I looked at the man before me. The terrified man I did not know what to do with. How was I supposed to treat someone that had threatened to kill me, and was now looking at me like that?

“So, why exactly did you need me?” I asked. “There must be something pretty attractive at stake for you to be going around attacking random people you encounter. Or is that the sort of thing you do for fun around here?”

The men shared looks among themselves, their expressions telling me that they were surprised to still be alive. The lords of this place would have likely killed them if they dared attack.

“The Alchemist Guild has called for healers.” the leader of the men said. “There was a reward for any we could…convince to join us.”

Enslave and force to work for them was what they actually meant. As expected of this shitty world. But the name they spoke of caught my attention. The Lake of the Forgotten was a weak place, the royal knights did not allow anyone powerful to step within.

The aim was to make a little money on the side and make others do their work, not actually lose the Lake. Even the ‘city lord’ of this place was only Rank 4. The head of the Alchemist Guild was but Rank 3. But he was one of the stronger people in the town.

I could see people rushing to get a reward for him.

“And why exactly does he need a healer?”

“The Head has fallen ill, my lord. The heirs are the ones calling for healers.” the leader said.

“I see.” I didn’t really see. The situation was clear enough, but I didn’t know what I should do.

The Lake would not be easy to escape from. The royal knights did not easily allow people to leave, and they were at least Rank 5. Staying was not an option either. The Lake had a rather large population of beasts, and I did not have the power to deal with them. There were Rank 5s among them.

The only option I saw was getting into the town. Perhaps I could discover some way to escape then. Perhaps I could strike a deal with the royal knights? I was a descendant of the Emperor—the only descendant except Leif. That might get me some pull.

Wait. I shouldn’t reveal that. There were factions within the royal family and, well, a few of them might wish me dead. If they knew I existed. But for now they didn’t, and it might be better if it remained that way.

“Lead me to that little town of yours.” I asked. “And tell me your name.”

The men looked surprised. No, this was more than surprised, they were downright shocked. I suppose they did not expect me to actually want to go there.

“Oak, ugh, my lord. The name is Oak.” the leader of these men said. I looked at him with suspicion. What kind of name was Oak?

[A Bloodline Ability has awoken.]

[[ The Face] presents itself]

I looked at the notification. Then I looked at the men. There did not seem to be any reaction from them. Then again, they weren’t looking at me. In fact, they seemed to be deliberately avoiding looking me in the eye, preferring to look at the ground.

Was this some way to show respect? Or did they just fear me enough to not want to meet my eye? That made me almost disperse my bolts—almost. I was not so foolish to be so unarmed in the presence of armed men. Even if I was uncomfortable with the terrified looks on their faces.

But back to the matter at hand. [The Face]. What was this new ability? There did not seem to be an immediate effect, it was a bloodline ability. There likely wouldn’t be much use to begin with. The royal house only had one ability that was mentioned in the book.

[Bloodline Cutting Blade]. A blade used to kill entire bloodlines. I doubted [The Face] could match it. But it wouldn’t do for me to ignore it either. Perhaps it had some use.

I looked down at Elena, wondering what I should do. Darkness magic was not exactly good with lifting people up and carrying them around. I didn’t trust ‘Oak’ and his men to carry her either.

So I did it myself. The effort was rather easy—I had expected her to weigh more. But Rank 3 did mean I was stronger than I should be. With her already being so light, it was easy enough to lift her.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Escort me to the city.” I said. “Do so and I shall forgive your…crimes.”

I would have paid them, but I didn’t exactly have money either. That hadn’t been among my priorities when leaving the Eldanveir estate. In retrospect, it should have been.

The men started walking, still not daring to face me. I followed, wondering if I should trust them. What if they led me to the trap? That was a possibility. I didn’t even know how I would deal with it. How would I even know? The book hadn’t provided me with a map.

I had to just keep my mana ready and be prepared for them to betray me. Staying here was not an option. Going by myself was not an option. So I had to take a chance and hope I could deal with it if they betrayed me.

That sounded so logical. Why was my heart still beating so fast? I know. I didn’t really like being put into a situation like this. The high levels of danger I had been exposed to did not agree with me.

I didn’t even have a choice in the matter. Then again, few people in situations like mine did. I groaned, running my fingers through my hair, feeling the curls against my skin. A new feeling considering my previous hair had been very straight. And that reminded me of my new Bloodline Ability.

[The Face]. I needed to know more about it.

[The Face].

This is the face of the Emperor Founding. Of the Emperor that rules, and the princess long dead. This is the face that breaks the clouds, and this is the face on the coins.

This is the face of royalty.

Oh great, a puzzle. Just what I wanted when I asked for more information. I only understand about half of these things. So I had the same face as the Founding Emperor and the current Emperor? I could presume that the ‘princess long dead’ was the Rose Princess, Aphra’s mother. The one the Duke of Eldanveir had raped and killed in an attempt to get the Emperor out of his capital.

So I had their faces. The royal coin also had the Founding Emperor’s face on it, so that part was self-explanatory. But the question remained.

What did all of this mean? I asked for an explanation on my Bloodline Ability, not for a poem on what the royal family looked like. Perhaps the System could give me a better answer.

I waited for a few moments, but no new notification seemed to be coming. So I did not know what the bloodline ability actually did. I should have expected that. Not knowing how to do things was starting to become a pattern in this world.

That reminded me. Magic. I needed to figure out what was going on with that one. I knew some things about that which could help me if I cared to use them.

Like how to make spells, and how the local mana system actually worked. Having some spells ready would help. The rabbit had been scary enough to face, and that had been in a ‘fair’ test.

There was no such thing in reality. I needed to be ready to face foes that were even stronger. And that meant getting myself spells. The problem however was how.

A spell was not an easy thing to make. If mana was a dog, then a mana cloak was the amount of mana that was willing to follow a person loyally. That was why it returned after doing its tasks.

A spell was different. This form of magic required mana to not just do its tasks, but also get other mana to do it. That was why it was so hard to make them. Mana that was not loyal to you would not usually listen to your commands.

But it was also mana that came from outside your own reserves. That was why spells were so favored, it cost less to use them. But they were still idiotically difficult to get.

For one thing, they only worked because the local mana system said it did.

The local mana system was just an agreement, a general body of law that the mana of this planet had agreed to follow. A spell was thus made even more difficult to cast.

There was no clear line on what mana shaping was important, efficient and powerful enough to be called a spell. Mana did not have the capacity to make such decisions. The local mana system and its rules were rather random whims of mana that had come together to form a way for people to grow.

If I wanted to make my own spells, then I had two ways to do it. I could keep trying to use mana in creative ways with as much mana I could put into it, and hope I encountered something mana felt like declaring a spell.

Or I could use Story magic. That magic was literally something that worked by altering the odds to be in the ‘protagonist’s’ favor. And it was also the magic I had warned about. The same magic that was giving me trouble right now.

But the Monarch did mention that it would keep pushing me into interesting things. What would it take for it to find my making of new spells interesting? Did I have to try doing that in the middle of a battle?

Or perhaps this new situation it had engineered for me would provide. Elena had been injured in a fall. I was sure Story magic was behind that fall. The injury in question had led to Oak’s men attacking me.

That had in turn informed me of the injury of the Head of the Alchemist Guild. I knew this illness, or rather I knew the consequences of it. At least the ones that would come later. The Head had not died until five years later in the Trashy Novel.

Another change. I didn’t even need to think to know what was happening. The situation stank of Story magic’s interference.

I had no intention of letting it. I might be forced to head to the city, but I was not going to the Alchemist Head’s house. There were other things I could do. Like use my newfound skill with healing. That had been unexpected. And useful. There were many jobs a healer could do.

Light protests Darkness’ use of the Power of Healing.

Light enters your magic.

Light affinity has increased.