I eat my breakfast staring forward the entire time. I stare a hole straight through the chair on the opposite end of the table. I try and keep my mind focused on something... not terrible or confusing.

I fail at this, but I warp the whole thought process and find myself talking to none other than myself! I start going over the big ritual spell I used and how it worked.

I had figured out some sort of math equation to decide the yield of the ritual, but in practice, the ritual spell was about double the power I wanted. I finish my meal and rush to my room where I tear a blank page out of one of the books I have collected. I grab the quill I use for writing and begin doing the math for the magic ritual I conducted.

The size of the circle means nothing toward the power of the ritual, all that matters is the sacrifices and what sigils you put on the circle. The ritual I chose was one called "Pillar of Light", a pretty aptly named spell as it creates a pillar of brilliant light and heat. In its base form, using a normal sacrifice like a chicken or rat it produces an effect like a massive beacon, just hot enough to leave a small burnt place where the pillar formed. I did testing earlier and a chicken produces enough heat to boil water and the pillar has a diameter of one inch. Utilizing the guidebook for ritual magic, when scaling with different sacrifices a single human sacrifice should produce a three-foot diameter pillar that is hot enough to melt lead. Again it's designed to work like a flare rather than a death laser which I used it for.

I think hard about how many people I saw being sacrificed in the ritual. I can picture the moment perfectly in my mind as some nobles caught in the ritual are completely disintegrated by the ritual. I remember their screams as they disappeared in front of me, it was around... twenty people, plus the dead guy on the floor so, twenty-one. Mathematically the diameter of the pillar shouldn't be bigger than sixty-six feet, but it was at least two hundred feet, and my best guess was the temperature was supposed to be around the melting point of iron or something, but the pillar easily evaporated rock and other objects that don't melt easily in less than a second. This meant the temperature was in the multiple thousands of degrees celsius, possibly tens of thousands.

I keep doing my math, simple multiplication, and addition, to figure out what I missed. Then it hits me. The sacrifice works based on the magical energy of the sacrifices, not necessarily the size alone. The human example in the guidebook uses an average human, one that is not a mage of any kind. I used nobles as my sacrifice, almost all nobles are powerful mages of some sort. I pull on my hair upon realizing I cannot predict the yield of my rituals as I have no conceivable way to measure people's energy or whatever.

A little frustrated at this I decided to go and find something useful to do. I can't just sit around with my thoughts, I'll probably go even crazier.

I then spot that new book on runes I received for the mission and my course of action is clear. I change once more into some less-than-nice clothes and leave the villa to head toward the smithy.

It's almost surreal how quiet the campus is. The only sounds are that of the gentle wind blowing between the buildings and the birds making their homes in the trees. It's a nice day out and walking under the sun is almost a therapy of its own. I just enjoy the quiet which helps quiet the negative thoughts. I then make it to the short building which houses the school's forge. I go inside and am sad to see the professor isn't there, but there is a low fire burning in the main furnace and I set the book on the table in the room. I gather the other books on runecraft and open them all on different desks on the far side of the room from the furnace. I don't know how long I will have this building to myself, but I plan to become incredibly well-versed in all runes, including the very powerful new ones I have acquired.

I pick up the shovel and begin throwing coal onto the flame. I wait a moment and slowly the coal catches and the fire starts. I then keep feeding the fire until it reaches a violent roar. I then pull the chain next to the furnace which locks a few cogs together. This begins working the automatic billows. The windmill on top of the building uses the wind to spin some gears which then work on pumping fresh air into the furnace. This makes the job many times easier. Now, I am ready to begin learning...

Many hours after beginning my work and research I find the sun has gone down since I started. My only light is that of the furnace which creates a brilliant orange glow over the entire workshop. I am absolutely filthy covered in soot and covered in cuts and bruises from my failed runic tools. To say I learned a lot is an understatement. The book Duke Hasslerouge had given to me was far more full than I expected. The runes found within seem to be less focused on the physical properties of the object inscribed but are more akin to the magical enchantments the others use, but as I have found, equivalent to a medium or high tier of magic enchantment.

As an example, a normal-tier flame enchantment for a sword can create a cool sparking effect and causes a major thermal exchange with an object. While dangerous, and capable of lighting things on fire if pressed against a flammable material for a short time. A flame enchantment doesn't create a flaming sword until you reach a very high tier which can only be created by a very well-versed mage, usually with decades of experience in the craft and with good genetics for high magical capacity. That means my little fire rune I put on my evil sword really fucked with everyone who saw it because it insinuated that either my evil persona or one of his allies is an incredibly powerful and well-trained mage.

I also found the elemental runes explode considerably larger and more violently when you screw them up or put too much on a single item. I think I managed to get some minor frostbite on top of my usual burns due to this, and my ears are still ringing. Despite my injuries and discomfort, I feel as if I have a good grasp on these new runes and find myself excited to improve my equipment.

I stop stoking the fire and turn off the billows which cause the fire of the furnace to become colder and less bright. It shouldn't get out of control. I do some cleanup and leave the building and step into the comparatively cool night air. I walk through campus slowly and with a content smile on my face.

When I arrive back to the villa Mekare is awaiting me at the front door. I greet her and she states quickly,

"Tomorrow you will travel down to the capital city... there are things you are needed for."

This comes as a shock but I nod. I guess it's something really important...

I find myself dressed in a super pompous set of clothing, I even have a small capelet I am forced to wear. I am groomed relentlessly by Mekare who for some reason takes pleasure in even plucking my eyebrows. I think I look retarded, but I am assured I am in the most high-class of clothing. I am even forced to wear a purely decorative sword on my hip. The journey isn't anything special as the flight goes easily enough. I am shoved into a carriage and taken to the center of the city where the royal palace is waiting. I take in all the wonderful sights and admire the architecture of the palace and the defensive walls surrounding it. Lines of armed royal knights stand in attention on the palace grounds. The carriage stops in front of the massive doors to the palace proper. Before I step from the carriage I am introduced with a short fanfare. I step onto a long red carpet that is flanked on either side by royal guards. I wonder if any of them are Sertean?

As I walk I do the cool guy thing and throw my caplet into the cool morning breeze. I walk completely alone down the carpet and up the steps. After the fanfare, there was no sound except my footsteps and the banners dancing in the wind. I feel all the royal guards eyes watching me, waiting for me to mess up somehow.

The huge doors open slowly with a groan and I enter the palace. This time the walkway is flanked by maids and butlers who all respectfully bow to me as I pass. I am directed down a long hall toward another set of huge doors, it doesn't take a genius to understand that this is the throne room. I take a deep breath in as the doors slowly open and I step into the large chamber.

My entry is announced by a very well-decorated guard standing by the door. The room is utterly impressive. A massive crystal chandelier hangs over the room, the walls are made of delicately carved marble. Massive murals decorate large portions of the walls, as paintings of the current royal family. Behind the throne is an entire wall made of stained glass which creates the family crest of the royal family which paints the entire room in gold and purple from the Easterly sun rising behind the window.

The room is filled with other incredibly dressed up people. I assume they are the various nobles that are left alive. I can tell there is meant to be more as entire rows of chairs remain empty. This helps reinforce just how awful I was, but despite my guilt, the room is stood in applause of me as I walk toward the throne. It somehow makes me feel worse.

I stop at the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne as I drop to one knee with my head bowed as a genuflect to the king. He was sitting on his throne looking bored and somewhat contemptuous towards me, but now he straightens up and seems interested. He is a fairly handsome man, I can clearly see where the princess gets her looks as they share hair and eye color. I remain on my knee as the applause dies down and the room is silent. The king says to me in a loud voice,

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"Stand Isa Hasslerouge."

I do as asked and he looks down at me with the same interest in his eyes, but I can still pick out the contempt in his eyes. I have no idea why. I stand in attention looking at the king and we hold one another's gaze for a while in awkward silence. He then smirks and says,

"You are... perplexing. It's a shame someone like you couldn't be picked."

He then motions for me to leave and I look for a moment before spotting Duke Hasslerouge, Violet, and Zeyra. I turn on my heel and walk in a straight line to the others. I have an empty seat waiting for me and I take it as the Duke motions me to do so. I think hard about what the king meant. What does he mean I couldn't be picked? Then a man in a priest robe gets up before the king and faces the congregation of nobles. He raises his arms and the room grows somehow even quieter than before. He then speaks,

"I am the voice of the goddess Serena! Rejoice and despair as we of the church have received a vision during these dark times.

It has been revealed the Demon King has returned! An age of darkness is upon us. His minions have already taken grave tolls upon us. First with the burning of a Basilica and the death of Archbishop Father Solus, and now the death of dozens of our honored nobility. Do not Despair as the Goddess has revealed her hero as well!

All hail the savior Blake Silphos!"

The room explodes in applause as I watch Blake enter the room. I nearly lose my shit laughing, but I manage to hold it in and clap politely. I guess he wasn't lying about the goddess picking him to be the hero. In all honesty, I'm happy for him. The priest bows to both the king and Blake before leaving. Blake gives a polite bow to the king before standing before him. The king then gives a speech,

"Welcome hero! We have awaited your arrival to our humble kingdom! In order to fight the great darkness of this world, from the Demon King to the heretics under his command we will follow you to greatness. I am proud to hand you the keys to the kingdom so that you have all our resources at your disposal so that we may triumph!"

The room goes silent and Blake responds in a practiced voice,

"Thank you King Alrius. I humbly accept this great honor."

The king then asks, what is clearly a rhetorical question, meant to be answered by, "No I'm good" or "The honor of serving is enough", the King asks,

"And what can we offer you, as a boon in order to get you started on your journey? What is it you would ask of me?"

Blake does not hesitate. He replies,

"If it is your will, I would ask for your daughter's hand!"

The room fills with "awwww"s, which covers up my snort of laughter. I can see the Duke holding his laughter back. The King is absolutely not, his eyes burn with hatred but Blake appears oblivious. The King says carefully and stoically,

"I see. If that is your wish I will grant it, but I cannot allow my daughter to become a widow at such a young age. Your engagement is granted, but I cannot allow marriage until after the Demon King has been defeated."

Blake nods proudly and gives a beaming smile. He is dismissed and he leaves back out the doors he came from strutting like a rooster. It takes my everything to keep from laughing out loud at the whole situation, and it appears Duke Hasslerouge is having the same troubles. The wind appears to have been completely taken from the Kings sails as he sits back down and announces,

"You may all be dismissed..."

We are to leave in rank order. We are among the first to leave tailing behind Duke Hasslerouge. I follow him through the palace and to the apartment section of the palace where the higher nobles are allowed to stay. Once we are in the room and the door is closed both the Duke and I both explode into laughter. We clap each other on the back as we are brought to tears from laughing so hard. The two girls stare at us in confusion as we slowly wind down. As we take deep breaths and calm down Violet asks,

"What was so funny."

I still haven't stopped seizing from the laughter yet so Duke Hasslerouge through giggles replies,

"That kid... Blake the hero... How shameless can someone be? "

They look confused and Violet replies,

"I thought it was sweet that he would ask for something like that."

I then reply,

"The princess hates that piece of work. The dude is cocky, overweight, and a pansy!"

Violet thinks for a moment before motioning that she concedes her point. We all sit down on the couches provided in the apartment. There are refreshments that I partake in along with the Duke. We make small talk still somewhat shit-talking Blake. Eventually, the conversation winds down and we are sitting in quietly. The girls leave after a while claiming they need to go attend to some duties. After they leave Duke Hasslerouge speaks to me,

"Well... in good news I and Duke Donnerstein have been named the protectors of the crown. We are both the head of military affairs in the kingdom. All thanks to your plan. Good job. I've... helped you out somewhat too, so enjoy it."

I go to ask what he means but there is a knock on the door. I answer it for the Duke and I find a servant standing there. They bow to me and say,

"Please come with me, Lord Isa. You have been requested by a member of the royal family."

I look back toward the Duke who shugs confused, so I simply go along with the servant.

I am led to a quiet lounge in the far corner of the palace, awaiting me is Princess Alrius, who looks slightly pissed, but her eyes soften when she sees me enter, I also see something else I can't put my finger on. She motions for me to sit and I do. Then Karl enters after me. He sits next to me and we smile and nod to one another. We three sit quietly for a while until Blake enters. He takes one look at the room and his eyes lock onto me. I see a mix of anger and horror appear on his face. He points right at me and shouts,

"What is he doing here? He should be put to death NOW!"

We all recoil at the sudden shouting and the Princess snaps at him,

"On what basis do you have to claim something like that Blake? Have you gone mad? He is as much, if not more of a hero than you!"

He recoils, clearly hurt by her words. He says to her sharply,

"How can you take his side? We are betrothed! You shouldn't take this traitor's side! It wasn't an old line Alrius who masterminded the attack! It was him! It was Isa!"

The Princess stands up abruptly and I slowly rise to hold my hand toward her in a gesture asking her to calm down, and that I can handle it. I then calmly but sternly ask Blake,

"That's an incredibly harsh accusation there. Do you know where I was during the attack?"

I hear him grit his teeth and he hisses,

"You know where you were. You were sitting in that throne as you killed them all."

I sigh disappointedly and then look at him faking anger in my eyes and voice, I say to him,

"I was blindsided and I fell from the fucking island, I can't use magic and most of all... I would never betray the crown."

It feels bad lying through my teeth like that. I stay standing and Blake keeps staring at me, almost teary-eyed and shaking in anger. I sit down and mutter,

"Not worth my fucking time."

He grits his teeth again and is interrupted by the Princess before he can accuse me again, she says,

"We have proof Isa not only was thrown off the island, but he actually fought multiple enemies. We only barely managed to defeat the last remaining one from his fight, and we barely managed that! "

I am surprised to hear I fought some. I guess that's what the Duke did to help me, he must've fabricated a fight that never happened...but with the illusion magic Mekare can cast, maybe it did happen... at least in the eyes of Zandra and Zindri. I nod going along with it looking for his reply. He says exasperated,

"I-I don't know! It has to be an illusion or something!"

The Princess then crosses her arms while holding herself and she says softly and in clear distress,

"I fought the leader... there is no way he could have been Isa... that strength...it wasn't natural, he never used magic on himself...that was his regular strength, even after I used my body-strengthening magic he overpowered me easily... his servants gave us hell the entire time, and we could barely touch them... he is a monster... Isa... is just a man..."

She seems honestly upset and violated by my attack, I still feel really shitty about it, but I keep my poker face and stare at Blake. He tries to come up with an argument but can't seem to find a good response, he has no proof aside from his word. I still don't know how he knows it was me... do his magic eyes or whatever reveal me to him? He's a potentially dangerous enemy... not just for the shit Duke Hasslerouge has me do... but now, for my very future, my possible complete freedom... I'll have to remove him.

I guess my murderous thoughts are conveyed through my eyes as Blake looks scared for a moment before he quickly takes a seat and says defiantly,

"I will not back down from my accusation, but I can't prove it yet so I will play nice."

I nod at him still staring through his eyes, he stops making eye contact and looks at the floor.

I then look back toward the Princess and ask her calmly,

"Now... why did you bring us here."

She gives a weak smile and replies to me,

"Well... It's simple. I refuse to allow something like that to happen again, so with permission from my father I have created an organization, and as of now you three are in it. I am calling it the Heros Party, mostly to gain public support, and also because we have the hero. Our goal is to hunt down sympathizers with the Demon King and get revenge against that bastard from the ball. What do you say?"

I nod and say,

"I'm in."

Karl and Blake follow suit quickly and the Princess smiles gently before saying,

"You are dismissed for now. I will have us made public, and then we will start our mission."

Everyone goes to leave but she stops me. I stay behind the other two and she leads me to a balcony. Outside and she holds herself, still seemingly distressed from what happened. I think for a moment before I approach from behind and put my arm around her. I firmly grip her far shoulder and squeeze her gently. She is shaking like a leaf. She then asks,

"Can I tell you something honestly?"

I nod and she says,

"I'm scared... I-I couldn't do anything... and I'm barely holding it together...How can you be so strong in the face of a superior foe?"

I sigh and think for a moment before I reply,

"I have watched my home and my people being destroyed once before... I stay strong because I won't let it happen again... I grow strong because I absolutely won't let the evil of my past happen again. Like steel... you cannot become tough until you are thrown into the fire and hammered."

She shifts slightly and nods understandingly and presses herself against me. She says quietly,

"I was so worried you had died... thank you for surviving."

I nod before she steps away from me, she straightens herself and seemingly returns to her normal confident state. She then tells me,

"Rest up today and tonight... We will begin work as soon as possible."

I nod before leaving the room. My heart is deep in my guts out of guilt... what kind of horrible monster am I? I find walking to be even difficult as I return to the Hasslerouge apartment I feel my insides tear apart as I eat myself with guilt. It takes almost everything I have to not tear up. Once inside the apartment, I sit down across from Duke Hasslerouge who is reading a document. I stare directly at him, almost a glare. He sets the document on the desk and looks at me right back. He smiles devilishly and says calmly,

"It looks like it's time for us to really get to know one another... time for business..."