by Pegaz
He began laughing hysterically for a minute straight, bringing about a squeaky wheeze followed by a coughing fit. “This changes everything.”
He climbed out of bed and got dressed as quickly as possible.
“How does this change things?” his son asked.
“I’ll explain later.” The old man made his way towards the door. “Send a pigeon to Carola and ask for the specifics. After that, meet me inside the vault.”
* * *
The king stepped inside the vault. Its square-tiled metal floor and smooth ceiling shone without imperfections. Shelves full of rolled ancient parchments, gold, and other precious items lined the outer edges, while the centre was stacked with cased jewellery and ancient armour.
The son stepped into the vault to see his father idling in front of a piece of chest armour on a stand. He remembered its story quite clearly. It was traded to the king for the golden eagle badge, and it was after the trade that the king warned his children to flee if they ever crossed paths with the owner of the badge.
The King of Bahan turned to his son and motioned for him to follow him deeper into the vault.
After a few minutes, they turned down a small corridor with a small room at the end. In front of them stood a chair and a large desk, clear of clutter, and on the eastern wall was a small, locked wall safe made from the strongest metal the kingdom’s blacksmiths could forge. Only the king could open this safe as not even his children had the combination.
To the surprise of the son, the father turned to his left and removed a fake metal floor tile. Underneath were books and other documents.
“What about the safe?” the prince asked.
His father picked up the largest book from inside the hole in the ground before putting the fake tile back over it. “There’s nothing in it. If ever a thief comes, a safe like that will draw their attention. They won’t notice a fake tile, at least not until finding nothing inside the safe anyway.”
The king placed the book on the desk and took a seat. His son stood close, hovering over his shoulder, ears perked with curiosity.
“This is the most guarded secret of our family,” his father stated. “Millions of years ago, this world didn’t have any kingdoms. There were only a few villages scattered about and whenever the people of opposite villages met, war would always break out.
“Then, our ancestor came along. He united the villages under his leadership and built the capital. After a few years, he created the kingdom.”
His son nodded. “That’s common knowledge. Everybody who goes to learn will find out about it.”
The old man chuckled. “True, but they don’t know that our ancestor was an immortal! That’s the secret!”
“Impossible! That’s just a fairy tale old men wish for.”
Shaking his head, the old king replied, “I’m not talking about a fairy tale. This is the truth. Our ancestor was an immortal who ran away from his sect because a war had just broken out. If he didn’t run, then he would’ve been forced to go to war.”
“So, our ancestor was a coward?”
“I prefer the term survivalist,” the king replied.
“Suppose I believe you,” the son scoffed. “What’s this got to do with the man who demanded the golden badge?”
The old man laughed again. “What he did was only something immortals could do! Inside this book is our ancestor’s guide about immortality. When that man made the entire room go cold, I remembered something from this book.”
He carefully turned the pages, trying to find what he was looking for. “Aha! Read this!”
His son turned the book towards him and read the section his father’s finger was pointing at.
A lot of the lower ranked immortals cannot control their powers properly. A red veil will cover their entire body and the temperature will drop when it goes out of control. Some immortals call it killing intent since it’ll only be active when the immortal wants to kill somebody, but any immortal who has this red veil is a failure.
I have seen a few people walk along the wrong path, trying to control when this veil appears so they can threaten weaker immortals or mortals at will.
However, using this veil will use up the Life Power they’ve painfully gathered for no real gain, making it a waste of time, effort, and ability.
His son stopped reading up to here and looked at his father. “What does this mean?”
The old man smiled and replied, “It means that man is a low-ranked immortal who went on the wrong path and can control the red veil our ancestors talked about.”
“But even a low rank immortal is an extremely dangerous person! I don’t know what you’re thinking of doing with the information from this book, but it could lead us to a disaster!” the son exclaimed, trying to convince his father from doing anything stupid.
“I know. I’m not going to give him any trouble, so at least he should be willing to hear me out.”
“What do you want to do?”
“There’s priceless knowledge in this book from our ancestor! If we offer this bit of information to the immortal and it turns out to be true, it’ll help his cultivation and possibly get us in his good graces. That’s not including any of the other information inside this book, too!”
His son nodded and waited for his father to continue.
“He’s an immortal, so he might be able to give us immortality, or at least a few extra years to live!” A wicked grin slid onto the king’s face as he spoke. “Even if that’s not possible, just having an immortal owe us a favour would be well worth trading this book that’s been rotting away for countless years, no?”
His son decided he had to pull his father out of the clouds. Surely nothing good could come from trying to bargain with an immortal. “He’s still human! He’s not immune to greed and deceit! What’s going to stop him from taking the book by force? Who in this world can stop him?”
His father’s smile disappeared instantly. Without looking at his son, he gently closed the book and wrapped it back in its protective cloth. “You’re right, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need more information before we make a move. I think it’s worth the risk because I’ve only got a few years left to live at most, but that risk shouldn’t involve you or Carola.”
He paused to lower the book into the hole and placed the fake tile back into its original position
“When the trade happens, everybody in the castle will have to leave for a while. You’ll go into hiding until I send word that it’s safe. If you don’t hear anything from me after a week, expect the worst.
“Let’s see if there’s a reply from Carola. She might have more information we’ll need if there’s any hope for the trade to happen.”
The son watched his father walk towards the exit. He lowered his head, thinking for a few seconds before he walked at a fast pace to catch up.
Chapter 18: Gathering Information
“Father, why don’t you go back to bed or start doing some paperwork? I’ll go check to see if there’s been a reply. If others see you doing something out of the ordinary, they’ll suspect that something is wrong.”
The old man stopped and turned to look at his son. After a few seconds, he nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I know I won’t be able to get back to sleep, so I’ll go pretend to work for a bit. Go see if there’s a reply and find me as soon as you receive it.”
“Yes, Father.” The son scurried away without looking back.
* * *
Hours had passed since the two men split up. The king sat in his working quarters and refused to take any visitors unless an important matter came up. Between infrequent knocks, he paced the plush carpet wondering why his son had yet to return.
Knock! Knock!
Upon hearing the knock at the door, the old man stood next to the window. “Enter!”
His son walked into the room with a large stack of papers in one hand. He closed the door with his spare hand and walked towards the desk in the middle of the room, placing
the papers down with a soft thud.
“Finally! What took you so long? Was there a message?” the old man shouted while he walked towards the desk.
“Yes. I read the message and got all the necessary paperwork in order before coming to see you, Father.”
The prince held out his hand with a neatly folded piece of paper, but it was quickly snatched by the king with an impatient grunt. He carelessly unfolded it, ripping one of the corners as he started to read the note.
Father,
We’re at an unnamed town, southwest of the capital, quite a ways away. I sent one of my trusted men to gather information.
It didn’t take long for my subordinate to report that the woman with the golden eagle badge is the daughter of the doctor and knight in this town. She looks to be around my age, and according to some villages, she knows both martial arts and medicine thanks to her parents.
Her parents are missing from town, but it’s been said that the knight in town retired with your blessing years ago while the doctor is said to be the spitting image of the woman with the badge, only slightly older.
I will try to find out more, but my whore of a husband has taken quite the interest in the woman with the badge. If your warnings about the owner of the badge are true, then I fear my future husband will stir that man’s wrath.
The king stroked his beard and thought for a moment. “I always wondered why that man would need the badge, considering his strength. Turns out it was for his daughter.”
The king turned his attention towards the stack of papers. “What have you found out, then, since you took so long?”
His son cleared his throat. “As Carola mentioned, that town is unnamed. It was created over thirty-two years ago to expand into the jungle since there was a gold mine found nearby. The mine ran dry after a few years, and since then, the village was abandoned by us.
“That all changed when the knight and his wife moved there. Since then, merchants and thieves alike started moving to the village, and it eventually became what it is now.
“According to the records, it has passed the requirements to obtain a name and the name plaque has already been created. You’re actually scheduled to officiate the town eight months from now.
“The documents in front of me are all the knights that came from that town in the last fourteen years. If you go through them, they all say the knight who trained them is named Oxide Stint and they gave the same description of him. To be thorough, I went to the person in charge of knight personnel and asked about the man.
“He could describe Oxide Stint with great detail despite the amount of time that has passed, however…”
The son paused and squinted his left eye, deep in thought.
“Out with it!” the king demanded.
“Yes, well, the knight in question registered with two other knights back then. When I asked the personnel about the other two, he couldn’t recall anything.
“With the knowledge that immortals exist, I think that the immortal has bribed, threatened, or manipulated the man somehow to change the records. After all, even you—who have everything anybody would ever want—want to trade with the immortal. Who knows what he could offer to someone who has far less?
“When I dug even deeper, I found out the name in the registry, Oxide Stint, is actually an anagram for ‘I don’t exist.’
“My conclusion is that the immortal didn’t think we knew about immortals and what they might be capable of, so he got careless in covering his tracks. That, or he just didn’t care if we found out.”
A smug grin spread across the prince’s face as he gave a little chuckle, clearly proud of his findings, though it was quickly slapped away by the sound of the old king laughing. “Did I say something funny?”
“No, no,” the king replied. “It’s just that I’ve finally got a speculation that has a high chance of being right as to why we are being attacked every couple of years.”
“What?” the son replied in disbelief.
“I originally thought that the attacker was trying to show his strength, to prove he could kill us at any time no matter how many knights we stationed inside the castle.
“But after hearing your report, the missing part of the puzzle has been revealed! As crazy as it sounds, I think he didn’t want the original knight from that unnamed town to return, so he kept attacking the castle which caused that knight and many others to stay in the capital.”
“So he had no intention of killing anyone during all of those attacks and the sole purpose was to cause a distraction?” The son was curious about such a tactic, but he didn’t hesitate to question his father more. “How are you going to initiate a trade with him? You can’t travel with the book as it could get damaged due to its fragility, and you can’t send a message to the man to set up a meet—”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. That immortal comes here every couple of years and I doubt he’s the type who would spend half a year travelling here and back each time, so he’s definitely got some form of transport that’s faster than our fastest steeds.”
The old king sat down at his desk and moistened his quill with ink before setting its tip on the parchment in front of him.
I am aware that you are as my ancestor once was. I have information from my immortal ancestor that could benefit you and I’m willing to trade.
—The King of Bahan
The message was informal, but it didn’t bother him one bit. To ensure the man wouldn’t think it was a fake, the king put it in an envelope and sealed it with hot wax stamped with his kingdom’s royal crest.
He eyed the seal and was dissatisfied with its security. Without a second thought, the old man covered the entire envelope with hot wax. Not a single corner was left unprotected and the edges were pressed tight enough to keep out even the smallest ant.
“Send a rider to that unnamed town. Tell him that he’s to personally hand this letter to the knight living there. This should show how sincere I am, hopefully.” The old man handed the letter to his son.
“It’ll take a few months for a rider to get to that unnamed town, can you wait that long?”
“I have no choice,” the old man replied. “I would rather wait a few months than disrespect an immortal.”
The son bowed his head a little before departing.
* * *
The rider the prince picked had the best speed on a long run, which meant that the rider slept less. He had one of the best horses and he knew the quickest way to reach any town within the kingdom. It was clear this man was a hard worker by the amount of time and attention to detail he put into preparing the necessities and taking care of his horse.
“Hand this letter only to the knight instructor of the unnamed town on the map you’ve been given. I’ve written what the instructor looks like and his name on the back of the map. If anyone claims to be said person, you’ll easily know.” The prince handed off the letter to the chosen rider.
“This is the most important mission you will ever have and failure to finish it will mean treason against the kingdom. We suspect it will take you no less than three months to arrive at the town so prepare now and leave no later than noon tomorrow.”
“I am always prepared to serve the kingdom, Your Highness.”
The rider bowed before placing the oddly sealed message inside his leather armour. He grabbed a few bags full of food for both him and his horse before galloping out of the castle gates.
Chapter 19: The Prince’s Ploy
Carola was giving orders to her knights as they prepared to leave. She had yet to receive a reply from her father, and her husband-to-be seemed to be close to finding out too much about the history behind the golden eagle badge. She told him bits and pieces to try to convince him to move on while still managing to keep most of it a secret.
To distract the prince from the matter, she suggested that they continue their tour.
To her surprise, the prince had no objections or qualms about carrying on with the t
our, and within an hour, the royal entourage set off once again.
They had stayed long past normal travelling hours. Usually, the royal entourage would avoid travelling at night to ensure the safety of the royal family. This time, however, there was an exception—the princess had waited not far from the town, hoping to receive a reply from her father, but it never came.
Two hours after they had set out, it was time to get off the road for the night. They set up camp and prepared sleeping quarters for the evening before putting dinner on the fire.
The tent for the prince and princess were much bigger than the rest, though not by much. They were lavishly decorated and, despite their portability, they were quite warm inside without the need for a fire.
Inside her lair, Carola was playing a game of dice with the leader of the knights who was a distant relative of hers.
“Your Highness!” a voice called from outside of the tent.
“Yes?” Carola asked.
“Dinner is ready. Do you wish to eat inside or outside with the men?”
She looked at the older knight in front of her and flashed him a smile. “Bring two portions inside as we’ll eat it here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Soon after, the man returned with two large bowls of stew. He carefully placed them down between the two individuals and excused himself without a word.
Outside, knights from both kingdoms sat around the campfire, eating in silence until it was time to retire for bed. The actions in town which ended with a knight being executed caused a rift in the relationship between the two groups, and it was already showing.
Later that night, a few of the knights from the Gralux Kingdom walked over to the Bahan’s area.
The Bahan knights were still sitting on blankets around the fire with just their inner armour still equipped, but when they saw the Gralux knights walking towards them with serious faces, they thought something was wrong, so they attempted to stand up and grab their full plated armour.
Indeed, something did go wrong. Not one Bahan knight managed to make it to their feet. Instead, their legs were wobbly and weak like a young child learning to walk for the first time.