King Grey's:

The blurred sight of a familiar setting made me blink a few times to reconfirm that what I was seeing wasn't a dream. From the looks of it, I seemed to be back in my old body. Getting up from the couch that I was sitting on, I left my room in the castle. A young maid, who had been waiting for me just outside, greeted me respectfully immediately on sight.

"G-good morning King Grey."

I didn't even bother glancing towards her direction, walking as she followed a couple meters away.

Reaching the courtyard where all of the trainees were lined up with swords held in front of them I turned my attention to the instructors yelling at them about proper stance and breathing. When one of them saws me, he immediately turned and gave a firm military salute, with the other instructors and trainees following suit.

I simply motioned for them to continue before continuing. Reaching my destination, I pushed open the double doors, arriving in front of an aged man with a head of thick white hair that matched his long beard, and emerald eyes that s.h.i.+ned with a sense of cunning wisdom and knowledge. He was the head of The Council, Marlorn.

While I held the position of "King" I couldn't help but consider myself as just a glorified soldier. The one's who actually governed the country, managing the politics and economy, was The Council

So what was came of my position as King?

The t.i.tle of King meant that I was actually more of a one-man army. Due to the decreasing numbers of children born and limited amount of resources, The Councils of each country a.s.sembled and, after countless months of discussion and arguments, came to the conclusion that if wars continued to exist, we would eventually wipe ourselves out.

Getting rid of war would lead to two major outcomes: decrease in the death count, leading to a population growth, and a decrease in destroyed harvestable land and resources from the result of nuclear arms. The solution that they came up with and enacted was to replace wars with a different form of combat.

What replaced wars became known as the Paragon Duels. Whenever there was a dispute on a level that impacted the state of the country, a Paragon Duel would be declared, with each country sending in a representative that they deemed was the strongest.

Looking up, Marlorn exclaimed with the standard fake, picturesque smile that seemed to be an inborn trait amongst politicians, "King Grey! What brings you to my humble dwelling?"

"I'm retiring."

Without even giving him the chance to react, I unclipped my badge, a piece of metal so sought after by every pract.i.tioner, and slammed it on his giant oakwood desk, walking out the door.

What have I been living for all these years? I was an orphan who had been brought up in a camp designed to raise duelers. I was twenty-eight, yet I've never dated, never loved. I've spent my whole life until now solely for the sake of being the strongest.

And for what...

Admiration? Money? Glory?

I had all of that, but never in a million years would I choose to have that over what I had in the town of Ashber.

I missed Alice. I missed Reynolds. I missed Durden. I missed Jasmine. I missed Helen. I missed Angela. I even missed Adam.

…Mother…

…Father…

"COUGH!! COUGH!"

I opened my eyes again, with towering trees and dangling vines filling my vision as I lay on my back. However, this time, the excruciating pain that I was welcomed by told me I wasn't dreaming.

Where was I?

How was I alive?

I tried to getting up, but my body doesn't listen. The only thing I was able to manage was turn my head, and even that involved a series of throbbing pains in my neck.

Looking to my right, I spotted my knapsack. I slowly turned my head to my left, gritting my teeth through the pain.

My eyes widened at the sight and I immediately had to resist the urge to vomit. To my left was what was left of the conjurer I had dragged down with me. A pool of blood surrounded the corpse, whose body probably had more broken bones than ones still intact. I could see the white bones of his ribs jutting out of the sunken cavity of the chest with a pile of his entrails beside him. His limbs were sprawled out at unnatural angles, with the mage's skull shattered in the back with some brain matter oozing out along with blood.

His face was frozen into an expression of surprise and disbelief, except for his completely red eyes, as a trail of dried blood was still visible from his eye sockets. I couldn't turn my head away fast enough. With my already weakened body being a.s.saulted with both the gruesome sight and repugnant smell, I vomited what was left in my stomach until I was left gagging dry heaves.

Even in my past life, I had never come across such a badly mangled corpse. With the nauseating stench and insects feasting on the gore, I couldn't help but feel sick. With parts of my face and neck covered in my own regurgitation, I finally managed to turn my head to rid my sight of the mage's grotesque remains.

How was I still alive?

I couldn't help wondering what had happened while I was unconscious. Clearly, the mage was alive up until the landing… so what happened to me?

I should look very similar to this corpse right about now, maybe even worse, but not only was I okay, I don't even seem to have a broken bone.

I pondered over the possible answers until I was interrupted by a strong grumble from my stomach.

Again, I tried getting up, fighting through my body's protests; the only parts of my body that seem to be listening to me as of now was my right arm and my neck up. I willed mana into my right arm and used my fingers to claw my way, dragging my body, to reach my knapsack. It couldn't have been more than a meter away, but it took over what felt like an hour until I finally managed to reach it. Pulling it closer to me, I rummaged through it with my only able hand until I found what I was looking for: the dried berries and nuts my mother had packed!

I succeeded in pouring a mouthful of the snack that I brought only because of my mother's insistence. My throat, surprised by the sudden flood of food, responded by leaving me in a choking fit of coughs, leading me to another round of agony in my body. Fumbling for the water sack inside my knapsack, I slowly poured a bit of the water into my mouth before placing another handful of the snack into my mouth. Tears rolling down the sides of my face and into my ears, I continued chewing on the dried rations until pa.s.sing out again, using my knapsack as a makes.h.i.+ft blanket.

My eyes fluttered open as I stirred awake from the brisk bite of cold. Looking around, the position of the first rays of light peaking through the mountains me it was dawn.

This time, I was able to get up, but only with the help of mana. I carefully inspected all of my body, making sure everything was in place before allowing myself to relax.

First thing's first. I made my way to the corpse of the mage while trying to avoid looking at the heinous injuries that caused his demise. Spotting the knife I was looking for, I quickly jerked it out of his thigh.

I wasn't sure how long I would have to be here so having a weapon was critical.

'Oh, you're awake.'

I instantly got into a fighting stance, gritting through the pain from the sudden movement, with my knife in hand, turning to face the carca.s.s.

I swear to G.o.d if this corpse is the one that's talking…

A melodic chuckle made me look around for the source of the voice