After the tragedy of Mabrar capital, the existing noblemen and lesser lords started bickering to be crowned as the next king. This bickering soon escalated into a wholescale war. The war had a lot of casualties, many soldiers and innocent citizen’s lost their lives. Either side of the noble factions was ready to come to peaceful negotiations, as the thirst for power had blinded them.

Soon some of the soldiers started an uprising against the noble’s mindless along with the common citizens. The mere uprising soon became a rebellion that grew in power day by day. The noble lords were getting cornered day by day with rebels assault.

But soon the noble lords started to lose their power on the country slowly.

One day, the rebellions attacked one of the noble lord’s mansion and executed the lord in public.

After that incident, the other noble lord’s feared to meet the same fate and lose their lands to the rebels.

When all doors seemed to be closed, the noble lord’s finally sought aid from the other major nations instead.

And all this time, the major nations were waiting quietly for this very moment.

*****************XXX*****************

The convoy from Sinnet noble house, one of the candidate’s house for being the next king of Esther kingdom had reached the Rublor Kingdom. They requested aid from the Rublor kingdom.

The commander in chief had summoned, all the squadron leaders of the magic knight order in today’s meeting for discussing that very same matter. Although, it was already 10 minutes past the scheduled meeting time and it has yet to be started.

At the same time in the corridor that leads to the meeting room, two military personnel were seen heading in the same direction.

“I had clearly instructed, that we should reach the meeting room, 15 minutes before the decided time. But I can’t believe, that you overslept!” a voice jeered out loud in a feminine tone. The owner of the voice happened to be a petite looking girl in military uniforms who was walking in the corridor towards the board meeting room. She had an oval rimmed glasses and in her hand had an instruction pad.

“I also instructed that you should head to the bed early, for the very same reason! But in the end, we are late for the board meeting. We must hurry!” snickered the petite girl angrily.

“Calm down! Ellisa. It’s little too, early for you to start making a ruckus, in this morning.” answered a tall woman with an eyepatch walking in front of the petite girl.

“What do you mean, ma’am!” replied the petite girl, “It’s already past 11’o clock, and its soon going to be afternoon. Also, you were the one who picked the time for this meeting, so you should be the last person to be late at this meeting.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied nonchalantly with a sigh.

“For god’s sake, ma’am! When will you get serious on your duties? For crying out loud, you are the commander, representing the order of the knights. At least, you should take things seriously for a change. The new campaign at Esther kingdom would be a mammoth task.” replied the petite girl.

“Yeah, I understand, it’s crucial. We’ve been waiting for one of the noble lords to ask for our help, all this time. Finally, one of them reached out to us, but they sure made us wait for a long time, almost a year. But I wasn’t twiddling my thumbs during that waiting period, you know that. So what if we are 5 minutes late, those stiff bastards can wait a little longer in that meeting room and get socialized with each other.” answered the woman with a notorious smile.

This nonchalant, impolite woman was none other than Cecelia Nevarthalises, the appointed chief commander of the magic knight’s order and the entirety of the imperial army.

The petite girl walking behind her, nagging her from behind was her secretary Ellisa Revees.

***************************XXX****************************

A group of bullock carts carrying various types of cargo was heading towards the capital. These carts had come from far away cities and villages to sell their goods in the capital. The capital market was the biggest and attracted thousands of merchants and travelers alike every day.

This looked like typical cargo carts, although one of them was a little different than the other carts. This cart was a half-filled vegetable and crops and had more room. And in that very space, a boy in his late teens was sleeping with his arms stretched facing the roof. He was none other than Sebastian Heller from a small village named Kald near the northern border.

He was in a deep sleep but something was off. He was sweating profusely and his body was trembling. Sebastian was once again was having bad dreams early in the morning. But during all this time, he had this one creepy wide grin on his face. This grin of his was quite eerie as one might find it rather scary.

Just when a little boy, who was also traveling in the same cart approached sleeping, Sebastian. He saw the wide scary grin and stood beside him. This little boy then without any warning started attacking with an object in his hand with all his might.

“Big brother is once again started smiling.” yelled out young boy and proceeds to continue to attack with the object in his hand.

Sebastian wakes up and notices that he was under attack by this mysterious young boy.

“Ivan stop, I am awake now,” says Sebastian.

But this little boy, named Ivan doesn’t stop the barrages of attack with his object in his hand.

Sebastian finally wakes up and sits upright,

“Ivan stop that! You’ll ruin all the spinach.”

The mysterious object Ivan was using to attack was a bunch of spinach that he picked from one of the baskets in the wagon.

“But this is my sword” argues Ivan.

This little boy with spinach-cum-sword in his hand was Ivan Heller. He was 4 years old and Sebastian’s young brother. Ivan had admired his big brother and wanted to be a swordsman after seeing his big brother fight back in the village.

Sebastian wipes off the sweat from his forehead that he had accumulated from the nightmare. He snatches the spinach from Ivan and places back to the basket,

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“Try to behave, Ivan. Otherwise, the driver will throw you overboard,” said Sebastian to Ivan.

“It’s alright. He can keep it.” suddenly a voice replied when he overheard Sebastian. The voice came from the driver seat. It was the owner of the cart who replied that.

Sebastian let out a sigh and hands back the spinach back to Ivan,

“I had told Martha to keep an eye.. Where is Martha?” he asks as he looks around in a state of panic, “Martha?!”

Sebastian looks around and even peeps out of the cart to see if she fall overboard on the road.

“Hahaha! Don’t worry, she’s with me here.” answered the driver.

Sebastian quickly goes towards the driver seat and peeks his head out of the wagon.

There on the driver seat sat an old man along with a young girl.

“Martha, what are you doing there! Come back here,” said Sebastian out furiously.

The young girl glanced at Sebastian,

“You’re once again smiling, big brother.”

Sebastian once again had a wide grin on his face that appeared because of his worrisome nature. He took deep breathes and finally he dropped that smile.

“Get back here, Martha. It’s dangerous there.” said worried Sebastian.

The young girl that Sebastian was referring to was Martha Heller. She’s 10 years old and she’s Sebastian’s younger Ivan Heller’s big sister.

“It’s alright.” said the driver, “She’s been a good girl. It’s been about half an hour and she managed to sit here alongside me without any trouble.” replied the driver.

Sebastian had an alarmed look,

“I was passed out for that long? Dang, it.”

“You deserve some rest after all. The capital’s just around the corner, so it was a good thing after all.” said the driver.

Sebastian quickly goes to the back of the wagon and stuck his head out of the wagon to sneak a peek.

“Is that the capital…” said Sebastian in awe.

There stood the fortified tall wall that stretched far long that eyes couldn’t see. Behind those walls stood was the capital of the Rublor kingdom, Abros city. Sebastian had never seen such a site before. At best he had seen a big wall near the castle stronghold near his border. Although, the walls in the capital looked pale in comparison.

Just when Ivan started to pull Sebastian’s leg.

“Hey, brother! I wanna see too,” said Ivan and grabbed onto Sebastian’s leg.

Sebastian let out a sigh,

“This is dangerous. You will get to see it, once we reach there.”

He went inside the wagon along with Ivan.

Although, Ivan was turned gloom and started attacking Sebastian with the spinach.

Soon the cart reached outside the main city gates and the long journey finally came to an end.

“This is it. I need to make a detour before going to the city.” said the driver.

Sebastian got Ivan out of the cart and once again went inside to pick their luggage. Martha held Ivan by the hand and both were looking at the gigantic city walls and huge traffic of carriages entering and leaving the capital.

Sebastian finally got all his luggage and along with a short sword hanged on his hip. He thanked and bid farewell to the driver.

‘Finally, here I am in the capital, Patrick. I am here to fulfill our dreams.’ he thought to himself as he glanced at city walls.

Sebastian then proceeds towards the gate while carrying the luggage on his backpack and holding Ivan and Martha's hands. The last thing he would want his young siblings to get lost amidst the crowd. The people before getting entry to the capital had to pass through a check post at the gate. There was a queue of people waiting to enter the city and Heller trio joined in as well.

There were a bunch of guards that inquiring people before letting them enter.

Heller siblings were quite excited to see so many people in one place. They had at most had traveled to a nearby town from his village or sometimes near military stronghold at the northern border. Other than that, they hadn’t seen so many people in one place.

The line moved slowly and the Heller trio and any minute it could be their chance to enter.

Just when Sebastian noticed the city guards who were wearing full-body metal armor along with a long sword. Seeing them his eyes shone out with amazement. It was the first time he had seen the city guards.

Sebastian was from the northern border village, where it was a mountainous region and the weather was dry and cold. The soldiers in their region near the border opted for flexibility instead of sturdier armaments.

The armor those guards wore were made of thick wool and leather that also provided warmth in the harsh region. He had heard the interior guards wore full suit metal armor but seeing it for the first time, he couldn't help but gawk at those soldiers in awe.

One of the guards noticed Sebastian who was glaring at them.

“Umm, sir.” murmured the guard, “I just spotted a suspicious guy glaring at us for a while.”

The senior guard lifts his head and glances at this suspicious person who was glaring at the guards. But they didn't make any sudden moments and continued their duty and let the people pass inside the city.

The queue moved steadily and the Heller Trio’s turn was coming shortly.

The senior guard whispers something to one of the guards who then head inside the gate. But shortly after the same guard returns but with dozen more guards that followed him to the post.

Now every guard had their eyes on Sebastian.

But Sebastian was completely wonderstruck to see even more soldiers wearing the same armor.

'Wow! Everyone is wearing full body armor. Are they high ranking officials? Where do they get so much iron? Also, these armors are polished so well. This city is so rich, will I get one of those once I become a knight? Do they have every size...' Sebastian was busy in his train of thoughts.

He didn’t notice the guards were glaring at him. Despite his subtle personality, Sebastian once again started grinning. Plus with his intimidating face and his bad habit of grinning always stirred quite a trouble.

“Suspect is holding two children hostage.” murmured one of the guards to the senior officer, “Also his armed with a smallsword. Probably one of those human trafficking cases.”

"I see. We must take action quickly." replied the Senior officer.

“But sir, why would he foolishly enter the city from the front gate?” asked the guard.

“Must have overestimated himself, or he’s just plain dumb. Whatever it is, be on guard.” replied the other guard.

Suddenly,

“I am tired!” said Ivan, “Please carry me, big brother.” Ivan had finally was tired of being crowded.

Although, Sebastian was quite busy admiring the armor and weapons.

“Just walk for a little longer. I am carrying our luggage, so I won't be able to carry you. We'll be in the city soon.” he answered while he continued glaring at the guards in amazement.

Ivan started to tear up,

“Carry me, now! I am tired,” yelled Ivan as he started to pull Sebastian’s clothes.

“Be quiet, Ivan. You are also troubling the others here. We are almost within the city,” replied Sebastian.

But irritated Ivan started throwing tantrums. Ivan started pulling Sebastian's clothes but Sebastian just ignored him.

Frustrated Ivan then saw the shortsword hanging on Sebastian's hip. He started to pull the sword from the sheathing.

Finally, Sebastian got furious and moved Ivan’s hand away from the sword.

“Stop that Ivan.” said angry Sebastian while fixing the swordbelt, “Someone might get hurt...” said Sebastian in a loud tone.

Just when one of the nearby city guards rushed towards Sebastian,

“He reached out for the sword!” yelled the soldier. "Commencing to capture the suspect.". The city guard dashed towards Sebastian at full speed.

Sebastian noticed the approaching city guard, he quickly pushed away Ivan and Martha and grabbed the soldier’s wrist. Then he lifted the soldier by the arm and pinned him down the ground with his full might.

Everyone was quite shocked.

Sebastian was quite shocked himself as he himself didn't know what just happen. The actions he took were out of pure reflex. He wasn’t aware of what he had done until seeing the guard under his armlock.

“Uh… I… I am so sorry!” apologized Sebastian out in a state of panic.

While on the other hand, the guard was quite scared of his death. He laid motionless after seeing Sebastian's creepy grin that surfaced when he panicked.

Sebastian quickly backed away from him and raised his arm in the air.

"So sorry about that! I thought I was under attack or something. Please forgive me." he said with a creepy grin.

Some of the guards quickly took Ivan and Martha away from Sebastian.

“Hey, where are you taking them?” questioned the alarmed Sebastian.

The senior guard then stepped forward while cornering, Sebastian.

“To a safer place, away from human abductors like you.” said the senior guard as he drew his sword.

“Uuhh… abductors?”Sebastian asked in a puzzled manner, “Who me?"