Taken Spot

The scene in front of me was amusing. I never thought that I'd ever witness the people of Kassiel react as I wanted against the person who once ruled over them. The citizens always acted against me, but this time their actions were lead by me who brought evidence back to Kassiel. I enjoyed every second of this. I enjoyed seeing the king's face go red from screaming at the top of his lungs only for no one to hear him. He attacked me at the academy and arrogantly stood in front of me, implying that everything that happened was my fault. In the end, it was his. Maybe if he treated his citizens a little better, their reactions might be calmer than their current ones.

"Hey," I called out to the knights near me, "don't stand there looking all confused. Someone with a lower position than royalty should not stand in front of royalty or wear a crown right?" I stepped behind Theodore.

The knights turned to look at the king, "right." The knights got on the platform and approached the king.

"Hm?" Theodore was confused when he saw the knights approaching, still shocked by what happened.

"Your majesty, please let us handle this," said a knight, "we will dispose of this swindler immediately." Two knights then grabbed the king by the arms.

"You dare?! I am your king!" the king was fuming. "Do you believe the words of a foreign Goddess than your current ruler?!"

"I didn't think you were this ignorant," I spoke up.

"You! I should've listened to Owen's words and hung you that day! There should be no such thing as 'chances' for someone as evil as you!"

"If you had hung me that day, then I don't think the head of the Infermel family would let you go. Besides, you think your power is stronger than a Goddess's? Just because Nova isn't your Goddess doesn't mean you can trample all over her title. Just like how the citizens were nothing to you when they believed you were Esper's descendant, you who's just a fake cannot be compared to a Goddess," a wide smirk appeared on my face.

I was happy. Really, really happy. I must look insane right now from the way the king is looking at me. I must look like the definition of 'true evil' right now from the fear I see on the knight's faces. 'True evil' was what I was called, but maybe it really is my reality.

"Greetings everyone," Eason appeared, staring up at the platform, "do you mind-"

"Jarle! Jarle! I knew I could trust you!" the king yelled with a smile, reaching out towards Eason.

"What are you talking about you fake?" Eason's smile was coldest one I've ever seen him have. Even the ones that he flashes towards me still held a little warmth. "I'm not here to save you. You see, I'm quite disgusted that I use to believe and look up to a fake like you, so I was going to ask to deny the recommendation letter that I received from you for the expedition to Corcean." I was both surprised and mad by what Eason said.

It seems like the king was already favouring Eason this early on. When he allowed me to travel across nations when I was in Eason's body, I (well Eason) had just turned 20 years old! Because of that, I thought that the king had only started getting affected by Eason's hero halo later on, but it seems I was wrong since the king had given Eason a recommendation letter to go to Corcean.

'Corcean' is a small country that is shared between the three big nations; Floran, Kassiel and Thanar. Although Corcean is small, it has the most valuable resources which makes it a big target for raids so about 80 years ago, the three big nations offered to protect Corcean if it goes under them and provide them with resources yearly. The jade that Nova handed me as well as the materials that the gadgets in Floran were made from could've been supplied to Floran from Corcean.

Despite being supplied resources by Corcean, the reason why Thanar and Kassiel don't have items as advanced as Floran is because they lack the knowledge to create them, not because they get less. Resources are distributed equally amongst the three big nations. No one gets more and no one gets less, not even by only one scrap of iron or a crystal. I guess fairness is something that's held highly in Corcean since they could've given one of the three big nations more to gain favour.

In full honesty, I feel kind of bad for Thanar. They continuously resort to violence from the lack of gadgets because fighting is all they know. Unlike Floran and Kassiel, they don't know much about the outside world. It's not because their God is forcing them to stay there and be ignorant, it's because they never want to leave Thanar. The result of people not wanting to leave Thanar is them not having much knowledge to create things. I would hate to call them dumb, so let's just say they have muscles for brains. At least they're first in combat abilities.

"Jarle! You dare insult me after all I did for you?! You even reject the recommendation letter for the Corcean expedition. Do you know how many people in the academy wants to see Corcean?!" the king's happiness soon turned into anger once again.

"Of course I do, however I wouldn't go so low that I'd accept a recommendation from a fraud who lies to others even though the true heir is right there," replied Eason. "You were destined to fall one day."

"Destined?" I mumbled under my breath. Eason asked me if I believed in fate before, but now it seems like he's was the one who believes in fate.

"Don't you find it strange that the true descendant of Esper was the prostitute and her child that you brought in? It's quite a big coincident right? You must've done many bad things in your previous life. Fate doesn't seem to like you that much and even put the one who'd take your spot right under your wing," Eason smiled with his eyes closed.

"Hah... it really is fate," the white haired male with red eyes mumbled, smiling with widened eyes. Why does he look like someone who saw a myth they were told of come true? "He was right..." the white haired male mumbled once again.

Who the hell is 'he'? Wait, there was only one person that the male with red eyes seems to follow; hero Felix. Could he be talking about him?

"I heard that you hated his majesty for killing for prostitute you loved, but in reality it wasn't his fault that she died in childbirth. You even let your son bully his majesty and ignored his cries. Now it's your cries that will be ignored by the world. How ironic," Eason chuckled. I felt like joining him and laughing too. It really was ironic.

I didn't feel like seeing the king's face anymore and luckily, Theodore was quick to adapt and ordered the guards to send the king and Owen to the underground floor. Theodore seemed reluctant when he made that order however, the water snake that suddenly formed on his shoulder seemed to encourage him to.

After the crowd cleared up, I decided to ask Theodore for something.

"Your majesty, I have something that I want to request," I said, respectfully bowing.

"Please just treat me like your friend, no need to bow. I'm not even officially crowned and I'm not use to people treating me with that much respect." smiled Theodore. 'Not use to people treating him with this much respect'? What the hell had the previous king been doing?! Even if Theodore's not his real son, how could he allow others to trample over him? This is basic curtesy!

"I think it would be great if you get use to people treating you like this. You'll be king soon."

"...Right," Theodore looked a little sad. "I just thought that I'd be able to relax more. I'll have a lot of responsibilities soon. People are already referring to me as 'your majesty' even though I'm not even king yet too. They adapt so much faster than me." His words hit me hard. He is currently 16, only three years older than me and now he has to bare the responsibilities of a king. Perhaps I should've kept things a secret a little while longer so he could enjoy his life a little more. I was blinded by the hatred I felt towards the king and overlooked the happiness of Theodore.

"I'm sorry. Your peaceful days will now be disturbed because of me," I apologised.

"It's ok. You helped me get a spot on the throne. I should be thanking you instead of getting an apology from you. So, what do you want to request? If I can do it then I will agree to your request without question," said Theodore.

"Since Jarle's spot in the recommendations for the expedition to Corcean is now empty, may I take it?" I asked.

"Sure," agreed Theodore, "I'll send the recommendation letter as soon as I can."

"Your majesty, we must go," spoke Leona.

"I'll excuse myself Infermel," said Theodore before leaving.

"I didn't know you'd take my spot in the recommendations that fast," commented Eason.

"If you don't want it then I'll take it," I started walking away. Eason just smiled and went on his way.

When I got back to the Infermel mansion, I instantly feel asleep from exhaustion. I was then woken up by yelling and numerous loud footsteps in the Infermel mansion.

"Oh hey, you're awake," a white bird with red eyes landed on the window sill, "well it's quite hard to sleep with that much noise going on huh?"

"Why are you here?" I asked, sitting up.

"The fake king and his son escaped from the underground floor," the male said.

"Alright," I said with a neutral tone.

"Do you not care?" he was bewildered.

"No."

"Felix!" my bedroom door was slammed open by dad who looked panicked.

"What's wrong?" I questioned. I don't know why he looks so anxious, but it's probably the same reason why there's so much noise in the mansion.

"Alberu's been kidnapped."