A/N: Hey, author of Goddess of Beauty is here. I'm taking a break from the aforementioned novel to think up of ideas. However, I thought up of this concept, and I really wanted to write a story about it. I think that it's pretty new and exciting, and I'll get to experiment with the first person POV. Thank you and enjoy!

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I have been standing here for the past hour, gazing at the magicians with a watchful eye. My legs have already started to cramp up, but I cannot leave this room, for everything must be done with precision. I cannot afford having the ceremony sabotaged because I couldn’t overcome the hardship of pain.

A servant comes up to me, bows, and asks, “Your Royal Highness, would you like me to bring a seat?” I answer him with a swift reply, “No need. I’m fine standing here as is.” While the thought of a seat did sound appealing after standing still for an hour, I could not afford to become complacent. First, a seat – then, a drink. After I fall asleep due to a drug of some kind, who knows what will happen afterwards? After all, today is the most important day.

You might be wondering what I am talking about. As you may have guessed already from the conversation, I am a prince – a crown prince to be exact. The kingdom that my father rules is the small human kingdom, the Kingdom of Kardowyn, and I am the heir to the throne, Jarvan III of the House of Camden. After my father, who is already fifty, passes on, the throne will naturally be inherited by the eldest son, me.

Or, that’s how it would usually proceed. However, I might not even obtain the opportunity to rule my subjects, given a decade or two. While I did mention that the Kingdom of Kardowyn is a small kingdom, that isn’t true if we go fifty years back into the past. The Kingdom of Kardowyn had a huge domain that encompassed over half of the Brisgald continent, one of the two main continents. The human race was probably the most successful race… and the most happiest at that time.

Now, the Kingdom of Kardowyn is only a shell of what it once was. The demon race had begun invading our territory forty years ago. Usually, all that would have been is a nuisance. The human race has established itself as the strongest race for centuries already. It’s not due to any special powers – we don’t have any. Our lifespan is fairly short compared to other races, and while we do have access to magic, we don’t excel at it. No, the reason we are so strong is partly due to our ingenuity and partly due… to our numbers.

Humans are the most populated race in this world. In fact, our numbers are so high that we comprise about half of all sentient beings. The only other race that can breed as quickly as us is the demi-human race, but they haven’t been given the opportunity to grow since they have been hunted to near extinction. In fact, they probably would have been hunted to extinction if not for the social reforms that happened 200 years ago. The beast race, as they were known back then, was changed to the demi-human race, and there were laws drafted for their protection.

However, what truly separates the human race from any other, and what elevates us from fodder status to superpower status, is our ingenuity. Anytime that we collectively face a problem, we think up of a way to solve it. If we’re faced with an obstacle that we’re unable to overcome, we invent a tool to overcome it. The human race began as no more than a small faction that was in between the constant wars of the elves and demons. The humans back then struggled to survive. Yet, as humans overcame challenges, their civilisation flourished. About 1000 years ago, we reached a point where we could be called the strongest race in the world.

You might wonder whether the human race ever tried to conquer any of the other races. Actually, we haven’t. If you want a logical reason, then we could say that the other races are too strong for us if they combine their forces. There is always a fear that the human race can be demolished if the other races really wanted it.

Yet, that reason does not suffice at all. Most of the races cannot work together in their endeavour to fight the humans. For instance, the demon race despises the elfish race almost as much as they hate us, for obvious reasons. The true reason that the human race never tried to conquer any other is that we have compassion for any other sentient being.

You might find that statement contradictory, considering I just told you that we had hunted the demi-human race. However, the demi-human race wasn’t viewed as a sentient one until recently. They weren’t able to and still cannot cast magic. Not only that, their appearance bore a close resemblance to animals, due to their animalistic appendages. Only recently did the humans begin to realise that they were actually more intelligent than they looked. To this day, we still hold a guilty conscience due to their mistreatment.

This leads to the situation today. Human beings could proudly say that we are the strongest race… until forty years ago. The human army that was sent to stop the demonic approach was completely annihilated. The demons seemingly held the same strength as before, which was by no means a joke. We learned how to cope with it, though. However, the demon nobles were on another level altogether. Their power had risen at least tenfold to what it was before. Each of the demon nobles was able to destroy at least a couple hundred of our troops.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Battle of the Seneca Plains was the one that kick-started the Sixth Demon-Human War. The previous five wars had all been won by the human race, although the First Demon-Human War was so close that the demons nearly annihilated the entire human race. Since then, every war showed that the difference in strength between the two kept growing and growing.

This time was different, though. No matter how many armies we mustered to repel the invasion. However, all was for naught as we kept losing battle after battle. The size of the Kingdom of Kardowyn has already been reduced to less than half of what it has been before the war.

The humans had already become distressed from the events happening in the war and were just about to lose hope when a prophecy came a year ago. The prophecy was delivered by an old woman who waltzed into the castle throne room, bypassing all the guards. The nobles were infuriated by the trespasser’s uncivilised act, but the king – my father – allowed her to speak. Her words contained a message that the child of a summoned hero would contain unbelievable powers that were never seen before.

The nobles were sceptical of the message and believed her to be a crazy, old hag. However, my father knew that the prophecy must be real. Summoning magic is an ancient magic created by a group of magicians in the past. It was delivered to the king of the newly-formed Kardowyn at that time. The king didn’t need it at the time, though, since the humans were already a powerhouse that rivalled other races. The magic was stored in the royal archives since that day, never to be taken out again, so its existence was a secret.

So here I am, standing at a room with a summoning circle being drawn by the royal mages. Why? It has been decided by my father that I would be married to the summoned. This is the best way to assure her loyalty, according to him. I do not like the idea, though. Controlling people is an act that I find most despicable. It happens quite often in the upper circles of society, but the thought of it makes me nauseous.

You might lament my fate because I am forced to wed someone I may not want or may not love. However, this is fine by me. I’m not like one of those princes in fairytales where he has a childhood friend in a princess who grows up and they get married. I spent most of my youth playing with noble boys around my age, and as I grew up, things haven’t changed much. I still hang out primarily with my childhood friends. I don’t even understand how women think – they are very strange creatures.

This is why I have been sneaking into the royal archives every night to secretly read up on the summoning magic. I am amazed at the extensive research that our ancestors have provided us. They have studied every intricacy of the summoning magic, right to the very detail. Not only can you summon a specific gender, you can also specify the personality of the individual. All that you need to do is engrave certain symbols in certain locations inside the circle.

I have hatched my plan as I was studying these notes. While the royal mages have been instructed to write loyalty and being docile into her personality, I plan to change that. Why would I need a woman who obeys every one of my orders like some servant girl? If she’s going to be my wife, I need her to act like my wife, not like a whore or a slave. I need her to complement the parts that I’m missing and to be my everlasting partner.

While I have been finalising the details of my plan inside my brain, it seems that the royal mages have finished charting the circle. I take a glance at it and marvel at its complexity. If I hadn’t been secretly reading the archived lectures, I would not have been able to understand a single thing, other than that this circle is complex.

“Very good. We will conduct the ceremony this evening. You are free to go, but be sure to come back on time,” I lower my voice as I instruct the mages. “Yes, Your Royal Highness,” one of the mages answers as he bows to me while putting his right hand on his stomach. Every single one of the mages also bow the same way before exiting the room.

Finally, my plan can come to fruition. I strut over to the circle as I massage my legs. It seems that standing still has taken a toll on me. No matter, though, the important thing is to concentrate on changing the circle. Let’s see… ugh, it’s so complicated.

The first step is to write in a personality that would understand me. After all, if my wife cannot understand me, how will she be able to solve my problems or suggest solutions? I erase several symbols on the circle and write in different symbols in different locations. The process is slow because every symbol needs to be written with precision. If the location is off by a few centimetres, it could have a totally different meaning.

The process of rewriting the symbols takes me at least a couple of hours. The labour is extremely tedious, but I manage to successfully rewrite them. I don’t think any of the mages will notice any change, since they had to follow the notes to write in the symbols. Their experience with summoning magic is nil – in fact, I’m probably the person who understands summoning magic the most in this kingdom, thanks to my nightly escapades.

Delighted with my work, I step back to take another look of appreciation at my hard work. Now that I think about the symbols I wrote once more, am I sure that I’m not summoning a boy in girl form?