Departure

“Was it a dream or a trance?” I questioned myself while looking at the open window. My face had turned sunken from the dream making it clear that I was stressed.

“I thought that I was going to get crushed under those antennae,” I shivered at the thought of those massive thorns.

“Nightmares and dreams for three days straight, it couldn't be a coincidence could it?” My focus was lost the moment I noticed the rising sun.

Since I started to have these daily nightmares, I used sun gazing to calm myself but with how long I just stared at it motionlessly, the time of sunrise was not concise with the daily routine. It seems I had overslept as the sun had started to set upon the huts of Lantai, the capital of the Tanatonia kingdom.

After a while of watching, I began to calm down.

To be honest, I'm still amazed that I was brought here but also annoyed at being put in a situation with a sword of Damocles hanging. Even with how they look, they are more human than insect so it explains why some of their actions seem similar to the humans that live on earth instead of just looking funny to me. For now I should focus on trying to escape the trouble.

At that moment, the flap of the curtain was raised and a maid entered. I turned my face away from the window and accessed her features. Luckily she didn't look like those who tried to seduce me that time.

“What is it?” I asked.

She bowed, not daring to look up to face me and I wondered why.

“Emm.. T..the Qu..queen Regent sent me to inform you that the traveling party will soon arrive,”

“Why was she stuttering?” I thought before waving her away. “Tell her I'll be down with them soon,”

The maid bowed before leaving and the moment she was gone, my assessment of what to wear followed. Thankfully, I had just taken a bath earlier so I opened one of the wooden boxes laid at the corners and checked the clothes inside.

Eventually, I found the box that held silk fabrics. I was horrible at fashion back on earth but even I knew that the tailor who made these did a great job and though hand sown, I would wear them everyday.

However, looking all flashy is not my thing so leaving them in here was the best by my lens. If it wasn't a grand occasion or one for celebrations then preserving what was made from rare materials in the kingdom was okay.

According to Jugel's instructions, since I am King to be, I must be wearing a silk cloth which would then be changed to one of chitin armor when the hunting games officially began. So after a while of thinking and searching I finally settled on something. A white garment with a slanting blue line crossed from the right shoulder to the left waist.

The side above the waist was dotted with four pointed yellow stars made from animal dye while the part below was with white crossed blades.

‘Ahh, why do I have feel that the meaning of this has to do with gods and men, heaven and earth stuff’

I quickly pushed the thought aside and went to change. Currently I was wearing a collarless green top and green pants (both made from long leaves) which was the type needed when mixing with garments that had buttons looking like a combination of mushrooms tied with leaves.

After wearing it, I struggled with tying the buttons and grumbled at the thought of not having a mirror.

The flap opened and another figure walked in. “Ohh my,” said Demna who noticed the intense battle I was having with the buttons.

“Have you forgotten that you have your daily water used to serve as a reflection of yourself?”

“I forgot,”

She then approached and shifted me to her side, “Allow me my prince,” Her hands began to push the buttons into the holes until all had been settled.

The serious expression on her face showed how diligent she was though “How cute,” I thought while she pushed the final button. Here I noticed that we were too close and something had touched my chest when she suddenly pulled away looking embarrassed.

“I'm sorry My Prince, I didn't mean to make it look like that,” She said trying to hold the blush from forming.

“Ahh it's okay,” I said, trying to sound unfazed.

The flap opened again and Jugel entered.

“Greetings your highness,” He greeted with a bow.

I couldn't help but notice the silken cloth he wore. It was good, even better than the one he wore the day before as he said it would. It had slanting lines of green intersecting with the white fabric and a brown robe was worn to cross with the green lines forming an X shape. I'm curious if they have a different method of dyeing here so I made note of that.

For now, I couldn't help but access Jugel’s clothing.

“Isn't green or brown usually related to agriculture and forests?” I thought before shaking my head.

“Since when did you start reasoning about the hidden meanings of color on clothes? Wasn't it always picked as thou sees fit?” I scolded myself.

“Ahh, I see that you picked the cloth that holds a meaning for today. A very good choice as always, Crown prince,” said Jugel.

“Maybe I've inherited some of Anthart's habits,” I laughed at the thought, “Where are Afril, Melanie and Anton?”

“Afril is busy getting ready for the games along with the other guards who will accompany you,” he said.

“Melanie and Anton?”

“They are already at the occasion,”

“So fast?”

“Yes,”

Before the games had started. I had to be put through intensive training, Anton took my bloodline manifesting training which was thankfully short lived but before that he joined Afril yesterday to take my physical training and weaponry mastery. Believe me when I say that my body was still sore from all that, “Very well, we will meet them there,”

We left my chambers and descended down the stairs until we reached the ground floor.

The two guards on standby bowed, and I waved at them back.

‘Now what do we have here?’

To be honest I was not even curious to know what Madale's plan was. It was obviously the strange beast unleashed trope or assassination attempt of something along that line. It's hunting after all.

The moment I stepped outside, my view was met with a column of guards standing near two large trap jaws along with a large crowd of people behind them having other trap jaws with riders among.

At first, I frowned but then I spotted who was sitting on top of one of the two main trap jaws.

‘Tch, to think we're traveling together’

I held back a scowl from forming and replaced it with a smile.

“Greetings to his highness!” The Antoids present immediately chorused while bowing.

From my back, Jugel and the rest appeared and the guards cleared the way as we approached. I wanted to ask if it was aggressive but after multiple nods from my subordinates. It was allowed for me to hop back onto the trap jaws. These trap jaws had their mandibles tightened and tied by vines to keep those deadly things from randomly chopping someone's head off.

Unfortunately for me since I was in this situation, I couldn't lay my back like when I was leaf and had to remain upright.

Most of the rules and traditions of the kingdom are copied from the kingdom we split off from so it's understandable why the dynamic here is like this.

Strange enough, the stigma against a male being heir which I thought would be too much was not actually present. Though it existed, it's as if the one against Anthart wasn't that much.

There was a time that Anthart had snuck out of the palace and in turn the treatment he received was nothing to write home about.

On a serious note, in my opinion he's experienced a lot of things. I had become too engrossed in thinking, so much that I hadn't noticed when we reached those layers of grass which they called city walls. I turned my back to the palace and used my eye to measure the distance.

“It's nice to meet you, your highness,” A soft feminine voice intruded my ears and I turned to the side to see who it was.

She was riding a clamper and a smile was plastered across her pale face, but there was something that irritated me about her and her identity. She was none other than the one in charge of the city's welfare and was known as Shanta, another of my aunt's followers. If the memories are correct, my aunt supervised her before she was given the reins to handle the task of a pillar.

According to another teaching of Jugel which I managed to extract. There are four pillars of Tanatonia and a fifth which is a Divine one. They include Defense, Culture, Trade, Welfare and the gods. Before I could think any further my thoughts were interrupted.

“Crown Prince,” She called.

“Yes?”

“How far do you think the city will expand and the planning will look when the population expands beyond 50,000 people?”

I was taken aback and wondered why she was directing the question at me and so I paused.

“I’ll say that the planning will look based on how it's envisioned to be. As long as the planners decide what's best and what needs to be stored where then there will be no problem”

Shanta was quiet and gave me a strange look. “A wise response, your grace” She then turned away to discuss with my aunt who was on her other side.

I revealed a smug look but before I knew it we had gone past the grass walls and were now moving towards the location with a large number of people following from behind.