Kinlaria. A small kingdom on the most southern-west part of the central continent. The ocean greets the small kingdom from the east and south border, a massive empire over the northern border, and a kingdom set to become an empire in twenty years in its west direction. This small kingdom faces threats from all sides. Mutated mammals from the ocean are always on the prowl to quench their hunger, the kingdom from its west wants to absorb Kinlaria so that it can transform into an empire, and the northern empire wants to prevent the kingdom on the west from becoming an empire and absorbing the resources of Kinlaria. The region has been war-ridden for a hundred years now.

The citizens, even though they are facing all these threats, are not perturbed. That is all because of their belief in one person. The king of Kinlaria. Adam Colls-XII. The king has been on the throne for forty years now. Even though the kingdom has engaged in many wars over the years, it has prospered. Most of the citizens think the kingdom prospered only because of the king. While some believe that the king sitting on the throne right now is a false king, that took the throne forcefully from the true king. No evidence of that was brought to the citizens. Many influential people were moving behind the scenes to maintain the ambiguity over the king's claim to the throne. They never let either side confirm or deny anything. And both sides' leaders were getting frustrated by the unknown third party interfering in their affairs. It was like the calm before the horrendous storm.

Minar. A small town on the coast of Kinlaria. The town only had 900 residents and was built ten years ago. Minar, was formed when people who had suffered from a tsunami that had occurred shortly before, came together to survive the harsh times. The majority of them were just retired people who wanted to live somewhere quiet. Other towns identified Minar with the fish called Killior. It was a small fish that the citizens of Kinlaria enjoyed eating. It was a common staple food for the Kinalarian people. But for those outside the kingdom who had no access to the ocean, it was an expensive food only for special occasions. Almost everyone, excluding the few children and elder people from Minar, was making a living by fishing Killior.

In that town, today is a special day for many people. Today, the couple who had moved to their town two years ago are going to experience childbirth. Many people didn't trust the couple who had moved just two years ago since they just moved there out of nowhere and had shady identities, but both of them worked hard to make a living by fishing and had now become masters of fishing. It was not just fishing they had to do when venturing out into the ocean for some killior, they also had to be on guard for the mutated sea animals and protect themselves when encountering them. Some young people even wanted to be taught by them. They had earned everyone's trust in Minar quickly by working hard. They contributed a lot to the town, and since the people who didn't enlist in the kingdom's military had to pay high taxes on their income, they paid an enormous amount of money to the local government which resulted in being used for the town's development. They had wormed their way into the hearts of many people. Everyone was glad about the couple's special event.

Their names were Ken and Beth. At the moment, Ken was in the main hall of the hospital, anxiously waiting to hear the good news. He was pacing back and forth, not hiding his anxiety over the matter. Beth had been in labour for about thirteen hours now. He had asked the nurse if it was normal to be in labour for that long, for five times now. Every time he was just told to wait and let the professionals handle it. He sat on the chair near him for waiting, after tiring himself from pacing front and back. He started praying to every god he could imagine in his mind. Praying for his wife and child to be healthy. He also added that if they were to grant his heartfelt wish, then he wouldn't eat any kind of meat for a month. Then, he heard footsteps and raised his head immediately.

A nurse had arrived while catching her breath and spoke, "Ken, it is a boy. Beth gave birth to a baby boy. They are both fine. Come, meet both of them."

Ken shot up, grinning so widely that you could capture the entire world in his smile. He followed the nurse hurriedly. Soon he found himself entering Beth's room. He saw brown hair covering Beth's face and the newborn she was holding. Beth, noticing her husband had entered the room, brushed her hair aside, revealing her exhausted face and showing the newborn to Ken. Ken came closer and kissed Beth's forehead while gesturing if he could hold the baby. Beth smiled warmly and handed the tiny creature to Ken. Ken took a look at his newborn. Eyes that were so black that you would get lost just looking at them and hair so red that you would think that the Goddess of Fire had blessed the newborn. The newborn had inherited Ken's hair and Beth's eyes. He poked the newborn's cheek with his other hand while holding the newborn with his hand to see the newborn's reaction. An annoyed look appeared on the newborn's face as if asking which moron was disturbing his peaceful sleep. Ken found that quite adorable and kissed the newborn's cheek. The same look appeared on the newborn's face.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Ken chuckled and asked Beth,

"How are you doing, Beth?"

"I am fine, Ken."

"Good. When can we go home? Did the doctor say anything?"

"Soon. He said to wait for the healer's clearance."

"Alright. What do you think we should name him?"

"The name we decided on. Jack."

"Are you sure? You still won't consider naming him after a god or something? How about Jiweis after the God of Destruction?"

"Hah, are you even hearing yourself? Anyway, I already told my parents that we will name it Jack if it's a boy and Joselina if it's a girl. Here, give him to me and you go wait outside, and fill out everything needed for his birth certificate."

"Alright, I love you."

"Love you, too."

Ken kissed Beth and left the room. He was excited to go home with his wife and newborn. While he was taking care of other matters, Beth was meeting with the only healer the town had. A healer who could heal other people by using magical energy. The services of a healer were quite costly. Not everyone could afford them. But Ken and Beth had been saving money since before Beth got pregnant. After the healer healed Beth and restored her health, he gave his clearance. The healer also took a look at the newborn if he needed to heal anything, but the newborn was healthy. Beth took the newborn to Ken and checked up on him if he had taken care of all other matters, and if they were cleared to leave the hospital now.

"Are you done, Ken?"

"Yeah. Everything go okay with the healer? Any magical abnormalities?"

"Yeah, we are good to go."

"Alright, let's go."

Ken held Beth's hand and carefully placed his finger in the newborn's hand. Then, he teleported out of the hospital with Beth and the newborn. The next moment, they appeared in front of what looked like an old and abandoned mansion surrounded by lush green forest. Ken looked around to check if there were any uninvited guests near him, and was about to say something, but then stopped halfway. He heard footsteps closing in and looked at the old rusty gates of the entrance. An old man with grey hair and a goatee, wearing a black suit, stepped out and said,

"My congratulations to you on this joyous occasion. Mistress Jori has been eagerly waiting for your arrival."

"Thank you, Sebastian."

They went through the gates, and as they did, the scenery surrounding them changed immediately. In front of them, now stood an elegant mansion with a water fountain in the front yard of the mansion. The mansion outside was the illusion set by Sebastian, the old man who greeted them. The illusion was to avoid any uninvited guests. As soon as they entered the living room of the mansion, they were greeted by Jori, Beth's mother. She hugged Beth, took the newborn from Beth's arms and said,

"Oh, my god! My Jack's so adorable! Were there any incidents when he was born? Any magical fluctuations?"

"No, mom."

"Good. Good. Ken, my dear. Can you leave now?"

"Mom, at least let him stay the night."

Ken just looked at his mother-in-law, dumbfounded. He and Beth planned Jack would stay in this mansion for two years because of certain circumstances. Beth would be here for those two years, but Ken would go back to their home in Minar to maintain their cover identities and work towards their aim in Minar. He thought he would be with his newborn for at least a week before he would have to leave. But now his mother-in-law wanted him to leave right away. He was just about to ask why, but Jori interrupted and said,

"I don't mind him staying, but James called and said that he needed Ken's unique skill. He sounded urgent. That's why I asked him to leave."

"Really? Dad wanted Ken's help? Ken, maybe you should go. I mean, dad knows about Jack, so if it wasn't something important, he wouldn't have asked for your help."

"Yeah, I got it."

Ken reluctantly agreed and thought about what might have happened in Minar that needed his attention. But he knew that Beth's father wouldn't have asked for his help if it wasn't something crucial. He said his goodbyes to everyone, and Beth asked him to visit whenever he got a chance. He hugged Beth and Jack, then he left the mansion and teleported to his home in Minar. Jori was still looking at the adorable creature in her arms and asked Beth,

"Beth, has jack shown any signs of awakening?"

"No. Isn't that supposed to happen when he turns one?"

"Yes. But there have been cases where it happened right after the birth."

"As far as I can tell, he has shown no signs."

"Alright, just keep a lookout. I can already feel magical energy gathering inside him."

Beth took Jack back from Jori and headed up to her bedroom in the mansion. Jori watched her daughter leave. Jori called Sebastian and asked him to take care of anything Beth needed from now on. Jori sadly glanced in the direction where her daughter was right now and disappeared into thin air as if she wasn't there from the beginning. Right now, Beth was inside her room. She placed Jack in the cradle that was on the side of the bed. Then, she used a skill called Peaceful sleep on the newborn to make sure that he wouldn't wake up restless. She fell asleep right after that. She wasn't exhausted physically since the healer had already restored her stamina, but she felt mentally exhausted since the day was taxing on her.

A few hours later, the newborn woke up. Jack couldn't even keep his eyes open for much longer. He wanted to look around as if to check his surroundings. The newborn, Jack, had failed to check his surroundings. Although on the outside it may look like that he was just getting restless because he was hungry or soiled himself, but there was nothing but chaos inside Jack's mind.

'What? Where? Where am I? What is going on?'