I looked at the blue sky, savouring a rare moment of peace while a warm breeze was gently blowing between the branches of park trees. The children were playing near me, oblivious to the war outside these walls or even who I was. The identity concealment skill I used was fairly simple, but effective. A young couple was discussing something nearby, and I smiled lightly, hearing their laughter. I closed my eyes for a moment and turned my head up, feeling the warm touch of the sun on my face. I allowed myself to stay like that a bit longer until an unexpected presence cast a shadow that interrupted my leisure time.

"Sir, is everything all right?" The voice of a young Human woman was full of concern.

"I think so," I replied, still smiling softly as I opened my eyes.

"You don't look well at all, sir." She looked inquisitively at me and added proudly. "My name is Triss and I am studying Healing and Medicine at the Royal University of Avalon."

"Oh, I see." I smiled. "But I don't think my ailment is curable."

"I beg to differ." She smiled. "May I sit by?"

"Help yourself, Miss Triss." She eagerly sat on the grass near the tree.

"You look troubled..." she started, but I interrupted her with soft laughter and a dismissive wave of my hand.

"Rather thoughtful." I looked at her again and then turned a bit more serious when a sudden idea struck me. "Actually, you may be able to help me. What do you think about Avalon?"

"What do you mean?" She tilted her head, a little confused by the sudden question.

"I would like to know your opinion about Avalon and its ruler." I smiled, hopefully encouragingly.

"That is your problem?" Now she looked amused. "Before I was taken to Avalon by King Theon's servants, I spent my days working in the field with my family. Life was hard, but somehow we managed to live happily. However, with each year, it was harder and harder because of the ever-growing tithe we had to pay. Father always told us that it was a small price for the kingdom to ignore us. But I always wondered why we had to pay it at all. The forests were dangerous and the people who delved too deep rarely returned. Bandits and slavers effectively turned travelling anywhere almost impossible. And the winters were the worst, especially the last one, when the army took almost all our supplies. Father suspected something because he hid some of them, but it was so little..." She trembled in fear of the not-so-old memory of horrible and seemingly inevitable death. "And then Lady Rose arrived and took us all to Avalon. Avalon! The city of dreams!" She laughed with sparks in her eyes. "We were given food and homes. We were allowed to work wherever we wanted and pursue our dreams. I was able to learn so many incredible things."

"But you lost part of your freedom..." I scratched the back of my head.

"What are you talking about?!" Triss was stunned.

"The gaesa and vows..."

"What?!" she interrupted me, red on her face from anger. "These gaesa and vows are far fairer and more merciful than the laws of Cridia!"

"But..." She hadn't allowed me to finish.

"It looks like you were an adventurer or something. Everyone knows at least someone unjustly accused of treason by the Cridian army. I can't believe you even compare the two!" She raised her hands above her head in somewhat powerless frustration. "Let's say I would betray Avalon. Depending on the degree of my guilt, I can be imprisoned, exiled or executed. It would be only me! When I inevitably turn myself in, my trial is going to be fair." She huffed and looked at me flatly. "While the Cridians, in contrast, would simply kill me or enslave me. A similar fate would also befall my entire family, with only a brief trial, if they held one at all, it would all be over. Where is the justice in that? How can you compare the two?"

"Hmmm... I guess it's hard to compare the two." I rubbed my chin. "But how can you be so sure that your trial would be fair?"

"The Truth Seekers, Inquisitors, and the Judges of Avalon have skills to discern the truth and falsehoods. It's one of the first things that we learnt at the University." She rolled her eyes. "Listen... You seem like a nice guy, but you overthink the problem. You said that we are not free, but that is all wrong!"

"How so?" She intrigued me more and more, so I assessed her with my Talent Gauge. She had some talents to become a Healer but maybe also a law scholar? Yup... Turn it off, too bright.

"Mom told me that people must obey the laws of the land they live in. If they are lucky, the laws are fair and allow all people to be happy. If they are less lucky, some of the laws are unfair, but others are just fine. You have to decide if you will try to live in such a place or move somewhere else. But if you are really unlucky and laws and rulers are bad, then you must run. You must try to save yourself and your family, if that's possible."

"And if it's impossible?"

"Then sooner or later, you will die," she added with sadness in her voice, but then she shrugged and brightened. "What I understand now is that no one is truly free. We sacrifice some of our freedom in exchange for the safety provided by those who rule over the place we live in. That's why we are all bound by the laws of the lands we live in, and that's why no one is fully free. We were fortunate enough to find ourselves in Avalon, so be grateful to its rulers!" She nodded her head and crossed her arms in front of her. "You asked me what I think about Avalon? It's a place straight from a dream. No! It far surpassed any dream I had. I can't even stress how happy I am to live here."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"What about your family?"

"My mother is working in an alchemy store as an herbalist, and my father is helping at the farms. He wanted to become a guardsman, but he couldn't compare to younger men. However, Mom and I are happy it ended like this." She beamed a smile.

"I'm glad you are happy then." I looked into her hazel eyes. "Do you think many people are like you?"

"You are the first one I have met who has any doubts." She shrugged and opened her hands in a powerless gesture. "Everyone I know would join the war if the King just asked us. No one can imagine returning to what we left behind."

I looked at her and sighed. She wasn't lying, or at least, she firmly believed in what she was saying. She probably misinterpreted my sigh because she pouted. The pair that was previously discussing something was looking at us. When they noticed I was returning their gaze, the male Wolfkin stood up and approached us. The female Wolfkin followed him as well with quite an angry facial expression.

"Excuse me. We happened to overhear your conversation, which was quite loud." He looked at Triss, who instantly blushed. "We just wanted to tell you that your friend is right! Avalon is a place worth fighting for!"

"Yes! Jack is right! How can you even ask such things?!" The wolfkin girl looked incredibly angry. "If not for King Theon, I would still be enslaved!"

"Exactly!" Triss pointed her finger at me, somewhat triumphant. "King Theon despises slavers and slavery! If he was bad, he would exploit the weak in any way possible!"

"Hahaha! All right! All right... You convinced me. So King Theon is a good King?"

"He is the best King!" Jack sat right in front of me with crossed legs and a face suggesting he was going nowhere until I started sharing their convictions. "And before you ask, Avalon is heaven for us beastkins. We are finally free."

"So what about his Queens?" I asked.

"I don't even know where to start praising them and their efforts to help us common people." Triss smiled, and both wolfkins just nodded their heads.

"*sigh* Isn't it a bit suspicious? Isn't Avalon just too perfect?" I raised my brow and crossed my arms, mirroring Triss.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment and then they smiled as if they understood the very nature of my problem. Jack smiled softly when he inquired. "Ahhh! You must have arrived here recently."

"That must be it!" The wolfkin girl finally smiled and her ears relaxed as she sat down and fixed her hair. "Everyone who just arrived at Avalon has similar thoughts. Is it just a dream? Why is it so perfect? Hahaha! It took me a whole week to accept that all of this is real and another week to stop giggling and jumping like crazy!"

"Cass, you still sometimes do that." Jack smiled at his friend, who just showed him her tongue and giggled.

"I see." I scratched my head. "However, it's not the case. You can say I have lived here for a very long time. You asked me, Miss Cass, how can I even ask such a question? Well, it's a part of my job."

They looked at me, surprised, then Triss frowned. "I don't understand, Mister... Sir... Ummm… Lord?" She looked at me, flustered. "Sorry, I forgot your name..."

"Theon." I smiled at them and saw their jaws collectively dropping while their faces turned red. They started awkwardly kneeling in front of me as I dispelled my camouflage. "Oh, please... Sit down. We are not in the throne room."

"Your Royal Highness!" Jack looked scared while Triss and Cass were mortified.

"That would be me, indeed." I smiled at them and sighed. "You see what I mean? You are terrified of me. Is this how you should react if I really was as great as you tried to convince me?"

"No!.. Yes! But we all were so disrespectful towards you, our King!" Cass lowered her head and started crying. I couldn't help but pat her head because she looked like a small, scared puppy right now.

"You have nothing to worry about. After all, you tried to convince me I was one of the good guys." I smiled warmly, and they finally stopped trembling.

"It's not that... We all heard the stories of how nobles and Royalty act. Not only in Cridia, but in other countries as well." Triss swallowed heavily and both Wolfkins just nodded carefully.

"I see..." I stopped patting Cass, who looked delighted now, even wagging her tail happily. "I am forced to believe that so far I have done nothing wrong yet. But I must upset you because I am going to doubt myself for as long as possible."

They looked at themselves with uncertainty, but finally, Triss sighed and asked, "but why, Your Highness? Why do you doubt yourself?"

"Once I forget to ask myself these questions, Triss, something bad might happen. The rulers you are so afraid of forget or never ask themselves these questions," I replied, looking at the blue sky.

They were still somewhat uncertain, but Triss was quick to understand the meaning of my words, and she slowly nodded her head before taking a deep breath. "My Lord... I never thought about that in such a way. I always thought that being a noble is easy. You just do whatever you want..."

"I can't blame you. I thought the same, looking at the Cridian nobles... You know what? Most of them do, no matter where they hail from." They bitterly laughed. "But that doesn't mean they are right. I am going to make sure that Avalon nobles won't be like that."

"That's reassuring to hear from you, our King."

I wanted to reply, however, we were interrupted by a large flock of birds that flew from the Upper Castle. The small birds started twirling above our heads and suddenly one of them landed on my knee. Twirll looked at me and started chirping in excitement. "Twrilllll twit, tiiiirr til!"

"Slow down... You found what?" I looked in shock at the honorary scion of Sparrows.

"Twirrrrr! Til! Til!" He jumped on the top of my knee, making Triss and Cass laugh.

"Oh! It is adorable!" Triss melted over a small bird who had just now noticed my company.

"Twir?" He looked at me with surprise.

"No... They are acquaintances of mine." I sighed heavily when my thoughts were interrupted by the System notification that the Vampire spawner was ready. After making sure that all available upgrades were selected and second or even triple-checking if I had chosen the optimal skill tree, I confirmed the message. "It looks like my work finally found me." I made a tired face. "Oh, by the way. Triss and Cass, you should go take the aptitude test for enrolment into the Royal Military Academy."

They looked in surprise at me as I stood up and raised my hand with an open palm, on which Twirll perched. "All right, tell me one more time. What did they build?!"

"Til!" the small bird chirped happily and jumped in excitement. His claws tickled a little.

"What do you mean by ‘boat’?!"