60 days after the explosions – ????

"Why me!? Didn't I just explain I am not the best choice!? And don't say only I passed the test because both Jorge and Rebecca helped as much as me in the situation! Besides, both of them have greater support and skills than me, so they are the ones that should get the job!"(prince)said while still not giving up

It was a sound argument and the only reason he could think these two were trying to stick him the job was because he was easier to handle

"Didn't I said a while ago we had multiple reasons? true, both Jorge and Rebecca helped, but you can't deny that the one that did the most was you"(Arthur)

"So what? even if I did a little more or not, those two are still a better option than me, no doubt about it"(prince)

"Son, think about it, those two would make horrible rulers. Rebecca would dedicate all her time to research magic like always, no matter what you tell her, and Jorge would party all day. I was hoping they would act in dire circumstances, but you had to bribe Rebecca to force her to move, and Jorge just went and did whatever he wanted, like always"(Arthur)

I knew I was right!(prince)

These two only wanted him because he was easier to handle. Luckily, he had built up a reputation of compleat uselessness over the years, and now it was the time to play it

"So what? It's not like I am any better. I am lazy, dumb, and unskillful. I even signed some of the papers that allowed the duke to take over all our forts. Do you seriously believe I am better than those two?"(prince)said while been a little proud of his mistakes since they would help him get away from this situation

"Son, you are. It is true you made a mistake or two, but you did an amazing job under the circumstances and fixed all the mistakes you made. In two months, you stopped a rebellion,  escaped from a kidnapping, catch every bad apple in the castle, found the truth behind the terrorist attack, started a diplomatic relationship with both the dwarves and elves and won a war. You did more in two months than most rulers do in a life span, so I say you are the right man for the job"(Arthur)said as a matter of fact

And prince thought process stopped. Besides realising how hard had this two months been, he realised he didn't have a counter argument against that last part

Could he even say he did a bad job? it would be bullsh-t. Not because he fell proud about it, but simply because after hearing it from his father mouth, he couldn't deny it. Most rulers only had to deal with one or two of those situations before they change for the next in line like his father said

 Well part of the reason was simply because they were the deathly kind of situations, and just getting out alive from one of those situations showed that the ruler had great skills or great luck, and both were important things to have

Which made him wonder, did he had skills or luck? because he was sure he kind of went with the flow in all those situations and he was sure his luck was really sh-tty

"See?Even you can't deny you did a great job there. Meanwhile, what did your brothers did? Jorge went to a different country to start some troubles and your sister just played around with magic till the end. If you ask me, the one that deserves the throne more is you"(Arthur)

"Wait!!"(prince) hadn't give up yet

Still, he didn't continue with an argument since he was still looking for a way to get out of this situation

"what?"(Arthur)

"Well........"(prince) still buying time

"Well.......... what?"(Arthur) played along

He was surprised at the first interruption, but he knew his son well enough to tell he was trying his best to come up with something. Arthur was already used to him coming up with excuses every time he had an "accident"

So he decided to give the prince a chance, even though he knew he had no hope left

As for the prince, he was trying his hardest to come up with something, and the best he could come up with was

"Now that I think about it, there are still a lot of problems with choosing me as the king. The people, nobles, soldiers and mages all hate me and look down on me. If I even try to become the next king, I am sure everyone would revolt. I already had one so I would prefer to avoid the next one.

Besides, the only reason I had to go to all that was because I was the only one "alive". Both Rebecca and Jorge would have done even a better job than me if people knew they were alive"(Prince) finally came with a decent argument

"Wrong again son. the people are a little scared of you since not only did you stop the rebellion, some of then still suspèct it was you that caused the explosion, the military was amazed by your flawless success in the war, and it's thankful that you rescue all the captive soldiers unharmed, besides, the general owes you one for rescuing her daughter and taking care of her so far. You have all the information the duke gave you about the dirty secrets of most nobles, so they won't cause you many troubles, and the archmage respects you for managing to control Rebecca to some extend

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Besides, the moment it is reveal you found a way to give everyone inner mana, no one will look down on you

With it, the common people will finally have a chance to become especially, the army will be stronger than ever, the nobles with "disappointing" heirs will finally have a way to make them useful, and the importance of mages will increase a lot since they will be rarer than before"(Arthur)

Sh-t, the old man is good(prince) hated that the b-stard really was deserving of the name "wise king"

 No matter what he throw at him, he would find something to argue back

"Fine, I may have some support, but you can't deny both the most important part. Both Jorge and Rebecca would do a better job than me if they give it a try. They are both smart, talented, have support from a faction, and if we say they made the potion, it would sound more believable and everyone would be happy. True, they both did their own thing in dire times, but they knew everyone was alright so they weren't worried. I am sure that if you give them a chance, they would do a great job"(prince) used his final card

His father tried to gloss over a few minutes ago saying they were selfish(and they were), but if you "put it more nicely" you could say they just didn't have a chance to show their worth, and they deserve a chance

But it could be also translated to "I don't want the job so just force it to one of those two". The prince was even ready to forsake the merit he deserved from creating one of the greatest discoveries ever

What could he do with the reputation anyway?eat it? was it tasty? as long as he had the money, he was happy. He knew how two faces people were, so he knew he would feel even a little disgusted if people started to act nice to him now that he was "worth" something

"Son, I think that is your biggest misconception, a ruler doesn't need to have great skills, he only needs skilled people around him. You think I became the wise king because I was smart? it was thanks to your mother's support from the shadows, and the help from the duke, general and archmage that I got this far. I am sure that if we make Rebecca the next queen, she would probably find a way to duplicate herself and stick the work to it or something like that, and as for Jorge, he wouldn't have a problem in managing capable people with his charm, but who says you can't use your brother and sister again like you did this past two months? If you use Jorge AND Rebecca's talent, won't you be a better king than one that can only use Jorge OR Rebecca's talent?"(Arthur)said, and prince cursed inside

The "wise king" was really good at arguing, sadly for the prince. The prince knew he was one of the monsters, and his speciality was thinking while the prince was caught off guard in an unfavourable situation, it was a miracle he managed to resist so far. Still, he couldn't stop yet, his future was at stake

"That's just an excuse father. Rebecca can use Jorge's power and Jorge can use Rebecca's power, did you forget they are twins? They may not be the best twins out there, but they get along to some extent. And why can't a talented person use talented people, isn't it better than an untalented person ordering around talented people?"(prince)

"Fine son, you win, both your brother and sister could also take the throne instead of you under the circumstance.  But you can't deny that all 3 of you would be a great choice for the throne, right?"(Arthur)

"I can"(prince)

"You can't. We have been going back and forth for a while now, but we can be sure of one thing, you are as good of an option as your brothers. You say you are a worst option and we say you are a better option, but you can't say you aren't almost as good as Jorge and Rebecca, right?"(Arthur)

And the prince wanted to say he was wrong, but he knew it would be pointless. He had been trying his best to make it look like he was the worst option and he barely managed to argue he was an equal option. If only those two weren't so erratic, it would be so much easier

"Fine, we are equal, so why not bring those two and see if they want the throne or something? when they get here we can have this conversation again"(prince) said while trying his best to buy time

Right at that moment, things weren't in his favour, so the best option was to retreat and fight another day

"Not so fast son, you just agreed that you are as good of an option as those two with what we just said, but there are still some more reasons why we want Y O U"(Arthur) said with a smug smile, happy that he caught the prince in his trap

F-CK!!!!(prince)