Chapter 7: Side Quest
"Well, this is nostalgic." Fayden dryly commented, eyeing the blade at his throat. "Stand down, soldier."
The guardsman at the gate instantly pulled his sword back, bowing so deep his forehead touched the floor. "My deepest apologies, Prince Fayden."
"Prince?" Fayden smirked amused, "With what happened earlier, I'm surprised you don't take this chance to slit my throat."
"The people can believe what they want but in my eyes, and many others, you are still our Prince."
"What happened?" Tessia asked, glancing between her brother and the soldier.
"Princess?!" It seemed he hadn't noticed her before.
Fayden chuckled, bringing his hands over his sister and her…friend. "Let's just say I angered our people and leave it at that."
Tessia narrowed her eyes at her brother, asking, "What did you do?"
Fayden smiled innocently, draping the trio in shadows once more, warping straight to the palace gates.
Virion was waiting for him of course, he had flared his mana signature to let him know.
"Tessia!" His parents ran towards them, tightly embracing the five year old. Virion smiled from afar, a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Fayden caught his grandfather's eye, subtly jerking his head towards Arthur. Virion nodded in understanding.
They had a lot to talk about.
After settling down at the dinner table, the interrogations began.
With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak. "Child. What did you say your name was?"
"Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." Arthur stood up and bowed, even acknowledging the guards.
Both the King and Queen as well as the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise. Virion shared an amused smirk with Fayden and Tessia smiled shyly.
Regaining composure, the King continued on. "It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."
Fayden listened closely as Arthur explained his experience in the forests, at one point he mentioned how he was a mage, causing one of the guards to accuse him of lying.
"I can vouch for him," Faydens words stopped the guard in his tracks. "Can none of you sense his core?"
He looked around, only his family seemed to understand just how early he must have awakened. He sighed, their soldiers were too weak.
When Arthur got to the part about the slave traders Alduin slammed his hands on the table, glaring into nothingness, "I should've known it was humans…"
"Tad bit racist don't you think?" Fayden quipped, earning his father's glare. "I mean the one who brought Tessia back is also a human."
'Not to mention my own past.'
'What?'
'Nothing!' He had almost forgotten his bond could read his thoughts.
Arthur coughed awkwardly, breaking the tension, "I didn't ask Tess-I mean, the Princess this, but I am curious as to how slave traders even got their hands on the princess of this kingdom."
At this, the King almost looked embarrassed before saying, "My wife and I had a bit of a disagreement with Tessia and she decided to rebel by running away. We had decided to let her cool off a bit before fetching her back because we knew where she usually stayed when she pouted, but unfortunately, she ran into some hu… slave traders."
Fayden facepalmed, he definitely should've come back sooner. He wanted to snap, blame them for Tessia's kidnapping but he knew it wouldn't be fair.
Arthur sighed, continuing his story about disposing of the slave traders when they were asleep and ending it with how he met Fayden.
The King turned to face his son, a single inquisitive eyebrow raised.
Fayden almost rolled his eyes, "Oh please, you would've killed him before he had a chance to explain anything."
"Hah!" Virion cackled, "He's got you there."
Alduin wisely turned away, a tinge of pink on his cheeks.
Arthur shook his head at their antics, "I do not plan to intrude on your kingdom for long as I wish to meet them quickly, so I was wondering if you guys had a teleportation gate that could take me to the City of Xyrus or anywhere inside Sapin."
"You're going to leave already, Art?!" Tess shot up from her seat, face stricken with panic.
Both her mother and father gave each other a baffled look as they mouthed 'Art.'
"She's grown a crush on him, want to bet?" Virion whispered to his grandson, who was looking at Tessia with an amused grin.
"I know a lost gamble when I see one Gramps."
Arthur felt a shiver run down his spine, he had a bad feeling about all this.
"I don't think it's appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. Besides, I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I'm okay as well," Arthur answered, taking his mind off the dread he was feeling.
The King responds back for Tess. "It has been a couple hundred years since the last human has stepped foot into the Kingdom of Elenoir and you, Arthur, are the first human to be in the capital of this Kingdom, the City of Zestier. However, saving our daughter and taking the trouble to accompany her all the way back to us entitles you with a proper reward. Unfortunately, the teleportation gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens only once every seven years, for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last Summit was two years ago, it'll be another five years until the gate will function."
"I could escort him back." Fayden mentioned, "You know how my Beast Will works."
"What's your maximum distance now brat?" Virion asked, curious how much he had grown over the two years.
Fayden grinned, "Enough to visit Sapin and return in a few minutes.."
"Then-"
"Nope, you're not leaving until Gramps takes a look at your core."
Arthur tried to protest but found a black muzzle over his mouth, preventing him from speaking.
"Would you rather face the assimilation alone and quite possibly die in front of your parents?"
He stopped struggling after that, even when the muzzle dissipated.
.
.
.
"Alright, spit it out." Virion demanded once he was sure he was alone.
"Arthur has a beast will strong enough to stand up to mine." Fayden began, stopping Virion in his tracks. "The assimilation process is tearing his body apart."
Virion's shock was evident on his face, his grip slackened and he dropped the glass in his hand. But before it could shatter against the floor, a gust of wind brought it to the table.
"Wait, what do you mean it's tearing my body apart?" Arthur gawked, suddenly feeling a lot more vulnerable.
"I'll leave that for Gramps to explain, but essentially it's the beast's will trying to strengthen your body to handle it." Fayden still remembered how his own body had been remade to support his beast will.
Shaking himself out of his shock, Virion grabbed the piece of paper he used to explain the nature of beast tamers to Fayden.
"I'll be in my room if you need me." Fayden bid them farewell, quietly slipping back into his room.
'It hasn't changed a bit.'
He gazed at the room he had spent most of his childhood in, it seemed in his absence it was left alone. And he was glad for that.
A heavy sigh left his lips as he let himself sink into his bed. He couldn't remember the last time he could relax in his own bed like this-.
A knock resounded across his room, breaking him from his thought process, "Son of a- Come in!"
He had expected one of the maids to be knocking on his door, not his little sister, he sighed once more, getting up from his bed.
Tessia stayed by the door, the physical distance between them reminiscent of the emotional distance between them. Fayden somewhat regretted going adventuring at that moment.
"Well, this is awkward." Fayden exhaled, kneeling to Tessia's level, "I know it doesn't mean much but I am sorry for being absent for-"
"Why did you leave?" The question was expected, and yet Fayden didn't have a good answer to that.
"I…wanted to experience being an adventurer while I still had a chance. I knew that I'd need to focus on my studies as soon as I hit twelve. Then there's also the matter of succeeding the throne, I'd be too busy to do it later."
"You could have visited." She pouted, noticeably upset.
"You know as well as I do that the moment I returned I wouldn't be allowed to leave the palace until Mom and Dad considered me old enough to." He deadpanned at her.
"Well…" Tessia seemed lost for words, "don't leave again."
Fayden smiled at her, "Of course."
He didn't know how he'd tell her he was being exiled.
.
.
.
"You called for me?" Fayden arrived at the courtyard a few days later, having opted to stay behind when his grandfather took Arthur and Tessia to meet Rinia.
"Yes, I believe you can help hasten the process." Virion indicated at Arthur's meditating form.
"Gramps, you know I can't stay." In fact, he had already packed up his supplies.
"Bah, who cares what the people think."
"I'm aware there are small factions of fanatics calling for my exile. Left unchecked, this could devolve into a civil war." Fayden spoke, he had noticed how the people had broken into three major sides, one which wanted him to be punished, but not exiled, one which would've called for his execution if that wouldn't be a death sentence for them, and the final one which didn't think him guilty at all. He had come to be familiar with some of them, especially the Grephin family and the Triscan family.
He had yet to meet the two future Lance's however.
"You are very capable of sneaking in anytime you want Fayden." Virion pointed out, glancing at Arthur who had walked up to them.
"True, but I also wish to continue my adventuring. I wasn't quite able to finish the last Dungeon I was in.
Virion raised an eyebrow, "Which dungeon was that?"
"The Pit of Heresy."
"The what?!" Virions eyes bulged out, not even the Lances would dare go in that dungeon alone.
"Yeah, I was only able to clear one floor. My sword broke on the second floor, that's the floor Zeke 'hatched.'"
"I'm not a bird damn you." Zeke materialized beside me, speaking fluently even as a wolf.
"It can speak?!" Arthur exclaimed, talking animals was a first. He could understand dragons but…
"Rude, I'm clearly a he."
"To be honest it's not really easy to figure out an animal's gender." Fayden shrugged, "And play nice."
Zeke grumbled something under his breath too softly for Fayden to understand.
"Anyways, back on the topic at hand. I cannot stay here for long, the city will riot."
"Can't you trick them into believing you left?" Arthur suggested, "I mean as long as you don't flare your mana too much it should be fine. From what I can see the staff of the palace do not want you to leave, you can use that to your advantage."
Fayden narrowed his eyes, it was true he could deceive his people, but if they found out it would strain his position even more.
"Think about your sister brat, she barely has any memory of you. It's a small price to pay."
Fayden sighed, it would hinder his progress but he supposed he could make some sacrifices.
'Don't worry, I know a trick or two to help you out.'
'Appreciated.'
"Alright, so what do I need to do?"
Virion cracked a grin, "I knew you'd come around."
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