Ninety-nine desert nights

Assuming that everyone read the title of this chapter, we will now begin:

Hash woke up one day and realized that he was not in his New York City apartment. He rose from his bed and everything looked different, something medieval replaced his lofty modern furniture, all impractical but nonetheless elegant.

"Your majesty, your breakfast is ready."

He turned around. Did he hear it correctly? Someone called him majesty.

That was the beginning of his journey to another time and place.

There were already people that are waiting inside his room, all referring to him as Prince Hashim.

"Prince what?"

He pulled out the canvass that served as the curtain door of the room, and a warm wind blew on his face and everything around him was an ocean of dunes that replicated the set of the movie Sahara in the eighties.

Was he dreaming?

Hash still tried to rationalize the situation, but everything seemed beyond logic.

He waited for the day he wakes up but it went on for months, even years.

The real Hashim's portraits in the palace. He was a couple of heads shorter than Hash, stomach a little protruding. And one noticeable rabbit tooth. In the twenty-first century, everyone might have an impression of him made a whole-body surgery to make himself look attractive.

It didn't surprise Hash that no one cared about the difference between him and Hashim's appearance. Similar to other kingdoms and states, Novalia was not an exception to the cruel politics within the royal family and among the noble clans.

Poor Hashim, he could be anywhere else, perhaps replaced him in New York or his cruel brothers might have slain him. He may not have survived the vulnerability of his position in the military.

They might have known Hash was a fraud, but exposing him will uncover them too.

This world was tough. As time went by, he had to create an unpredictable facade to protect himself and surrounded himself with trusted men. Hash trained himself hard to dodge the scheming tricks thrown by Hashim's brothers.

He made an excruciating effort to train his men and himself in the wilds, observed how the giant felines hunt. And they all have concluded that fear could subdue their hunger.

Especially lions. They always act on instinct. They attack when they are hungry and would retreat if they feel they're in danger. Hash embedded that perception in his men's brains. It's just that he added some things he watched on YouTube.

With no way of going back to New York City. He took Prince Hashim's role seriously.

In this world, he waged wars and won battles, something that Hashim never achieved. But it's not always like this. He once had severe anxiety after he cut an enemy's head. He puked the entire day.

Hash read from Sun Tsū's Art of War that it's best to intimidate the enemies. It's to create an illusion that they will never win against you. With that, he manufactured enormous weapons that overwhelm the opponents, sometimes even the holder.

The kinds of weapons you'll get paralyzed with shock upon seeing it and kill you on the spot at the same time. Mobile legends inspired him, but he'll die first before admitting it.

His coming to this world was already strange. But owning a smart sword made the event of his life more unexplainable.

He called it the Wing Master. He had a hard time controlling the sword. It made Hash looked like he had a killing spree.

Wing Master had a mechanism similar to a radar. It knows where the enemy is and also a magnet that it knows where to stick itself.

"Ah!"

He screamed, body shivering. He looked skilled and mastered the art, but it's just the uncontrollable Wing Master.

Geographically, Novalia could be in modern-day West Africa.

Other kingdoms wanted to possess its large savannah.

One of the monarchical countries that wanted to possess Novalia was Byzen. They were very persistent in the invasion that they almost had Novalia until Hash took over the battle leadership.

On the battlefield, he saw one of his men accidentally deviated from his position.

"Idiot!" He cursed, uses his index finger to point at the soldier angrily.

The miserable soldier was afraid of Hash than died in the battle. But they understand the drill because one wrong move can destroy the entire platoon.

"Focus!" He groaned.

So he gathers all his willpower to stop the sword when he sensed that they're already winning.

"Alright! Wrap it up!"

He commanded. Now he rides away with his white horse into the Novalian army's temporary settlement.

The Military officials that the king sent to him are clueless. All they did was sitting in the camp the whole day sipping coffee and consuming rations, like entitled to some merits that they didn't have.

General Bur approached him first. Smiling widely, and greeted him cheerfully.

"Your Highness, it's good to have you back! We are quickly winning the battle."

Hash ignored his praises. General Bur looked like a Disney villain, that even after he got his retribution, you will never trust him.

It embarrassed General Bur when Prince Hashim ignored him. He once criticized him in the council for being terrible at war and too young to hold a military position. He was wondering if this unpredictable man held a grudge against him.

He needed to get on the good side of this freak. Otherwise, the future of his family could be in danger. They won't be able to survive the harsh government of Novalia.

The king was too pleased with Hashim that he declared him the heir to the throne that most of the council didn't like.

They can't blame him, though. Who would have thought that the complete flunkey prince would wake up one day and turned out to be a genius?

But General Bur didn't know that he already created a lasting impression on Hash's mind. He will have a hard time asking favors from him.

One thing Hash hated about this man was that his men are the first to die in the battle. They're like drunk shrimps in a muddied stream going in no particular direction.

They're a bunch of idiots with no skills at all. There are allocations to train these men, but sadly it's now all in Bur's bank account.

He planned to train them, including this stupid general tailing him. This dirtbag came with him today so that he can share a little fame in Hash's victory.

But the king did not give him full military power yet. Although he was the heir to the throne, he had fewer men compared to other generals.

The wind was blowing his cape onto his face, which annoyed him.

So he made a mental note to change military uniforms and cursed the one who made capes a trend.

"Do you know that piece of sorcery the prince is holding?"

General Mcwatzit asked his fellow general, when Prince Hashim can't hear them talking.

"No, do you?"

Answered General Tung, curious, but he didn't dare ask the prince.

Using his homemade binoculars, Hash spied on the enemy's camp.

"Shit!"

Hash mumbled.

The idiots were making a boy do hara-kiri. The boy looked like he's barely eighteen. Hash quickly thought of something that can save the boy and the entire troop.

He didn't have time to warn everyone. He lead his horse towards the boy, which was waving a white flag.

Hash didn't know how much poison went into the boy's body already.

He wrapped his lower face with a cloth to protect himself from inhaling the poison. These people are sick! Hash was not a fan of morality, but at least he got the concept.

He met the young soldier, but paused around a hundred yards away.

"Hold your breath as long as you can, go to the river!"

He shouted his instructions as loud as he can.

The poison was a simple concoction of plants that could easily clean with water but would paralyze the victim.

Eyes wide, the enemy's messenger held his breath and ran as fast as he could to a nearby body of water.

He followed the boy and continued giving him instructions.

"Almost there. You can do it!" shouted commands to the kid. He understood the psychology of reinforcement.

They've reached the river, and the boy plunged himself quickly. Hash noticed he didn't resurface, so he jumped and took him out of the water.

"Come on!"

He yelled at the unconscious kid.

He was performing a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when his men arrived on the site. Everyone stared at each other.

Rumors already spread in the kingdom that he's gay because he's past the marrying age of a Novalian man.

Hash repeated the process like he was kissing the boy, then pumped his chest. The young guy grasped for air, started coughing.

Hash's men cheered like this was the real victory instead of the actual battle, forgetting what they just thought of their master. They were so amazed at his witchery.

"What's your name?"

Taps the boy's shoulder.

"Kiwi."

Out of breath, Kiwi's voice was still of a child.

"Bring Kiwi to the barracks."

He ordered his men, then left.

He knew what was his men thinking, considering his actions towards saving Kiwi.

It didn't bother him, but the king did. King Desmond wanted to choose a bride for him. Hash suggested gathering all beautiful girls, then hold a contest.

Hash will marry whoever wins and will crown as the princess. It was just a joke to him, but the king took it seriously.