I started crying. I had stood there in silent, trying desperately to think of something to say. In the midst of all that, I started crying. Valkana was quick to pull me off the stage and put me into a private room, but it was already too late. I had cried in front of a crowd of people. It was so mortifying that if I could have put my head into the ground, I would have.

Hearing the door open, I tensed up, but I quickly forced it down. There was no way any of them could have sneaked back here. My thinking proved correct when I saw Valkana enter the room and close the door behind her. She gave me a pleading look.

“You can’t stay in this room the whole time.”

“Can’t I?”

“Jennifer, it’ll be alright. Just come out and say something. They’ve waited a long time.”

“Do you think I can just snap my fingers and say something profound? That’s impossible for me,” I said. “I’m not this ‘Great Mother’ they think I am.”

“Even so, sometimes you have to do the impossible for the greater good. That’s what it means to be a part of the royal family.”

“I’m not. I’m not royalty!” I clawed my thighs as I sat heavily in my chair. “I was born into a normal family with a little brother and sister. We weren’t rich, but we got along well. I’m not smart, I’m not witty. I’m not even that athletic. There’s nothing special about me.”

Valkana walked over and knelt down beside me.

“You may not be special, but you’re family. Don’t say otherwise,” she gently said. “Honor your ancestors, and honor those who had fallen in battle. That was what I was taught when I was growing up. It may be empty words to you, but it means the world to me, and it means the world to them.”

“But…”

“Just try, Jennifer. That’s all I’m asking.”

I felt conflicted, but I couldn’t ignore her pleading tone. Against my better judgment, I sighed and said, “Okay.”

“Then let’s begin. They’re waiting.” Valkana stood up. I got up as well, though at a slower pace.

“I don’t have a speech ready or anything.”

“Just say what’s in your heart. They will understand.”

~o~

What if my heart was telling me to run away? As I stared at the crowd with my feet back on the stage where I had begun, I could hear my heart beating in my ears, so much so that it was getting hard to breathe. They had been waiting, patiently waiting for a long time, but I couldn’t see that from their eyes. All I could see was my own tiny reflection in them, distorted as if they were all condemning me. For running away, for being so slow, for being so quiet now that I was back on stage. Heart. Heart. Heart. What exactly was I supposed to say here? I couldn’t hear anything from my heart. Well, not anything useful like a grand speech. Or any speech, even a terrible one. As my breath started to become more shallow, a hand wrapped around my own and squeezed gently but firmly.

I blinked and looked to the side. Standing next to me was Valkana, staring straight ahead into the crowd without a hint of apprehension. The edge slowly left my mind, letting think a little more clearly. I had almost forgotten she was here, but now that I did know, it eased the tension on my heart. I slowly breathed in and gathered my thoughts. I was not an orator, and I certainly could not make a speech.

“I don’t know what to say,” I quietly mumbled in a low voice so it wouldn’t be picked up by the echo magic.

“Look inside yourself. I believe in you.” The soft spoken words from the hardened warrior did little to ease my turmoil. I instinctively squeezed that hand a little harder. It looked like I was on my own.

But I didn’t have much time. Their expectant eyes bore into me, making me more and more nervous with each passing moment. The comfort of Valkana’s presence was only a temporary reprieve, a rock against a troubled sea, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Think, think, think! The words became jumbled in my head, and I spoke before my mind could properly understand where I was taking them from.

“I see…” My voice echoed out across the entire area as I spoke. The eyes watching me brightened as heads rose up. It was too late to back out; I could only follow through, even though I didn’t know from where these words came from or where they led. This was the only path left to me now. “I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship…but it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down…but it is not this day! This day, we fight! I bid you, stand with me!”

What the fuck did I just say?!

Applause rang out from the crowd, but it was definitely not as loud or as enthusiastic as before, and I could see them looking at each other in confusion. My face was probably as red as a tomato. I couldn’t believed that I just ripped off The Lord of the Rings. Worse, it wasn’t even the right situation!

“Jennifer, that is a passionate speech.” Valkana’s soft words came to me as she clapped. “But mayhaps it would be better suited to the battlefield, yes?”

If I could bury my head into the ground, I would. I seriously would. In fact, why shouldn’t I just do it now anyways?! It couldn’t get any worse than this. I tried to extract my hand from Valkana’s grip, but I couldn’t. As if knowing my intentions, her fingers seemed to tighten ever so slightly. Even with my enhanced strength, I couldn’t do anything at all. I looked pleadingly at her, but she seemed to smile at my pain. I didn’t know she was a sadist!

“My fellow relatives, coming from all walks of life!” Valkana faced the crowd as her voice became loud enough to shake with the vibrations. “You, who stand before me, are related in blood to me or those of royalty. However, while our blood may have branched out since then, we all originated from a single person, but before that person, there was another. That one stands before you now!”

She raised my arm up high, forcing me onto my tiptoes.

“We look to the past, to honor our ancestors who gave us life. She, who taught our King the values that were far beyond our time, looks to our future, seeing the troubles ahead. The first Heroes Summoning drove back the monsters of the dark age. The second Heroes Summoning fended off the greed of man. This Heroes Summoning will no doubt bring a time of turmoil upon us. We must stand united, as the Great Mother has said!” A fire ignited in Valkana’s eyes as her voice rose. “The hour of wolves may come, when men break their bonds and fight one another, but through it all, we must to stand together. We must prepare to fight, so that the age of men does not come crashing down around us! Will we allow our generation to be known as the end of times? I think not!”

A fierce firestorm of cheers erupted from the crowd, fueling the atmosphere that continued to expand and explode. In the midst of all this, Valkana looked at me with a smile.

“Jennifer, your warning shall be heeded. I shan’t hardly believe you could produce such a speech that was beyond our time.”

“It…it isn’t…” No, no, really, I didn’t make it.

“It is,” Valkana said. “ If I had heard those words from you on the battlefield, I’d have battled alongside you even unto death. Now I know where father got his eloquence for battle speeches.”

Oh god, I felt worse. While I was wallowing in my shame, Valkana led me down from the stage.

“We must greet them one by one, for they have waited long for this moment.”

I could hardly give my assent or dissent before she plunged us into the waiting arms of the crowd.

~o~

By the time it was over, I shook hands, hugged torsos, kissed cheeks and brows, and talked with so many people that I felt deaden to the world. Everyone had names, and their names flew in one ear and out the other. It was honestly a blur, and by the time I reached the last one, I scarcely remembered how to even walk. Even if I was in a condition to enjoy the city, there was no more time to; a few hours had already passed by, and the sun was dipping just beyond the horizon.

We made it back to the palace before the sun completed disappeared, though I couldn’t remember how. When I finally became conscious of where I was, I was sitting at a dining table with Ranzel, waiting for the food to arrive. He was staring at me with an amused expression.

“I heard about the speech you made.” Ranzel raised an eyebrow. “Lord of the Rings?”

“I panicked.” Would he mind if I hid my head under the table?

“Don’t worry. I did the same in the past.”

“Which ones?” I asked him skeptically.

“Gears of War. Fallout. I assume you recognize those ones? Memorable series of games from my early childhood, before the advent of Virtual Reality games. I had stolen from many more sources, but eventually, it became easier to compose than to rehash.”

“I let you play those games?” Those were pretty violent ones.

“You—your other self—had always told me that it is not the gun that commits the crime, but rather, the man holding the gun,” Ranzel said. “A knife or a pen could be just as dangerous in the hands of one who knows how to use it. To add onto that, arbitrary restrictions lead to stagnation. If I were to ban a fruit knife because of its potential to slit my throat, it would take me twice as long to peel a pear.”

“So pretty much, I let you play gory games and watch all the horror movies you want when you were young?”

“Essentially.”

“I must have been an awesome parent.”

Ranzel’s eyes looked to the side.

“Hey, what’s with that look?”

“It’s nothing. Desert?” Ranzel waved to a nearby butler. “Bring the strawberry shortcake.”

I knew he was avoiding the question, but I didn’t call him out on it. It was pretty obvious derailing, which meant that he wasn’t altogether opposed to explaining it. I didn’t think it would be hard to get the details out of him—it was more like he was giving me a choice than anything else—but the subject was about how bad of a parent my other self was. It was a fact that I—she, me, whatever—was young and inexperienced so it was likely I made tons of mistakes, and it was just as likely that he was going to tell me about those very same mistakes if I was to ask him. Frankly, I was too exhausted from everything that happened today to deal with this so I let it go.

“Valkana told me to tell you that she apologizes for sidetracking your trip. She also mentioned that she has freed up her schedule for tomorrow if you’re still interesting in seeing city.”

“Of course I’m interested!” I had snapped that out so quickly that I felt embarrassed immediately afterward. Ranzel merely smirked.

“I thought so. She said she will come pick you up in the morning.”

With those words, the evening soon came to an end. The rest was pretty much a blur since I was too exhausted. The moment I fell on my mattress, I squirmed into my blanket and promptly fell asleep.

~o~

I slowly opened my eyes, but my vision was a bit blurry. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, though it felt kind of strange. Ah, that was why. I hadn’t been woken up by any of the maids. Usually, they would come in here and practically pull me out of bed, but today, they let me sleep in. I yawned a bit and moved my hand away from my eyes.

Valkana was staring down at me.

I stared up at her.

Valkana didn’t react. She was wearing full body armor, and she was simply staring down at me.

I reached a hand over and patted the armor. That was definitely solid metal so this was not a hallucination.

“…what are you doing?”

“Watching you wake up.”

“Okay,” I said. “What were you doing before that?”

“Watching you sleep.”

“And how long were you doing that?”

“Three hours,” Valkana said, not in the least embarrassed about what she had just said.

“Why didn’t you just wake me up?”

“I didn’t want to disturb your rest.”

“So you stood there and watched me sleep for three hours?”

“Yes.”

It was official. My granddaughter was a creeper. I could just imagine her peeking in through my bedroom window with a camera. Well, the technology was not advanced enough here for a camera, but if she set up an artist with a canvas outside my window, that would be extra creepy.

Jokes aside, I didn’t think that she was here for that reason in any case. Well, at least I hoped she wasn’t.

“Well, I’m awake now.” I pushed myself up to a sitting position and rotated the kinks out of my shoulders. I thought that I was starting to get used to the mattress, but it seemed like I was still adjusting. Actually, now that I think of it, wouldn’t it be bad for my spine to sleep on something this soft? Sleeping on a firm mattress would be harder, but it would straighten out my posture and prevent me from having back problems in the future. Or at least, I think that was how it went. I couldn’t quite remember the exact details, but I bet it was close enough in any case.

I pressed my hand onto the bed, letting it sink it. I bounced a little up and down, letting my butt compress and decompress the mattress. My face became twisted with conflict. While I was all for the future of my spine and posture, changing out this incredibly soft and irresistible feeling mattress for something harder seemed almost like a crime. It was like putting a cake in front of you, but one you knew you shouldn’t eat.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Jennifer, do you need me to carry you to the toilet?”

I ignored her question. “Valkana, what’s better: softer or harder?”

“Harder.” The answer was instantaneous and without hesitation.

“Do you even know what we’re talking about?” I asked.

“Men?”

“Beds!”

“Oh.” Valkana seemed taken aback. “Softer.”

“Yes, that’s right, isn’t it? Only weirdos would go for harder. That’s common sense.” I nodded my head. The answer was obvious from the beginning. This was like one of those moments when you would look back and think that the dilemma was stupid.

“…this is fascinating, but we must go prepare. Our trip to town would be delayed otherwise.”

I nodded as I climbed out of bed. Once on my feet and in my slippers, I walked a few steps forward and stood in place, waiting patiently. It was only after a half a minute that I finally realized something was wrong. Why weren’t they—oh wait. I glanced around the room. There was only Valkana and I present; the maids weren’t here. Had I gotten so used to other people dressing me already?!

No, no, I wasn’t like spoiled nobles. I could dress myself just fine. All I needed was…well…

The clothes.

For as long as I had been here, I had never seen the maids take any clothes out of places; those painstakingly sewn pieces of clothing seemed to magically appear in their hands every time I saw them. It was to such an extent that I could only vaguely guess at where they came from. The problem was that there were actually multiple dressers in the room. Considering that the room itself was as large as a small apartment, it was not by any means a small amount. I could imagine that each would be separated by category.

I would have assumed it would have a closet to hang up the dresses, but surprisingly enough, there wasn’t any. I wasn’t sure if that was a design decision or part of their culture, yet it was going to make this a lot harder.

“Uh, Valkana,” I said to get her attention. Once I saw her gaze questioningly at me, I continued. “Are any of my maids close by?”

“I believe they are doing chores around the palace.”

I almost groaned at her response. The palace was huge so it wasn’t like it was easy to call them without making a big fuss. Moreover, I didn’t want to cause them trouble. I knew that if I suddenly called for them, they would drop everything that they were doing and rush over, worried that they might have done something wrong to incur my wrath. Still, there was no other choice.

~o~

It took awhile before some of the servants I sent managed to find one of the maids. I didn’t begrudge them how long it took, and I had even said previously that I would wait patiently, but they still had gone out of their way to make it as quick as possible. I didn’t know if that was because they were afraid of me or if they were trying to impress me. I believed it was a bit of both.

Just like I predicted, once Alina and a couple of the my other maids that they found were in front of me, they profusely apologized for leaving me alone. I was quick to reassure them and put emphasis on the fact that they shouldn’t be worried, though I wasn’t sure how effective that was; they were looking at me like I was a saint after that. I really didn’t like those kind of worshiping looks. I had my fill of those after going to the Royal Compound yesterday.

About that, actually. I found out from Valkana while we were waiting that they interpreted my crying a bit differently. Very differently. They thought I was crying for them. That I felt so happy about seeing my descendants being healthy that I cried tears of joy.  It would seem that my mysticism grew to an even greater height after yesterday. I was being portrayed as a kind and gentle Great Mother. If that wasn’t enough, the speech solidified it for them. Now, they wanted to assign to me a bodyguard unit of the best warriors from the descendants in the Royal Compound. This was really getting out of hand. I was practically being deified as a saint to them, and it didn’t look like there was anything I could do about it.

In any case, after the apologizing session, my morning went quickly enough. They found me suitable clothing for my outdoor venture, though I made them show me where exactly they had gotten them. That put a little extra time on it, but it was worth it. After putting on my clothes, washing my face with a water-filled basin, and applying a little make-up, I was ready to hit the town. We donned nondescript brown cloaks and went through a series of hidden tunnels that led to an empty storage house in the city owned by a noble under the palace’s employ. Noise in that tunnel echoed badly so we were quiet for the whole trip; it wasn’t until we had arrived and walking up the cellar stairs that I finally spoke.

“I thought we’d be going out the front like last time.” I knew it was a bit late to ask, but I was caught up in the strangeness of things that I didn’t realize to question it until we were already traveling the tunnels.

“Father convinced me of the necessity of this.” There was a frown on her face.

“You don’t approve?”

“I will be discovered soon enough, though I promised father I would try.”

I nodded. There was nothing more that I could say to that, though I was kind of glad for his intervention. It wasn’t that I thought we wouldn’t be discovered since the princess was pretty famous, but that meant that there was still time before that to check around at least part of the city in peace.

I was intensely curious about how people were living here. I mean, you would think that it would be like those medieval fantasy movies, but I knew it would be different because of Ranzel’s influence. I mean, he had five hundred years to do something in his near dictator-like position. I wanted to see with my own eyes what it was like. Just as we were able to leave the household, someone stopped us.

“Your Highness. Princess.” A mustached servile-looking noble, dressed in fineries of fur and gold, bow to each of us in turn. His eyes were sharp in contrast to his smile. Maybe I was too used to my treatment in the palace this past week, but his mannerism put me on guard. He was doing the same courtesies, but it didn’t have any of that heartfelt honesty that I had become used to.

“Speak, Rulos of House Mordrin.” Valkana kept a neutral face, though I noticed there is a deeper curve to her frown.

“I am honored that the royal princess knows of me and is willing to make time for my impromptu visit,” he said without a hint of modesty. “Let me provide a free gift, courtesy of House Mordrin. The markets will be emptier today. Rumors of your outing yesterday has driven the commoners to gates of the palace in hopes of taking a gander at the…Great Mother.”

“I do not like your tone.” Valkana’s expression tightened.

“Forgive this humble servant of the crown. A great and many rumors had come upon my little ear so I could not help but be a little wary.”

“Rumors?” This time, I was the one who interjected, causing both of them to look at me.

“Why yes, Your Highness. Among the peasant folk, they say that the Great Mother shall usher in a new age of prosperity.”

“How do they expect me to do that?” I asked, though I could see Valkana’s frown deepen. However, this was something that had to do with me, so there was no way I was going to let this go.

“This is…a delicate matter. May I have your pardon to speak freely?”

Valkana took a slight step forward. “You may not—”

“Yes,” I said as I held up a hand to stop Valkana. She looked like she wanted to argue, but I gave her a look. Maybe it was a bit presumptuous of me to think I could order her around, but this was something I needed to know. “I’ll accept all responsibility. Go ahead and tell me. How do they expect me to do that?”

“Why, through birth, of course.”

“Birth?”

“Yes, according to these rumors, you will give birth to the new age of heroes,” Rulos said. “Do take notice that this is just peasant speak and not my own opinion, but they say the reason the royal family has only produced four Immortals is because the blood of the king is derivative. Your blood, being the source, is pure enough that your children will undoubtedly become Immortals and usher in the prosperity of the kingdom, or so they say.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said without an ounce of hesitation.

“Be that as it may, it is a widely believed rumor. Lies have a way of turning into truth if spoken by enough wagging tongues.”

“So what does this mean for me?”

“It means that Your Highness will need to be more careful in the future. Everyone wants to father the next greatest legend. Why, just a few days ago, there—”

“We have been held up long enough. We best be on our way,” Valkana interrupted as she gave Rulos a mild glare.

“Ah yes, I must return to my estate. I bid you both farewell.” Rulos bowed to each of us again.

There were more questions that I wanted to ask, but I had a feeling that Valkana knew more than she was letting on. I glanced suspiciously at her while we were leaving the house. How long had she known about this particular piece of information? Was this why we were going out through this secret way instead of through the front gate? Wait, why would that even matter? With how powerful she was, there was no way anyone would attempt anything. As I considered all the angles, I could feel my head overheating. There were just too many angles, too many conclusions.

This was pointless. I couldn’t focus on any of them because I didn’t have enough information. Not only that, but I was suspecting family which made me feel bad. I had heard of those stories of family betraying each other, yet I just couldn’t think like that; I know that it wasn’t everything, but it was a type of safety net that I could always rely on to know who to trust when you were in the unknown like a tourist. That wasn’t to say that you couldn’t trust friends, but I had been betrayed before.

Still, wasn’t there a saying that one should clean out their own house before worrying about their evil neighbors? Actually, there was no saying like that, but it worked anyways. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about this until I made sure, and the only way to do that was by entrapment. I was going to make her inadvertently admit it and—oh, who was I kidding? I wasn’t smart enough to do that.

“Valkana,” I said before I saw her turning to glance at me as we walked out of the door. “Are you hiding something from me?”

“No…”

“Okay. I trust you.”

And that was that. She was still staring at me for awhile even as we reached the cobblestone of the sidewalk. There was even a brief flicker of something in her eye, but I didn’t bother to pay attention. This solution really was the best since if she really was hiding something from me, it would definitely be a guilt trip as long as she had any kind of conscience. Not only that, but I could lord over her with it forever. And ever. And ever.

See? Simple and effective. Best solution ever, and I didn’t even have to act like Sherlock Holmes. With that worry out of my mind, I stretched out my arms and smiled. Even though we were both hidden in cloaks—and probably suspicious-looking—I was going to enjoy this day as much as I possibly could. There were so many places to explore and new things to see.

“Come on, Valkana! I want to see how far we get before lunchtime.”

“Jennifer, wait! Don’t rush that far ahead of me!”

~o~

Author’s Note: Hi.

…

…errr what? Not much to say. Well, this is the first author’s note for this story so time to introduce myself!

I’m actually a third person view writer, so this is my first real attempt at a story in first person view. I used to abhor first person view in general, but that prejudice has mostly disappeared because of Worm and web novel translations. I really like combat, so it’s pretty weird for me not to have fighting after this much. Whether I’m good at it or not is an entirely different matter. Not that I would know how to do combat in first person view; it seems like it will be a whole different beast.

Now that I think about it, this is my first real effort at an original story instead of a fanfic. It’s a pretty interesting experience so far. Some people like to plan from start to finish, but I’m not like that. I plan at most a couple of chapters ahead. Just the way I’m built. I intend to release a chapter (around 5000 words) at least once each week. Not much else to say, really. I’m enjoying this new experience, and hopefully, you’re having fun reading. In any case, thanks for your patronage!