared back at me for a bit, before exhaling and then laughing lightly. Everyone looked confused, however they then allowed their tense stances to break — with the Royal Guards returning back to their previous positions, while the King looked at me with what I can only assume was an amused expression under that mask.

Ymir: "Very impressive. You can use the lost magic. My apologies for even considering that you and Merlin may be liars."

The King apologised, before placing their left hand onto their chest and bowing towards me slightly. I let out a small chuckle.

"It is fine. It's understandable to be sceptical about stuff like this."

I replied with a calm tone.

The King laughed for a bit longer, before clearing their throat and placing their arms back onto the thrones armrests.

Ymir: "Alright, now that I have seen it myself, I can move onto the reason I have called you here. To be blunt, I have a request I wish to relay to you, Young Master Hilldervia."

The King explained, peaking my interest as soon as he mentioned a request. A request for what? What did the King want me to do for him? This could be bad... Should I be worried about what he may ask of me? Probably...

I simply kneeled back down, before bowing towards the King.

"I am prepared to do anything you ask of me."

I replied. I couldn't exactly reject the request, as with my 'secret' of being able to use Black Flare magic being out, the Kingdom could very easily either kill me for safety concerns or throw me in a dungeon and imprison me in there.

The King looked at me with a curious gaze.

Ymir: "Very well. Then listen well."

They stated, making their voice a bit louder in the process. Then, the King stood up and stepped forward a bit, before lifting their arms up.

Ymir: "Young Master Hilldervia, I wish to ask you to use your magic to protect the Future Hero Alis Devanara and ensure that no harm comes to her during her time at the academy!"

The King announced his request, leaving me completely speechless in the moment, as well as causing me to shed a cold sweat. After being able to process what the King just said, I gulped, before pushing out a small reply under my breath.

"....Excuse me?"

• • • • • •

After the meeting with the King, I was sent back to the academy in a much less luxurious carriage, with a butler of the King acting as my escort the whole way. The meeting took a lot longer than it admittedly should have, causing me to completely miss all of my lessons for the day, as by the time I was sent home, it was already the evening.

After I was dropped off at the academy, the butler bid his farewell to me, as well as wished me a good evening before driving off back to the castle, leaving me alone infront of the academy to ponder what had happened at the castle.

I mean — where do I even start?

I suppose I should start with the request. I ended up accepting it without much trouble, as it aligned almost too well with what I was already doing, protecting Alis against threats she is not ready to face yet. However, despite accepting it, one thing I still didn't understand...

How the hell did they know that Alis was the future Hero and eventual wielder of the Sacred Blade of Hope?!

In the game, that was a twist that NO character knew off until Alis with her friends went to find the Sacred Blade of Hope, during the literal last act of the game. Only then it was discovered that Alis was 'worthy' of wielding it and claimed it as her own, with the royal family also only finding it out then.

Even the Demon King of Sins and his subordinates learned of Alis being the Hero after she claimed the Sword — with Avis learning of it literally moments before the final big boss battle against him.

So I couldn't quite begin to even understand on how the hell the King and everyone else in that room already knew of Alis' future. Was this another byproduct of my continued interference with how the events of this worlds history were supposed to go?... It could be. After all, the Acolyte Dusk, the main Anomaly in this world so far, also know of Alis as the Future Hero. Perhaps the Royalty and High Ranking members of Evelia knowing of Alis being the Future Hero was connected to the Acolyte Dusks entire existence.

Whatever the reason was, that whole meeting as well as their knowledge which they most definitely shouldn't have, I can confidently say was the second 'Anomaly' in my book, come about from my actions.

I exhaled lightly, before looking up towards the setting sun in the sky, as it painted the sky with all sorts of red and orange tones. Things were progressively changing... If Anomalies like the Acolyte Dusk and now this meeting keep popping up, I don't think I will be able to prevent the main events of the story from coming true — especially the ones that are crucial and lead to my eventual defeat.

I have to tread carefully from now on and make sure I don't change the events too much, otherwise, more and more unexpected byproducts may arise.

Unable to do anything about it now, I exhaled again before turning around and walking back to the academy building, intending to return to the Dorms for today and simply rest. That entire meeting with the King had me completely exhausted... Seriously, that was a shock that I did not need whatsoever. After entering the academy building, I made my way through it quickly, before walking out into the backyard and then off to the boys side of the dorms, entering it moments later.

The Next Morning. . .

It was early, but not super early. I was in my first class for today, sitting next to Felix and chatting with him about yesterdays meeting, as yesterday after I arrived, I was too exhausted to speak to him and Felix also had to join some acquaintances for training that evening and didn't return until very late night - by which time, I was already asleep.

I didn't tell Felix everything that happened at the Meeting, especially about the whole them knowing about Alis' future as well as my request, as the King had also requested me to keep silent about the request. I simply told Felix that I was asked to do a very small favour for the King in the near future, which Felix, being the slight muscle head he is, accepted without a question.

After a bit, the instructor entered the class and closer the door after herself, as the lesson began. She walked over to the blackboard and her desk, before looking at us with a very cheerful and almost childish smile. She was dressed in a long, white lab coat, with fancier robes underneath it as well as thick collar around her neck. Her trousers were messily tucked into a pair of long black boots, which were tied tightly closed.

Lastly, she wore grey gloves and her hair was long and silverish, as well as her ears were pointy and a bit longer than the average human — since she was a Half-Elf, with her mother being an elf.

She fixed her glasses, before smiling even more widely and looking at us with an excited expression.

Jillia - Familiar Summoning & Training Teacher: "Good morning children! Today, you all will be learning all you need to know about Familiar Summoning and if we're lucky — you will also be summoning your own familiars and establishing contracts with them!"

• Next Time •

[ (24.) The Jack of All Trades. ]