Sorry for lack of chapter yesterday. I was kind of catching on up with my reading list. And also sorry for a rather short chapter but I don't like changing point of views in between chapters. 

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I am Kendon Vathia, third son of Sanley Vathia, and was born to his concubine Nasja Vathia. I am also the third prince of Vathia kingdom by birth. Ever since I was born, I always lived in the shadow of my half brother and the crown prince Vidgar Vathia. He always got the most attention and was hailed as genius. At first I tried to compete for the attention but no matter how hard I tried it was never enough. Even if somehow I did better than him It was usually not paid much attention to save the dignity of the crown prince. After a while I just gave up on competing, there simply was no point in it. Unless my first 2 brother died I would never get the crown, not that I wanted it, so there was no point in trying so hard at the things which didn't interest me, just to out do him. Things like politics, governing or interactions with nobles.

So, even though I won't get anything out of it, I was still required to maintain the 'royal dignity' and was also required to study everything a prince would need to. Why should I always have to maintain the royal dignity when the position I can hope for is a general in army and that's if I have the required military merits and accomplishments.   

Well atleast it also required me to take combat training, which I rather liked. I practice the secret sword style of Vathian royalties, it's a mixture of swift style and ever changing style.

I am rather proficient at ever changing aspect of the style. And I have to admit that being a royal has its perks. I get a multiplier in almost all the experience I get with just the 'Prince' title. I can only assume what kind of bonus multiplier a crown prince title gives or a King for that matter, better yet the emperor.

Anyway, due to my constant training with accomplished knights of the kingdom my level rapidly rose, reaching 78 at the age of 15. That's 4 level more than my first brother, a small achievement but still.

I also continued to study politics, governance, art of war, history and geography of the continent. I didn't want to but I had to because every royalty needs to have a sufficient grasp on these topics to maintain their 'dignity'. I was really getting tired of hearing that again and again. I'd rather be a commoner than a prince even if it means to lose the multiplier from prince title. I wanted to be an adventurer, create my own party and go on grand adventures with them and leave my name in the history and legends but I can't, all because of this stupid 'dignity' of theirs. I was basically supposed to leave in the shadow of my half brother and assist him when he succeeds father. I longed for the life out of the palace  and that's why I volunteered..no, rather I begged my father to be allowed to go when I heard about sending someone from royal family to get an artifact from a Neagian merchant.

Apparently, this artifact allows for long distance communication under correct conditions and can be used as spying, if our informant's report is to be believed. It's a two part artifact where one part can be used to see the surrounding area of another part. But the merchant will only deal with a member of royal family and a written decree of protection. After a bit of begging father reluctantly agreed and I was given a squad of knights, consisting 10 knights, all equivalent to a decent rank 4 adventurer and a knight captain, equivalent to rank 3 adventurer. It was a decent security detail considering I was just a prince, and not a crown prince. 

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We arrived in Neagia kingdom without any incident and I enjoyed my time out of palace. It wasn't until we arrived at the city of Tane when we heard the news of disappearance of merchant and his whereabouts. Frustrated and angry we decided to back to Vathia but never did I expect an assassin attack on me.

The attack happened on the second day of our departure from Tane. It was done by either someone who held grudge against Vathian royal family or someone who wanted to create a tension between Vathia and Naegia by assassinating me in naegian teritorry. The knight captain was killed first in the surprise attack causing bit of disorder and panic in the knights, yet they stayed and protected me but the the number of attackers were bit much and soon we only had two knight remaining. I was starting to think that this might be the end of me when the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, came rushing in the fight and started slaughtering the assassins left and right. 3 were actually dead before she even arrived. She must be atleast Rank 3 adventurer. I got another look at her and saw her cat ears and tail.

*Sigh* I will never have a chance with her. A prince isn't be allowed to marry a demi-human, though if it was a crown prince then it would have been possible as it would strengthen the relation with demi-humans. Bah the stupid politics..always making my life hard. I kept looking at her mesmerized and didn't notice the dagger thrown at me by the last assassin but I was saved by the last knight. I started cursing myself over my mistake which caused the death of a loyal person. While I was in self-loathing the woman introduced her and I also told her my identity, my savior atleast deserves to know my real name. After knowing my identity she gave me a bow and I was about to tell her that it was unnecessary when a guy with abnormally black and straight hair made his way towards us with carefree and lazy expression. 

There was something off about this person and he made me feel irritated. He was staying away during the whole fight and just observed like it was none of his business..i mean it wasn't but his companion was helping us. How could he let a cute lady fight to almost a dozen assassin by herself and he had helped their was a chance my knights wouldn't have died. Thinking up to this point I could hardly contain myself and shouted at him

"Hey, you peasant! how dare you not assist this Prince in his time of need and why are you not on your knees, have you no manners?"-Kendon

I only came to my sense when I was finished berating him and again I quickly observed him. He was probably only a little older than me yet he had a rank 3 adventurer as companion so either he was from influential background or had enough money or was powerful himself. There also didn't seem to be any sort of panic or fear in his eyes from my scolding...instead he seemed to be slightly annoyed. I shouldn't have scolded him I guess...that wasn't really a good first impression I guess. Awww...even Sumila is looking at me weirdly now. Am I weirder than this creepy weird guy now?

Maybe I should try to smooth things over. Just as I was about to say something the creepy guy spoke up...