Chapter 2:

The Summons That Began It All

The King's Advisor


Gripping his legendary-claymore tight with both hands, he zoomed through the enemy's front-lines like a gust of wind, dropping bodies left and right. Kris gave them no time to react as he flashed through the wall, finishing the last of the goblins in one single swing.

As the next and final wave of them drew near, he retreated behind the remains of a brick wall to catch his breath, regenerating the mana he had exhausted in the previous wave. The next wave slowly entered his area of sight before he teleported towards them, dodging two arrows and blocking the third with his sword.

He ducked as a heavy sword came smashing down onto his own, and with unrivaled force, he parried the attack before maneuvering behind the armed orc and fatally striking its nape. There was no way a mere orc would be able to take down the strongest magic knight in the whole continent.

With an effortless release of dark magic, he took down about 5 more small goblins before striding towards the dungeon boss.

Kris planted his claymore deep into the stone ground of the dungeon, waiting patiently as it began to glow a mysterious light that made his silver hair shine even brighter than it already did.

His claymore had transformed and taken its true form, the holy sword Excalibur. He pulled Excalibur out of the stone and readied himself for the final opponent, the Warbeast. The Warbeast let out a mighty breath that blasted his black cloak skyward, sending it fluttering behind him.

Kris took one step forwards before flashing to the beast, curling around its feet and slashing down on the achilles tendon to upset its balance. The moment it stepped back to support the weight of its own body, Kris took it as an opportunity to attack and leaped upwards, through the monster’s weakened defense, and took the finishing blow, decapitating the Warbeast.

It was another dungeon cleared by Kris, the legendary magic knight, the strongest in Sungavdarm – no, in all of the continent–

*****

Kris awoke with a sudden thud to the head. He found himself staring at a very familiar wooden desk before looking upwards to see a stunning woman with luscious scarlet hair. It was his teacher, Professor Sylvia. This wasn’t the first time she’d hit him for dozing off during her teachings.

“Seriously, what kind of top tier apprentice falls asleep in class?”
“Ouch…” Kris wailed. “It’s not like I’m going to learn any useful magic in your class, anyway.”
“If you want to become a magic knight, then you should probably pay attention for once,” she replied, walking back to the front of the class.
“If you want to become a better teacher…” he yawned, “you should probably make your classes less boring and more interesting.”
The class began to murmur amongst themselves. Kris couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were probably talking about how shitty a person he was again.

Other people’s opinions didn’t matter to him.

The only thing that mattered was becoming a magic knight, just like his late father who was slain during the 2nd Continental Mage War. Kris’ only remaining family was his grandfather, who often told epic tales of his father to him when he was young.

Inspired by the heroics of his father, Kris dreamed to live as an honorable magic knight, and die as one, just as his father had. It was only a matter of time until he could graduate from the Magic Academy and finally begin his training.

“That’s all for today…” Sylvia sighed, finally releasing the class. “Kris, I’d like a word with you.”

Not again. It was a wonder why she’d still insist on lecturing him despite the fact that he was as stubborn as a mule.

“If you’re going to try and tell me what to do, then quit it.” Kris answered spitefully, getting up from his seat as the rest of the class raced out the door.

“That’s not it,” Sylvia dismissed, pulling a fancy-looking letter from underneath her purple cloak.

“What’s that?”

“A letter from the Royal Palace, addressed to you.”

Kris’ eyes twitched in annoyance as he bit down on his bottom lip. Anything involving the King was probably a royal pain in the ass.
“What’s in it?” he asked.

“Don’t ask me, it’s addressed to you,” she said, giving him the letter using a levitation spell.
Kris gripped the letter and shoved it into his pocket.
The professor’s gaze still remained on him as he stood still on the wooden floorboards.

“What are you staring at?” he demanded.

“Well? Open it.”

“Fine…”

Kris tore the envelope containing the letter, before reading the contents aloud:

“Dear Sir Kris Ashdown,
I wish to inform you that you have been chosen as the advisor of Sungavdarm’s 272nd King.
It is with great pleasure that I summon you to the royal palace at dusk on this day.
Upon arrival, further details will be explained to you by myself.
You are also invited to share an evening meal in the royal palace.

Signed,
Former Advisor of Lord Lancelot Arthur La Ruskin, the 271st King of Sungavdarm.”

Silence had asserted itself into the room. It took several seconds for Kris to take in what he had just read.

“What the hell?!”

“Now, that isn’t something you see every day,” Sylvia remarked.

“How are you being so calm about it?!”

“I mean, your intelligence and magical abilities do surpass that of an average adult…”

Kris sighed and sat on the desk, completely bummed out by the letter.

“You should feel honored, the King’s Advisor is a very important job. Plus, you get to live in the royal palace.” Sylvia laughed, fantasizing about the luxurious life within the palace.

“I think I’ll pass…” he muttered. “I don’t think babysitting a spoilt asshole is my thing.”

“This isn’t something you can decline just like that.” she said. “You’ll have to publicly decline, as well as write a formal letter of declination to the royal council.”

“Then a formal letter of declination I shall write. Now goodbye, I’m leaving,” Kris grunted as he scrunched the letter up and scorched it into ashes with a basic fire spell.

“You’re still going to have to attend the dinner tonight!” Sylvia barked. “Ignoring a summons could result in punishment by the law.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m only going there for the food anyway,” he said, leaving the classroom.

********

“Kris!”, Rudy exclaimed in delight, waving from the front gate of the Academy. “You took a bit longer today.”

“My bad, I was caught up in something.”

It was normal for Kris and Rudy to walk home from the academy together since they both lived in the woods. They would always be asked if they were a couple, despite both of them being males.

“Huh? Caught up in what?” Rudy asked, playing with his glamorous turquoise hair while trying to keep up with Kris’ pace.

“Eh…” Kris grimaced at the very thought of it. “Well, stuff happened and I got summoned to the royal palace to be the King’s Advisor…”

“Woah!” Rudy beamed. “That’s amazing! You’ll be able to see the new king before everyone! Actually, now that you think about it… It’s kind of weird that nobody even knew His Highness had a son this whole time.”

“You’re right...seems suspicious to me. But who cares?”

“What if the royal family has been hiding his existence for a secret reason?! What if he’s actually an illegitimate child!”

“You’re overthinking it. It was probably just to lower the guard of enemy kingdoms. We hid the fact that we had a successor so that rivaling lands wouldn’t be prepared, and they would be left in a state of daunting fear when they found out, not knowing what else we have under our sleeves.”

“Wow, as expected of the Magic Academy’s strategic prodigy!” Rudy sarcastically chorused.

“It’s a basic assumption, you’re just too dimwitted to have thought of it,” Kris snorted as the two neared the crossway that separated their paths.

“This is where I leave you. Good luck tonight!”

“For what… Oh right, the summons…” he grunted. “Thanks… I’ll see if I can decline the offer.”

“What?! You can’t decline it!”

“Yeah, I can. And I will. It’s not my type of job anyway.”

“Hmmm…” Rudy smirked. “I guess it isn’t. You’re going to be the greatest magic knight, after all!”

“That goes without saying…” Kris muttered, taking the path opposite to his best friend.

This whole summons thing was a huge drag for Kris. He’d have to get dressed, and then walk all the way to the central city. Well, it’s a good thing that he’s able to decline the offer.

It’s not like he’ll be put into a situation where he can’t decline or anything.

Definitely not.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Ok, the chapter was kind of delayed because I uploaded it with a ton of mistakes.
I had to get it properly edited before uploading it so, oops.
Anyways, drop a like if you enjoyed and don’t forget to give feedback!

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=