Chapter 17 - The True Successor
*SPLAT!*
The rat's body was squished flat and it's innards scattered across the floor within the dark tunnels of Orbsberg's sewer.
"Damn rats bit a piece off my leg!", exclaimed a man as he faced their leader. "We've been here for two weeks! How long is this going to take!?"
"The scouts said that the wedding will happen two days from now. Until then, we must wait here.", their leader replied. He stood up and checked their supplies. "The food, water and candles we have left will be enough."
"Enough!? I had enough! Enough of the foul smell! Enough of the bloodthirsty rats! Enough of the dark! I have to get this bite cleaned. I did not become a high soldier of Vaniris just to die by an infection from a rat bite!"
In an instant, the leader threw two daggers directly at the man's thigs.
"GAAAHHHH!! W-what are you doing!?", he cried as he fell down.
"You are not the only one here who is suffering.", he raised his candle and and the light showed more than a hundred people were sitting quietly at all corners of the area. "Every single one of us has sacrificed just to make this plan work. If you dare try to disrespect everyone's conviction, then I'd rather kill you right here and now."
The man looked at everyone and didn't argue anymore. He slowly dragged himself towards the corner and wrapped his wounds with his own ripped shirt.
"Patience my Vaniris and Orbsberg brothers. When the time come, I will make sure that King Bertram and his people will feel our pain and our wrath.", the leader said as he walked back to his spot. He was a tall man with golden brown hair and brown eyes. He then sat quietly, trying to preserve his strength.
*Splash* *Splash* *Splash*
"*Gasp* P-prince! *Gasp* ", a man called out to him while dragging his feet in the shallow sewer water.
"Ugh-, what is it now?", he replied with a very annoyed expression.
"Gahh!", the man grunted as he fell down.
One of the men checked on him. His face was beaten up, his clothes tattered and bruises covered his body.
"Sir! It's one of the lookouts!"
"What happened to him!?"
"Hey! Who got to you!?"
Their leader stood up and went to have a closer look. He had lost most of his teeth and broken all his fingers. His injuries showed signs of torture which made the leader anxious.
"Hey! Hang in there! Who did this to you? Where are the other men?", he tried to ask him but he had lost consciousness already when he fell down.
"They got him good."
"Did the Orbsberg army find them?"
"Meaning our position here is compromised."
"Impossible! Our men wouldn't have lost given the advantage in terrain and the element of surprise."
The men were obviously affected as well.
"Everyone be on guard!", their leader commanded. "They purposely let one live so that he would come back and lead them straight to us."
"O-ho-", everyone was surprised as they heard a man's voice from the dark tunnel. "You're a smart one, aren't you? You must be the leader."
"W-who are you!?", he nervously asked. Everyone was up and preparing themselves for battle.
Two people entered the room, A female dwarf and a man.
"So you're prince Theodore. Nice to meet you.", Wade said with a devious smile.
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The crowd in the training hall were chatting anxiously, especially the palace staff.
"Why would the king approve of this? Does he have no mercy for her only daughter?"
"I hope she'll be alright."
"Princess- "
At the viewing deck, the king sat comfortably while looking down. Two people was standing behind him. The palace's oldest swordsmanship instructor and former general, Cymus and the king's top general and closest friend, General Azmir.
"O-ho, the princess has a decent form. No easy openings or blind spots from the target in front. What did they teach her in that school?", Azmir asked the king.
"I don't know. She never wrote once.", the king replied.
"Hmph-, prince Laz is my best student with a perfect challenge record and is very elegant with the sword. Not to mention, he has first-hand experience in fighting in front of the battlefield.", Cymus boasted. "Whatever that school may have taught the princess, it won't be enough to defeat the prince."
"Hmm-, but you can never be sure.", Azmir replied.
"Oh, I'm sure about this one. I bet you a hundred gold coins that the prince will win without a single scratch.", Cymus arrogantly told him.
"Nah, there's no way I'll bet a penny on the princess. If I had started the bet, I would've put my money on the prince, too."
The both of them looked at each other and chuckled.
"Very well, then-", the king gestured his hand ordering a young squire to come to them.
"Your Majesty!", the squire stood in attention behind the three of them.
The two was surprised and was wondering what the king was up to.
"Squire-, fetch me a thousand gold coins.", he ordered the lad.
"Yes, sir!", he snappily replied and went inside the palace.
"Your grace, may I ask what the thousand gold coins were for?", Cymus curiously asked him.
"I bet a thousand gold coins that Alex will win.", the said to them.
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"Huh!!?", the two of the exclaimed.
"Are you sure, my king?", Azmir was in shock.
"You know how I am, Amir. I never go back on my word.",
"Well-, this might be the easiest thousand gold coins that I'll win in my life.", Cymus said with a big grin on his face.
"Hey, hey now. He said the two of us. So it will be split 50-50.", Azmir told him.
"70-30, since I came up with the idea."
"Fine, 300 gold coins in an instant isn't so bad."
"A thousand gold coins, your grace.", the squire returned holding a bag of gold.
"Alright-", the king raised his hand. "Let the exhibition fight between the prince and the princess, BEGIN!!"
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"Hya!!", Laz pointed his sword at Alex and thrusted forward with great speed and accuracy.
"Perfect form. The prince is in his perfect shape today. This will be over in an instant.", Cymus said with a grin on his face.
But to everyone's surprise, Laz's sword could not touch Alex.
He began to swing his sword towards her, but Alex was confidently dodging every strike.
"Stand still! You slick brat!", Laz grunted as he added more strength to his swings.
"What's going on?", Azmir can't take his eyes off the fight.
"Way to go, princess!!", cheered the palace staff.
"This is strange. Prince Laz's accuracy is spot on but he's not hitting. The princess' reflex is not ordinary.", Cymus was astonished.
"You litte-", Laz pointed his sword forward and stepped on Alex's left foot.
Alex was surprised and was outbalanced. Laz took the opportunity and thrusted his sword towards Alex's face.
Alex barely dodged his sword but it grazed her cheeks. Alex immediately jumped away to keep her distance.
"Alex!", Zac shouted.
Everyone gasped for air, all worried for Alex. Alex wiped the blood from her cheeks and stared daggers at Laz.
Laz smiled and swung his sword down, flicking her blood on the floor. "This is the difference in our experience, little sis."
Alex dropped her fists and changed her posture.
"Ready to surrender?", Laz chuckled.
Alex raised two hand in front of her face and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, she dashed towards Laz at lightning speed.
Everyone was shocked. Even Laz was surprised with Alex's speed. "W-w-wait-"
Alex charged and threw a quick right jab. Laz was flustered but was able to slightly dodge and was grazed in the cheek. "GAAHH!"
Cymus realized that something wrong is happening and was getting nervous.
Alex immediately gave him a punch in the gut.
"Gahh!", Laz grunted in pain that he almost threw up. As Laz was crouching down, Alex quickly threw her knee towards Laz's face. Laz was thrown meters away with his nose broken and some of his ribs broken.
Everyone was speechless while they were watching prince Laz's beating.
Laz grunted as he tried to stand with his weak shaking legs.
"It-- can't-- be!—the strength—of Alexander!", Laz said while panting heavily. "You're—not even—a legitimate child!"
Alex dashed towards Laz and raised her right fist. "Mountain Breaker—"
Laz tried to step back to dodge but Alex immediately stepped on his right foot.
"Thanks for the experience-", Alex said as she stared as his trembling face.
Alex threw a strong punch at his brother's chest and sent him flying towards the training room's wall.
Everyone's jaw dropped.
Cymus and Azmir was frozen still including prince Zac and her butler.
"The real successor—"
"The real successor to the throne—"
"King Alexander's strength—"
The people around murmured.
The king slammed his hand on his chair that made a loud sound in the room. Everyone went quiet and looked at him.
The king stood up and cleared his throat. "The winner of this exhibition match is, Princess Alex!!"
"OOHHHH!!!!", everyone cheered.
"HOORRAYYY!!!"
"THE PRINCESS WON!!"
"I'll be collecting the thousand gold coins later.", the king told the two of the as he smiled.
Azmir and Cymus looked at each other with their jaws dropped.
"Alex!", Zach hugged her. "I'm so glad you're alright!"
Her butler covered her back with a towel. "Good work, your highness."
The palace's medics immediately ran to prince Laz and carefully carried him to the palace's hospital.
"Squire-", the king called the boy.
"Yes, your grace?"
"Call my advisers. We will be having an emergency meeting.", he said as he left his seat.
"Understood, your grace."
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"It's already 8 pm, they're still not here.", Melissa checked her watch. "You think something happened to them?"
"Puff told us to look for a place to stay. We should trust them.", Rafaela looked up at the manhole and placed her hands on the steel ladder. "Let's go."
Rafaela and Melissa slowly climbed the ladder. Rafaela peeked first and checked if there was anyone around. Then the two of them crept out the hole and silently covered it back.
The streets of Orbsberg operates a lot of businesses even at night. The lights of street vendors, general stores and dozen restaurants brings life to the city during the night.
"This place is livelier than I thought.", Rafaela looked around the streets.
Melissa looked up at the buildings, "We better find a motel or something, I'm tired."
"You're right." Rafaela replied. "And my shoes smell like sewer water."
THUD!
"Ouch!", Rafaela was suddenly bumped by someone while not paying attention to the crowd. "Watch where you're going!"
"What's wrong?", Melissa looked at the person that bumped Rafaela and instantly froze in place.
The person was long haired woman, wearing a black hooded robe and a giant scythe on her back. Her eyes were the only parts that they can clearly see on her face. It was like a mirror that reflected the lights of the streets. She was like a walking shadow with eyes attached to them.
"My bad~", she said with a chilling voice.
Rafaela and Melissa felt a chill down their spines.
"I have a bad feeling about her. Let's go Raven.", Melissa held Rafaela's arm feeling the goosebumps on her skin.
"Yeah, I know-", Rafaela and Melissa turned around and walked away from her.
The woman continued walking like nothing happened.
"What was that? I have never felt that much aura in my life. It was like bloodlust itself was escaping from her body.", Rafaela thought as they quickly walked away from the mysterious woman,
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"This changes everything, your grace!", Azmir, the king's top general said out loud.
"But the princess is already promised to the first prince of Lauritius. We can't suddenly change plans on the last minute.", Cymus, the king's right hand man replied.
Everyone in the room was tensed and were clearly eager for answers. The meeting consisted of Azmir, the kingdom's top general; Cymus, the king's right hand; Hemir, the gold keeper of the kingdom; Ramsi, the medical head; Bran and Zach, the heads of the research department; Martin, the business head of the kingdom and Samuel, the top priest of the of Orbsberg's church.
The king sat in front of them while everyone else sat on the other side of the long table.
"That was before we knew that princess Alexandria has King Alexander's strength.", Hemir replied to Cymus. " Now, that we have two bearers of super human strength in our side, why do we need another country's aid?"
"That's right! Princess Alexandria can be now considered as one of the most valued asset of our kingdom. We can't afford marrying her to other countries." Ramsi sternly said supporting Hemir's statement.
"Hmph! Funny how you lot fawn over Alex after knowing that she is the successor of Alexander's strength when not too long ago everyone in this room except me all agreed to give her away to Lauritius without any hesitation.", Prince Zach said glaring at the king's advisers.
"Please understand, my prince-", Samuel replied, "Desperate times calls for desperate measures. And since Lauritius is a country built by a Spartan-like culture wherein most of their economy relies on training mercenaries, gladiators and assassins, our minerals and precious metals means only but little to them. Only the princess is our best bargaining chip."
"Bargaining chip-!?"
"Don't blame us for thinking that way, prince." Marting arrogantly said, "The women in this country's best asset in them is that they can be married to another family and therefore strengthening her family and their bloodline. It's true for my mother, everyone else's mother and even your mother, the queen."
"Watch your mouth Count Martin-!", Zach stood up, unable to hide his agitation.
"Now, now, let's not get heated and stay on topic.", Bran placed his hand on Zach's shoulder trying to calm him down. "More importantly, what does your highness, the King, think about all of this?"
"Hmm-", the king rubbed his beard. "I have a feeling that the late queen knew about Alex's abilities. Since she was the one who enrolled Alex to a far away school. But I can't say for sure since I don't have any clear proof. If only I had known, I wouldn't have agreed with Laz's idea on marrying Alex to the champion and first prince of Lauritius. But the responsibility still falls upon me since I am the king."
"The King and prince of Laurituis should be arriving tomorrow afternoon. If you plan to suddenly cancel the engagement, it may start another war.", Cymus explained.
"It doesn't matter if another country wage war upon us.", Azmir stood proudly. "With two people on our side who has King Alexander's strength and with one of the most well trained and well armored army, we can crush Vaniris and any other country that goes against us."
"Considering that the princess cooperates with us in the war.", Martin replied. "What if she doesn't want to partake in your war? Did you consider that?"
"B-but, it's also her country. She will help us. I know it.", Azmir said with less confidence than earlier.
"That's just thinking positively, especially when she was casted away by her family and her country because she was an illegitimate offspring. How can you be so sure that she will help?", Martin directly asked him.
Azmir looked down, unable to answer.
"Don't underestimate Alex, you selfish lot!", Zach angrily lashed at them. "Even after all the hardships and discrimination that she had experienced in this country, she did not think twice on giving up on her new found life away from the politics and violence and immediately came back after she was summoned against her will, just to be married to someone that she does not know."
"Still-", Cymus sternly spoke. " A decision still has to be made."
Everyone was murmuring and debating on what needs to be done. When suddenly-
"THUD!!!", the floor made a loud sound as the king slammed his right foot down.
The room became quiet.
The King stood straight and looked at his advisers. "I have made a decision."
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"Who are you!?", Prince Theodore, the second prince of Orbsberg exclaimed as he pointed his daggers at Wade and Puff.
"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down.", Wade raised his hands to show his unwillingness to fight. "We're not here to fight you."
"How can you say that after almost murdering this guy!?", one of the grunts shouted at him while examining the body of the man they tortured.
"He wasn't cooperating, so we played with him for a bit.", Puff arrogantly replied.
"I'd choose my words wisely if I were you, dwarf.", Theodore raised a newly lit candle. The light showed all the soldiers and grunts standing around them in the number of hundreds.
"Now that's more like it.", Puff cracked her knuckles.
Wade placed his hand on Puff's shoulder and took a few steps in front of Puff.
"Like I said; we're not here to fight you guys.", Wade calmly told them.
"Then tell us, why are you here? Or are you just saying excuses cause you have lost your nerve in front of my army.", Theodore and the men chuckled.
"What did you sa-",
"We're here to join you!", Wade declared.
"What!?", Puff was shocked.
"Join us? After what you did to my men, you really expect us to accept you? You've got to be kidding me.", Theodore walked slowly towards wade with his daggers still pointing at him.
"Of course, since we both have the same goal-", Wade stared at him confidently, "To demolish the current kingdom of Orbsberg."
"Whaaat? I wasn't infor-", Puff stopped talking as Wade pinched her lips shut.
"You see, my friend is being held captive the king. She's being froced to do things that she doesn't like since she was born. She was oppressed and alienated this country and she can't do anything about it. So I figured, too hell with this kingdom, I'll burn it to the ground.", Wade said while staring directly at Theodore's eyes.
"I see.", Theodore lowered his daggers. "You also hold a deep grudge against the kingdom. Your friend is a "she" right? Maybe she's one of the king's concubines. One of the women forcibly taken by the king's advisers after they buried them with unreasonable debts."
"So this kingdom also do those kind of scams, too.", Wade thought to himself.
"Hmph! If that's the case-,", Theodore hid his daggers and reached his hand forward. "You are welcome to join us. Together with our allies from Vaniris and Orbsberg, we will destroy this kingdom and rebuild it to be better and stronger."
Wade firmly grabbed Theodore's hand while smiling, "Thanks for letting us join your crew."
"Are you sure about this boss?", one of his grunts asked him." They look very sketchy to me."
"Don't worry.", Prince Theodore spoke confidently. "I have a talent in reading people, you see. And I know that he's not lying. If he has the same goal as ours, then why not? After all, they easily defeated 50 of our scouts with a terrain disadvantage. We need strong people on our side more now than ever."
"Ahh, don't worry.", Wade smilingly said. "We didn't kill any of your men. We've just knocked them out."
"You have my gratitude.", Theodore replied. "Cole-"
"Yes, your highness!", answered one of the soldiers.
"Form a team and recover the scouts.",
"Yes, sire!",
The soldier choose a few men from the crowd and departed
Theodore turned around and walked back to his seat. " Find a place in this tunnel to rest, you two. We will be attacking the palace the day after tomorrow."
"Got it.", Wade replied and the two of them turned around to look for a spot to rest.
" So we're one of the rebels now?", Puff asked with an annoyed expression.
"Yeah, I guess. Just like before, right?", Wade smiled at her.
"Hmph-", Puff scoffed at her. "I thought we had already escaped this life. Well, you're the man with the plan. I hope you know wha---"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Puff was frozen still after sensing a familiar and distinct killing aura.
"It can't be-"
"What is it?", Wade asked the startled Puff.
"She's-, she's here-", she replied with sweat running down her forehead.
Wade knelt down, meeting Puff at eye level, acknowledging how serious the situation is. "Tell me, who is it?'
Puff stared directly at Wade, "Maybe because you don't have your full power, that's why you can't sense her, but I'm certain. There can only be one person that can match our level of aura."
"Don't tell me- ", Wade's eyes broadened after realizing who she's talking about.
"She's here-, Serene."
End of Chapter 17