Braun: The Heir

Two months have passed since Lord Xax started working at the mine.

He and Gyorn became good friends and worked in the most dangerous region together, every day. It seems Lord Xax also gained a little respect from everyone there for his tenacity and grit.

Gyorn doesn’t remember either of his parents or what he was doing before he came to work in the mines. Just like he told Lord Xax, he was in there for as long as he could remember.

He didn’t have a home, so he always slept at the mining headquarters. Lord Xax has invited him to our home on multiple occasions, but he has yet to come over.

I still haven’t met him in person, but I already knew so much about him from Lord Xax, that it feels like I was working in the mines alongside them.

We were satisfied with our lives, our small home, the food we ate, the water we drank; we were getting by quite well considering everything that’s happened.

But things couldn’t stay the same forever. This world made that obvious quite early on in my life.

It was shortly after that we learned of Lord Xax’s brother’s sudden death. The noble family sent an envoy to deliver Lord Xax a message to return immediately, as he would be the one inheriting the throne now.

“Brother, who is that?” I asked.

“Stay here Braun, I will be back soon,” said Lord Xax, as he disappeared around the corner to speak with a fancy man who had arrived by carriage a moment ago.

“Your highness, please return home, they are expecting you,” said the envoy, “I am sure they will be happy to see you.”

“Yeah, I AM SURE. After abandoning and forgetting about me, they suddenly remember I exist, huh?”

“Please, your highness, they truly wish for your happiness. They already lost one son, they don’t want to lose another.”

“As you can see, I am alive and well. This is clearly a matter of self-interest to them, they don’t care about me. You can be on your way now.”

“Your highness, I was given orders to bring you with me, I cannot leave without you. I humbly request that you accompany me back to the palace.”

“And what if I refuse? You’re going to bring me there by force? Aren’t you going to ask about Kryterius? Surely you’ve noticed that he isn’t here by now… Don’t you remember the man? Or were we both dispensable to you all?” said Lord Xax heatedly.

“Please, forgive me your highness for giving you the wrong idea, I am not going to force you, I am just here to persuade. Regarding Kryterius, I did indeed notice that he isn’t here. How is he doing?”

“He is dead.”

“…my condolences Lord Xax. I am very sorry to hear that he has perished, I know how important he was to you. We can arrange for his burial on the family grounds upon your wish.”

“No, you scum will not touch him. I want you to relay a message to my family, tell them I am never going back there, ever again. I heard the old man is quite sick, they can die without an heir, for all I care. It’s their fault for throwing me out like some kind of trash.”

“Please, your highness, your mother and father have deeply regretted their wrongdoing.”

“Let me guess, ever since my brother’s death? Hit the nail on the head, huh?” Lord Xax said laughing hysterically. “Before that everything seemed fine to them, right? They can stick their regrets up their own ass,” finished Lord Xax as he turned around and stormed off.

The envoy didn’t know what to say in response. He disappointedly returned back to the palace without Lord Xax. He had realized it was pointless to continue trying to get him to return in that enraged state.

“Who was that, brother?” I asked.

“Don’t worry Braun, that man won’t be coming here again.”

But Lord Xax was wrong. He had underestimated the palace’s determination to bring the next heir back. It seemed that they were quite desperate.

The next time the envoy came, he wasn’t alone. With three of them now, they looked a lot more intimidating.

They didn’t bother taking the business elsewhere and started persuading Lord Xax right in front of me.

“Your highness, please come back to the palace,” said the envoy.

“Brother, what happened. What are they talking about?” I asked, afraid that I might end up alone if they do take him away.

“They want me to go back to the people who abandoned me, that’s what. Naturally, I am not going anywhere with these morons, don’t worry Braun,” he said smiling at me.

“Your highness, p—”

“I already told you my answer.”

“I am afraid this time we have an order, your highness,” said the man while gesturing something with his hand.

Suddenly, more people appeared out of nowhere to assist ‘persuading’ Lord Xax.

“You degenerate cowards,” scoffed Lord Xax, “They are getting that paranoid in there? As expected of my shitty parents, now I recognize them.”

Lord Xax paused for a minute, looking down at the ground. He had no choice.

“I will return, but I will be taking 2 people with me,” he said.

“That is totally fine, your highness. I am glad we were finally able to reach an agreement,” said the envoy, gloating at his success this time.

“Yeah... go fuck yourself,” said Lord Xax, turning to face me. “I am taking you with me, Braun.”

I silently nodded and waited for what came next.

“Since, you have agreed to return and take up the throne, you are now the current King.”

My mouth dropped. I knew Lord Xax was a noble, but now that he became king, I felt him drifting farther and farther away from me.

“That old scumbag died…” whispered Lord Xax, holding his head.

“We will come pick you up first thing in the morning, your highness,” said the envoy.

The next day, Lord Xax went to the mining headquarters to notify the boss of his resignation, and to take Gyorn with us.

“WHAT? YOU’RE QUITTING? YOU CAN’T.”

“I can, and will. If you try to stop me, you’ll regret it. Also, I am taking Gyorn with me.”

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, PIPSQUEAK?”

“Quiet down old man. I am still grateful to you for letting me have this shitty job, so I will not do anything unless you become a nuisance.”

A couple people from the palace came in and the boss quieted down, he didn’t know what was going on, but he realized that they were royalty. He didn’t want to risk losing everything he had, so he played along.

To our surprise, Gyorn didn’t even hesitate upon Lord Xax’s invitation. We thought he might be attached to the mines since he spent most, if not all, of his life in there, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

On the contrary, he felt happy to get out of there.

And so, we set out on a distant trip from Marxes to Lord Xax’s homeland.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Braun,” I said, greeting the boy.

“Yeah, same here. I am Gyorn,” said the boy, “I have to say, you are the last person I would ever assume to be royalty, Xax.”

“I will take that as a compliment. I never thought of myself as one until a bunch of clowns came begging me to return.”

“Brother, what are Gyorn and I going to do once we get there?”

“I dunno. I’ll tell them to get you in the city.”

During our trip, I realized that Lord Xax didn’t look thrilled about becoming king. His eyes were screaming aversion.

Gyorn was leisurely looking out of the window. He probably rarely went outside the mining headquarters, let alone Marxes.

After a few hours of travelling past scenic routes, we arrived in the big city. It was at least twice as big as Marxes from what I could tell.

“We are here, your highness.”

“I know, I can see the ugly thing all the way from here,” Lord Xax said looking at a big palace in disdain.

“So? Where are we?” asked Gyorn.

I, curious to know as well, turned towards Lord Xax, awaiting his response.

“Welcome to my cursed homeland, Neveria.”