Ch. 35: Quest [3]

The door closed with a loud thud and a black-haired boy walked out of the room with long strides. Both of his hands clenched and his expression could be said that he was in a rage; he was angry.

Somehow, it confused Fedel and Ulrich. The Emperor had been left minutes ago, so, what made the first Prince furious? Was it Prince Damian?

Not long after, a white-haired boy came out of the room and walked toward his escort. Fedel and Ulrich bowed lightly when he approached them. 

"Let's go."

Damian started walking and was followed by his escort. Fedel asked as they walked.

"Your Highness, how was the luncheon going?"

"It was fine."

Fedel nodded. He was glad to hear that. It seemed the Prince had nothing to do with Alexander's fury. This time, Ulrich asked.

"Your Highness, what is your choice?"

"I accepted it."

Damian turned the moment he stopped hearing footsteps and all he found were his escorts standing there, dumbfounded. Seeing their weird behavior Damian's brows furrowed.

"What is it?"

Recovering from his shock, Ulrich immediately spoke.

"I believe that Her Majesty has said that Your Highness must not participate."

However, Damian shook his head.

"No, my mother said that I don't have to participate if I don't feel like doing it. But I want to do it, so I accepted."

Ulrich shut his mouth. He involuntarily glanced to his side and exchanged gazes with Fedel. It seemed the Prince was not sensitive enough to understand what the Empress was trying to convey. In the end, both of them could only heave a tired sigh.

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.

.

Alexander massaged his temple as he felt a surge of unbearable headaches.

"That little brat."

Of course, it was Damian, that little imp who had always been his source of headaches. Here he thought that his burden had been lifted because Sir Ulrich was now by his side, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

Lately, Alexander was joyful because after what had happened everything went back to normal. The Emperor made a quest just like in his previous timeline but now his mirth was shattered, crushed by the reality he faced.

That damn brat! He chose to participate in the quest! He didn't participate in his previous timeline! For goodness sake! Not to mention that he just regained consciousness two months ago! That boy was on the verge of death five months ago!

Did that brat forget about it? Alexander screamed inwardly, he was so frustrated. He had no idea how the way of that brat was thinking! How come that little brat became someone who loved to jump into trouble in this timeline?!

'My health has recovered.'

Alexander scoffed in annoyance once he recalled Damian's shameless words.

'Recovered my ass.'

He hadn't even regained his plump cheeks back! And what was he going to do with his stick-like figure? That brat simply had absolutely no idea what was going to happen there!

Of course, no one in this world knew what would happen there, except him. But now he knew what event would occur, he had no choice but to babysit the damn imp. 

Alexander stopped walking and leaned against the wall. He emitted a long breath to calm himself. No matter what happened, he couldn't let Damian die. 

'He is the 'key' to changing the fate of this world. He should not die.'

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.

.

Reddish colored the sky as the sun's rays peeked shyly over the horizon. I inhaled a deep breath and wet dew scents could be smelled.

A refreshing fragrance that gave you peace as you sniffed it. I could vividly see my hot breath in the air as I exhaled. 

A week had passed since my luncheon with the Emperor. As scheduled, today was my departure. After giving us a light brief, the Emperor left. Simply, he was just way too busy to send us off.

Unexpectedly, warmth warped my body. I turned and my mother could be seen putting a fur cape on me and her gentle smile greeted me. Nevertheless, her smile weakened as she stared at me sadly before letting out a long sigh. 

It was like her hundred of thousands of sighs already. Although she said, 'I respect your choice.', every time she saw me, her expression would turn down and sigh in disappointment. I couldn't help but hug her. Hopefully, I could ease her worries and she embraced me tightly.

"Mom, I will be fine. Don't worry."

She let go of me and cupped my face with her hands.

"Promise me you won't do anything dangerous."

"I promise you, here."

I stretched out my little finger. However, my mother just chuckled.

"Oh, I didn't know Damian had such a lovely side."

I could feel how my lips quivered. 

'Here I am trying to reassure her yet she's teasing me.'

"Sure, let's make a pinky promise!"

And our little fingers intertwined.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty, it's time for the Prince's departure."

We turned and found a knight who wore a full set of armor bowed lightly to us. He had spiky brown hair and dark blue eyes. Just from looking at his coat of arms, I could easily tell what rank he had. 

'I don't know who he is, but he's one of many Imperial Knight Lieutenants.'

Knight Lieutenant was a fairly high-ranking officer. A Company head, a Company contained three to five platoons and a total of 60 to 200 knights.

Although Company was just the smallest subdivision of an Infantry Battalion, it was still a plausible accomplishment. Not to mention that he was quite young, I assumed he was in his mid-twenties.

"I understand."

My mother hugged me once more. I embraced her and patted her back. Feeling satisfied, she let me go and then turned to Fedel and Sir Ulrich who were standing not too far away from us.

"Sir Ulrich, Fedel. I entrust my son to you. Please take care of my son."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. We will do whatever it takes to protect the Prince."

"Thank you."

With that, I bid my mother farewell, and we headed to the Supreme Blink Sphere Room. Alexander with his two knights could be seen inside the room. He intentionally averted my gaze when our eyes met. 

'I see, so he's still angry at me. How childish of him.'

After we all entered the room, the Knight who escorted me looked at us one by one before bowing lightly. 

"I'm sorry for the late introduction, my name is Sigmund. I'm the 47th Knight Lieutenant and I'll be your escort. Our first destination is Axton City, located in the Marquis Gilmore estate. We will join the supply party there before continuing our journey toward the Refugee Camp. But, before that--"

Sigmund let out two dramatic coughs. He stepped forward and stopped before Ulrich then bowed lightly. I could vividly see how his eyes twinkled in excitement as he saw the Knight in front of him.

"--Sir Ulrich, it is such a great honor to meet you!"

Ulrich was perplexed. Not long after that, Alexander's knights followed suit with Sigmund's actions.

"Sir Ulrich it is such a great honor to meet you!"

"N-nice to meet you too."

I couldn't help but sweat-dropped and exchanged glances with Fedel. 

'What can I say? Serving right under the Emperor is one of the greatest dreams of all Knights.'

Suddenly, Alexander let out a loud irritated cough and the three of them immediately returned to their positions. After that, Sigmund activated the Supreme Blink Sphere, and we all teleported to Axton City, at Marquis Gilmore's territory.