CHAPTER 8: Hogios Kingdom. Meeting King Zolten. [ 第八章 ] (PART 2)

The next day, the three met up with Rolo at the great hall for breakfast. Jin was the first one to come. Then surprisingly was Edward who always wakes up late.

‘’Oh, hey Edward! I didn’t think you will be up early.’’Jin said to Edward who was beaten up since he couldn’t sleep because of what happened yesterday. He sat down without replying. Jin knew he had a rough night sleeping.

Emily came in happy as she dances her way to her seat.

‘’Morning!’’

‘’Good morning Emily! You seem very excited today.’’

‘’Well of course. Today I will learn more about magic.’’

‘’Also today is where I will have my date with the King! I am so excited!’’ She thought to herself.

Rolo came in and said good morning to everyone. Edward looks at him and remembers yesterday. He approaches him like a zombie wobbling the whole way. Rolo was worried.

‘’Um, Edward?’’

‘’Rolo! Rolo! I will kill you Rolo!’’ He said with a voice of a man who didn’t drink for days.

As he grabs him from his collar, Amara enters the hall. He stood straight like nothing was happening.

‘’Morning! Have a seat you two. We will serve breakfast.’’

The two got back to their seat.

‘’You better run. If I find you, I will kill you!’’ with murderous eyes Edward whispered to Rolo as they were going to their seats.

‘’I’m afraid King Zolten won’t be attending the breakfast. He also informed me to tell you Miss Emily that he will be waiting for you at his research office.’’ Amara said ‘’Now, breakfast is here!’’

A group of servants came in holding plates with different kinds of meals. From scrambled eggs to different kind of bakery and orange juice in drinks.

Everyone ate a different kind of food and enjoyed them. Rolo said he had something urgent so he left early. Edward said he wanted to see the beautiful landscape and enjoy the fresh air. Which is not what Edward does. Jin and Emily knew something was up. Amara then took Emily to where the research office is at. On the other hand, Jin went to the city to explore.

‘’You! Stop!’’ Someone from behind said to Jin as he was walking down the street. He turns around to see some guards.

‘’Um, Did I do something wrong?’’

‘’No. Not at all. We would like to ask you for a favor actually.’’ one of the guards said ‘’ We heard from Lord Rolo that you defeated the enemy who killed our fellow knights. Lord Abram was one of the strongest knights in our country. The same goes for Lord Elena. Clearly, you’re stronger. Could you teach us? We want to be stronger to defend our kingdom. We don’t want to rely on King Zolten on everything.’’

Jin couldn’t refuse. He then went with them to their training ground. Every knight gathered there. Jin was anxious at first but he then got used to it since everyone was cheerful and helpful.

At the same time, Emily just arrived at King Zolten’s research office. She enters and sees a library of grimoires behind a wooden desk. King Zolten was sitting next to the big window on the right, having a wine. Emily saw his charm again and got all red.

‘’Welcome Miss Emily! Thank you, Amara. You can go now.’’ Amara bows down and closed the door.

‘’Your office is filled with grimoires! It reminded me of Elise’s shop!’’ Emily said with her ears and cheeks getting redder every time she speaks.

‘’Elise? Oh! Rolo’s friend! I see. Well, most of these grimoires are from the dark age.’’ Emily was amazed.

‘’Can I look inside one of them?’’

‘’Sure. Here you go.’’ King Zolten handed her one. During the exchange, she touched his finger. In her head, she was blessed as if God touched her. But in reality, she tried to keep a cool head.

She looks inside of the grimoire for a few minutes. She then said with an embarrassing smile.

‘’Um, I can’t understand the language.’’ King Zolten chuckled. She was super happy that she made him laugh.

‘’I forgot to tell you that all the grimoires from the dark age are written in a different ancient language. I believe it was called ‘’Greek language’’ ‘’

‘’I never heard that name... Does your highness speak this language?’’ He laughed again.

‘’There is no need to call me King or highness if we are alone. You can call me Zol.’’ As he smiles, Emily was one step close to passing out ‘’ And yes, I do speak it. It took my whole life to be able to understand and speak it without any kind of guidance.’’

‘’Your whole life? You’re still young and handsome.’’ She replied with a smile. She then realized what she just said and got all red. She looks the other way out of embarrassment.

Zol laughed and said ‘’Well, thank you.’’ Emily didn’t respond as she was truly embarrassed.

‘’The reality is, I have lived for way too long. Yet, I can’t reach my goal.’’

‘’Your goal?’’ She replied.

Zol stood up, put his wine cup aside, and got closer to Emily. She instantly froze.

‘’Take my hand.’’

‘’P-Pardon me?’’ She replied confused.

‘’Fear not. I mean no harm.’’ He said with a smile. She grabs on his hand. She then felt how warm and soft his hands were.

With a snap of his fingers, they teleported to an underground place. Emily was speechless.

‘’W-We just...’’

‘’Yes. A teleportation Magic.’’

‘’Amazing!’’

‘’You can let go of my hand now.’’ He replied with a smile.

‘’Y-Yes.’’ she instantly took her hand away and looked the other way.

‘’Follow me.’’

As the two kept walking, Emily asked what is this place.

‘’It is where the essence of magic is been studied. For security reasons, no one knows where it is located except me of course. The only way to enter is by my teleportation magic.’’

‘’amazing! And what did you mean by ‘’Essence of magic.’’? ‘’

‘’You will see for yourself.’’

They kept walking towards a light coming in front of them. The closer they get, the stronger and warmer the light was. As they enter the open room, Emily looks up to see a big magical sphere with halos surrounding it, floating in the air. Inside of it what it seems the sky with its stars moving slowly in the direction of a clockwise.

‘’I... I have never seen something so beautiful like this ever in my life.’’ Emily expresses.

‘’This is my greatest creation. I call it ‘’Starry Night’’ ‘’ King Zolten said.

‘’What is it?’’

‘’It is magic itself.’’

‘’Magic itself?’’

‘’Yes. It has every kind of magic we know of to this day. Every star represents a type of magic. The sphere itself represents magic as a whole. Simply, a notebook for magic. The halos are another kind of magic.’’

‘’Another kind of magic?’’

‘’It is called Divine Magic. A magic that could either destroys the whole world or could help protect the world. The two halos represent me and King Augustus. We are the only ones who possess such magic. Or at least what I know of.’’

‘’Did you know King Augustus?’’

‘’We were friends! The idiot whenever he comes to my kingdom, he comes as a pal, not like a neighboring king. My people never liked him since he wasn’t behaving like what their image of a king is. But everyone respected him and feared him. Everyone knows he was strong. It’s a shame he passed away. I never said goodbye.’’ From his expressions, Emily saw he was sad. She could tell the late king was truly a dear friend to him. She then tried to cheer him up.

‘’I am sure he knows how much he means to you,’’ Emily said with a smile.

‘’Thank you. I believe so too.’’ he replied with a smile ‘’Well, where were we? Yes. Magic. Do you know how we got magic?’’

‘’Um, No,’’ Emily replied scratching the back of her head.

‘’Magic was a gift from God. It is believed that God gifted the first humans to ever exist in the world, the magic to help them through life. With magic, we can go anywhere, we can no longer be thirsty, we can warm ourselves. Everything is possible with magic. Unfortunately, with time passing by, not everyone has magic. Some were born without it. The magic started to become rare. I believe that is because of our sins. Eventually, God will take his grace from us and we will be left without it.’’

‘’our sins? Did our ancestors do something bad?’’

‘’This is just my theory, but the ‘’200 years of darkness.’’ had to do with why magic is becoming less and less. In our time, if a person was born with healing magic, he will be treated as a noble by the kingdom. They will have anything they desire. But they will also be forced to marry and have kids. To see if they also have the healing magic. If they do, they will be treated with extra care and would be raised in a way I won’t call a normal way. If they don’t have it, the family will be forced after the passing of the healer to descend from the nobility. A cruel world, isn’t it? you are judged from your birth.’’ Emily was speechless.

‘’That is why Rolo and I created the healing potions. With the help of our kingdom’s healer, we managed to find a way to make the healing potions. We are one step closer to break this system.’’

‘’Yes!’’ Emily replied happily ‘’Oh, I was curious, what did you mean by your goal earlier?’’

‘’My goal? I can’t say it. If I say it, it won’t happen.’’ He smiled back. Emily looked the other way shyly.

‘’Any other question? I am willing to answer any kind of questions you have.’’

Emily had a lot of questions about sorcerers as well as the Divine Magic. When they finished, they got back to the research office through teleportation. Again, King Zolten asks Emily to let go of his hand. She then beds him farewell as she awkwardly walks out of the room.

‘’This girl! I can’t believe a normal girl like her has the potential to destroy or protect the world. When the right time comes, I'll tell her all about it.’’ King Zolten thought to himself as he chuckles.

The trio spends their last night in the Hogios Kingdom before going back to Athena. The next day, they packed their stuff and went ahead on their journey. Before they left, King Zolten gave Emily a book about how to learn the ‘’Greek Language’’ and told her to come back once she fully understands it. As it was beneficial for her as a sorcerer. She happily agreed. He also gave an extraordinary amount of money to her. She kindly accepted.

Infront of the castle, the trio was with Amara and Rolo.

‘’Are you sure you want to give us the carriage?’’ Emily asked Rolo.

‘’Well of course. I can’t let you guys go without it.’’

‘’Thanks.’’

Amara who was there as well looked at Edward and said ‘’Next time, you should tell her how you feel Edward.’’

‘’Tell who?’’ Emily asked.

‘’U-Uh, No one.’’ Edward awkwardly replied ‘’Anyways, we have to go. The night will fall on us while we still on the road.’’ he started to push both Jin and Emily to go on the carriage.

As they were walking out of the city, they were stopped by a line of guards and knights.

‘’Heads up! Salute!’’ the guards cleared a path for the carriage to go as they maintained their military salute for the group.

‘’Keep on with the training guys! You will become stronger I promise.’’ Jin was smiling the whole time.

From behind they hear a familiar voice trying his best to call for them. The three look behind them and sees Valen as well as his mother and Elena’s father, trying to catch up to them.

‘’Mentor Jin! Sister Emily! Brother Edward! I will become a great knight and visit you someday.’’ The three smiled and waved back at him.

The group left the city as they wave back to everyone.

‘’I want to come back here!’’ Emily said.

‘’Me too!’’ Jin and Edward both said.

After a few days on the road, they got back to Athena’s capital city. They head towards Cecilia’s shop after they parked the carriage in the military zone.

‘’You guys brought back a carriage. That will help you in your travels.’’ Elise said ‘’Well, tell me all about what happened.’’

Emily told her everything from the second they got out of the capital till their last day in the Hogios Kingdom.

‘’I see. I knew about Rolo’s hatred towards adventurers but I didn’t think it will lead to two people dead.’’

‘’What? You knew?’’ Emily asked.

‘’Yeah! I wanted Rolo to bring you guys along so he could forget about his past.’’

‘’What his past has to do with his hatred towards adventurers?’’

‘’Rolo’s parents were adventurers. His mother gave birth to him as they were traveling through the Albion continent. They continued doing adventurer jobs regardless. When Rolo was five years old, his parents went to another job. When they usually go, they leave him at a friend who used to work in an orphanage. The same orphanage I was in. That day, they never came back. Rolo thinks they left him there for good. To this day, he doesn’t know the truth. Both his parents were killed in that job.’’ The trio was shocked.

‘’B-But why didn’t you tell him, Elise? He must know the truth!’’ Emily stood up furious.

‘’I couldn’t say it... I didn’t know it till his parents’ friend was dying. I went to see her and she told me the truth. When Rolo came, she was already gone. I couldn’t break the news. He thought of her as if his real mother. To this day, he still funds the same orphanage with the money he gets from the healing potions. I insisted on recruiting you guys, to change his perspective on adventurers. Since I know you, you’re what adventurers are really like.’’

Everyone stayed quiet. Emily sat down again, looking down as she felt sad. Jin then stood up and spoke.

‘’Elise. Next time Rolo comes, you must tell him the truth. Put yourself in his shoes, he hates his real parents. No child should hate his parents. I am sure they loved him. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have risked their lives to feed him and gives him a proper life. It was unfortunate that they lost their lives while trying to reach their goal.’’ Jin’s tone told everyone he was truly sad from the bottom of his heart.

‘’Still, he did change,’’ Edward said.

‘’yeah.’’ everyone smiled.

‘’Enough of that, how about a drink in our favorite tavern huh?’’ Elise said to cheer up everyone.

‘’Sure!’’

The group then went after Elise closed the shop to have a blast with drinks. As usual, Elise gets too drunk and starts shouting and wobbling. Edward hates when she gets drunk as she keeps calling him Eddie. The local band plays beautiful music with their instrument. For the first time, Emily gets too drunk and starts dancing with Elise. They then dragged Edward and then Jin who was extremely anxious to dance. As they were holding hands with other drunk people and moving in a circular motion, Jin couldn’t help but think:

‘’Living like this is pretty fun mentor!’’