Chapter 3:

The Summons That Began It All: Part 2

The King's Advisor


“I’m home...” Kris greeted tiredly. His house was rather small and cramped, having only two bedrooms and a shared living room. It was constructed mainly of wood, and would be considered empty if it weren’t for the few scrolls of ancient scripture hanging on the walls. Silence was normal here since the house was built a small distance from the castle-town in a nearby forest.
There was no reply.

“Gosh… he’s probably out playing chess with the other geezers…”
Kris walked into his room and began to undress himself. His naked body wasn’t something he was too proud of, but it was good enough to pass as athletic.

His school uniform consisted of the classic white dress shirt, dark trousers, and a black cloak with the Magic Academy’s red dragon emblem embroidered onto it. The Academy was the only one in the ever-expanding kingdom of Sungavdarm, so it was ridiculously large, and taught around 250,000 students, Kris being in the top tier. After graduating from the Academy, one could choose either to become a Magic Knight or to work for the royal guard. Magic Knights were very respected and looked up to by many, since they were the ones that hunted monsters, making the continent a much safer place. The top tier of students of the Academy are seen as the most elite, and they often have special unique magical abilities. Magic unique to a single person and bloodline are known as personal magic and familial magic, respectively. Such magic can only be passed down genetically and cannot be taught. The Academy taught elemental magic and arcane magic, but in some cases it also supplied education in mental 
magic too.

Elemental magic is the most commonly used magic. It is used to manifest magical energy from the atmosphere into a physical form, such as fire magic, water magic, and earth magic. Arcane magic is slightly more complex, and has many different subcategories such as black magic, life magic, and enchantment magic.

On top of basic elemental and arcane magic, Kris is able to use Luck magic, a unique type of personal magic. When activated, Luck magic grants Kris an insane amount of good luck, but it only lasts for five seconds. This ability can only be casted no more than once every twenty-four hours, but if it isn’t used during those twenty-four hours then it stacks. This means that if Kris doesn’t use his luck for one week, then he will be able to use it seven times in a row without, what he liked to refer to as ‘cooldown’.

“What to wear…” Kris instinctively grabbed his black wool coat, but then threw it back into his closet.

“This is supposed to be formal, right? What a pain…” He picked out a decent-looking black suit-jacket and put it on before turning to the mirror.
Kris had grayish-black hair of average length, glaring emerald eyes, and a somewhat attractive face. If it weren’t for his overly-sour expression, the girls would be fawning all over him. 
Females were never something he was interested in though — he only saw them as annoying and a pain in the ass. He saw everything as a pain in the ass in general.

“I guess this isn’t too bad…” His outfit could barely pass as formal. At first glance it would seem perfectly fine, but if someone were to further inspect it, they would notice that he was only wearing his school uniform excluding the coat, with a suit-jacket sluggishly thrown on top. Kris fixed his collar and walked out of the house, breathing in the fresh aroma of the surrounding trees. He began to walk on the stone path that stood out from the bright green grass, staring up at the looming trees. Forests were a very common biome — about a quarter of the continent itself was taken up by them. Why me, anyway? This had better be a mistake, he pondered. Kris continued to walk down the stone path that never seemed to end, gazing at the plants before he finally reached the castle town, bursting with noise.

The castle town wasn’t so much of a town, but more of a city situated south of the royal palace. It was always buzzing with life, the streets were never empty and always loud, even after dusk. Kris steadily made his way across the main street, passing the storefronts, inns, markets, and who knows what else is hidden in those dark alleyways.
“Shit…” He mumbled to himself as he struggled to make his way through the central part of the city. It was almost impossible to walk the main street without being bumped left and right.
“Fortuna.” Kris whispered with a tiresome expression on his face. Suddenly, a voice shouted at an intense volume from the town square to the left of Kris.

“Hear ye! Hear ye!”

It was the town crier, dressed in royal clothing and perched on a tall, stone sculpture. Town criers would often yell the news out into the streets, informing the townsfolk of whatever was going on politically. Most of the townspeople walked towards the crier to listen, which drastically decreased the amount of traffic.

“Geez...I only have like thirty seconds left…” Kris sighed. What just happened was the effect of his luck magic, ‘Fortuna’. Because of the spell, the town crier decided to announce the news close to where Kris was standing, making it easier for him to slip past through the crowd.
The five seconds had ended, along with the effect of the luck magic, and the townspeople began to show disinterest in the crier and started to walk again. Luckily, Kris made it out of the main street before the crowd dispersed. He stared at the line of about 20 guards posted in front of the huge stone steps that lead up the palace. They were all equipped with a suit of heavy metal armor and a spear each. As Kris approached the steps, one of the guards stopped him.

“What business do you have in the Royal Palace of Sungavdarm?” he questioned in a deep, intimidating tone.

“Huh? I was summoned to sort out something about being the King’s advisor…”

“That sounds bizarre to me, kid. I’m going to need some confirmation.”

Shit, I burnt the letter, Kris remembered, accidentally making a sour expression.

“I’m sorry, I had a letter but I don’t have it anymore.”

“Well, sorry to say but I can’t let you in without proof.”

Suddenly, a shady hooded figure dashed down the steps at a fast pace, jumping straight over the royal guards with impressive agility before vanishing into the crowd of townsfolk in the main street.

“Thief! Thief!” shouted a voice from above the steps. “He stole an heirloom of the royal family!”
Kris watched as the hooded figure slipped away before turning to look at the guard he was talking to previously.

“Aren’t you going to catch him? You’re a member of the royal guard, are you not?” Kris asked.

“As much as I’d love to, I’m posted here and it would be breaking the code to leave my post. But there will be another unit of guards dispatched immediately.”

“Captain!” shouted a man without a suit of armor running down the steps. “All other units are occupied, there are none left to dispatch!”

Kris knew what followed had to be a major pain in the ass, so he turned around and decided to head home.

“Young man,” beckoned the guard that was speaking to him before.

“No, I’m not chasing after him. I’m an innocent bystander, a citizen.”

“Come on, kid. You look plenty strong to me, and isn’t that the Academy’s uniform you got on?”

Crap, he could tell...

“I don’t gain anything from helping you.”

“That’s a pretty depressing way to think. You’re a proud citizen of Sungavdarm, don’t you want 
to serve your country in whatever way you can?”

“You’re making me seem like an asshole when you put it like that.”

“But aren’t you? It breaks my heart to see a young man like you with such a negative outlook on life…”

“Don’t call me ‘young man’, you can’t be that much older than me.”

“While we are having a quarrel about my age, a thief is escaping with a precious heirloom.”

“That’s your problem, not mine. Now if you’d excuse me, I’m going home.”

The thief suddenly came back and walked up to the two quarreling young men.
“So I imagine it didn’t go well,” he spoke, taking his hood off to reveal long and messy raven hair coupled with gleaming red eyes behind a pair of thin glasses.

“No, not at all,” replied the guard. “The bastard’s got no pride in his nation at all, plus he’s a fucking prick.”

“What the hell is this?” Kris asked, giving a confused and annoyed glare to the man. “Wait...Was this a test?”

“You can bet your ass it was, son,” answered the ‘thief’. He took the shady-looking coat off to reveal a fancy black suit. “You’re smart enough to realise that, at least.”

“And you can bet your ass you failed too,” added the guard. “This ‘thief’ is the former advisor of the 271st King, his name is Belphegor. He was also the one who sent the letter that you don’t even have on you.”

“It’s not like I even wanted the job anyways. In fact, I was here to decline it.”

“We’ll at least give you the courtesy of staying for the dinner though,” Belphegor sighed as the guard stepped back into his post.

“Good, because that’s the only part I was looking forward to.”

“Up the steps you go, bastard,” he gestured, pointing up towards the shining, gigantic palace.
The guards stepped aside to make way as Kris ascended the steps, followed shortly by Belphegor.

“You know you’re the most annoying and sour kid I’ve ever met right?” Belphegor glared at Kris.

“Your point is…?”

“You kind of remind me of when I was a kid.”

“Well that is absolutely great to know…” Kris replied sarcastically as the two finally made it to the grand entrance of the palace.

“Lord Bel, you’ve arrived with the candidate?” asked a young woman before opening the gates.

“Yes, but unfortunately he’s already failed the job.”
The woman giggled as Belphegor lead Kris inside. Upon entering, the bright radiance of the chandeliers almost blinded Kris. It took a couple of seconds for his eyes to adapt to the brightness. The floor was covered in glamorous scarlet carpet and the walls were painted a coat of shimmering gold. The lobby was absolutely huge, about four times the size of Kris’ house.

“How extravagant, right Kris?” asked Sylvia, fawning over the magnificence of the palace.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fancy...Wait Professor Sylvia?!”

“Hush, keep it down Kris. We are on royal grounds.”

“What the hell are you doing here though?”

“I was invited too, since I was the one who put in your recommendation.”

“Wait, you put in my recommendation? Why the hell would you do that?...”

Sylvia giggled. “Why not? You’re plenty smart.”

“He just seems like a prick to me…”, Belphegor snickered.
Kris shot the four-eyed man a quick glare before turning his attention to the stage in front that was suddenly illuminated with a bright light. A crowd quickly formed, with people each dressed elegantly. All eyes were on the stage.

The former King stood up on the stage, staring at the crowd that had gathered before him, lowering their heads in respect.

“My dear royal court, and all welcome visitors. Today I am presenting to you the heir to my throne, the one that will succeed me as the ruler of this kingdom. I’m sure you are all confused about my sudden abdication and as to why I am stepping down from the throne. All will be revealed later, but for now, I want all of you to meet my child, the 272nd King of our kingdom.”
Someone stepped onto the stage. It was a girl dressed in silk pajamas. She had raven black hair and sparkling sapphire eyes, and most attractive of all was her clear white skin. She was cloaked in a royal red cape that slid on the flooring as she walked to the centre of the stage.

“This is my daughter, and your new King.”
Suddenly the crowd broke into complete chaos.

“Why is the King a girl?!”

“Is that pajamas she has on?!”
“She has no shoes!”

And why the fuck does she have panties on her head? Kris grimaced.

James K.
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Jio Kurenai
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The King's Advisor


Makoshi
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