A blond man was sitting on a throne, he looked tired, his eyes were full of dark circles and his shoulders slumped, he looked defeated. This man was the King of the Kingdom of Verdania.
He could not sleep through a whole night, he always slept for a few hours and then woke up and could not fall asleep again. He had been in this routine for a few weeks. Even with magic and some potions, nothing changed.
Being King was a difficult job, many duties and responsibilities drained the energy of anyone.
"I have a message", said the Minister of Economy, placing his right hand on his chest while bowing. "Marquis Torch sent this letter", the minister handed it to the King.
"What does he want?"
"It involves the Second Prince", the minister spoke calmly, he seemed careful with what he should say to the King.
"Again? Pay for the damage and I will take care of the rest, I have so many problems that his entrance into the Academy would solve at least a quarter of the reasons why I cannot sleep."
"It is a little more complex than a simple payment."
"What did he do this time?"
The King seemed to refuse to read the letter he held in his hand.
"He was accused of ordering the killing of two adventurers..."
"Send a sum of money to the adventurers and to Torch as compensation for a hostile act."
"The two adventurers are Silas Whisper's children."
"Arnold!!!" The King rose from the throne and began to walk through the castle, he called the Second Prince by name, it seemed that the King had gained energy.
"What is it, father?"
"Do you know the mess you just made?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean?!" The veins on his neck bulged. "Are you not going to apologize or at least admit what you did?"
"I don't know what..." the speech was interrupted by a slap. "But..." another slap.
The King was furious, he began to use fire magic and throw fireballs at his son, then he grabbed Arnold by the neck and threw him to the ground. He punched the wall.
The punch was strong, but the slaps were controlled, the King was furious, but not to the point of killing Arnold.
"I have tolerated too much, you are still lucky not to have been disinherited, the luck of this country is that you are not the heir to the throne."
The King seemed calmer, little by little he returned to his natural state. He called some physicians to heal the Prince. "You ordered your guards to kill the children of the third most important person in the Kingdom, know that I went easy on you, because I expect you to repent and apologize to the two of them. Their father would not spare you if something happened to them, not even I would have enough power to restrain him and Thalya."
The King left the room, he was very angry, but holding himself back.
Silas was a former court mage, he left shortly after Robert had inherited the throne. But the fame and respect still existed, since Robert had been one of Silas's students, though he had been one of the talentless ones when it came to magic. As much as the King could use fire magic, in combat he was a failure, but when it came to fencing that changed, the King was one of the best swordsmen in the Kingdom.
Besides the fear, Silas had always been very strong, it was not impossible to defeat him, but it would be difficult to have someone like him as an enemy, that is why the King always tried to maintain friendship with him and with the family after Silas left.
The reason why Silas gave up being a court mage was the birth of Jasly, as a gift the King gave him a title and a house, in addition to a considerable sum of gold coins. The lands of the village of Albedo belonged to the King, but Silas had power in those lands, he was almost a feudal lord, but without property ownership.
But all this seemed to have been in vain, simply because of an idiot, at least the King thought so, who did not know how to lose.
The King was worried about the possibility of Arnold not passing into the Academy, since his son had caused a lot of trouble. Besides, the Academy followed its own rules and did not give in to threats, not even threats from the King himself, since the Academy had power over the property, it followed its own rules, so it was as if it were a micro independent country inside the Capital.
Torch arrived at the castle, he was received and sent to the royal hall.
"You always have terrible news to bring me, that is something incredible, do you not agree?" The King was laughing.
"I am very sorry for that, Your Majesty", he said while placing his hand on his chest and bowing.
"It is all right, I just thought it curious that you are the bearer of such bad news, that is like a gift or something similar."
"Your Majesty read my letter?"
The King motioned for the guards to leave.
"Did you read what I wrote or were you lazy and asked Ycaro to read it for you?" He said when all the guards left the room.
The King laughed loudly.
"See, that is why I like you. But seriously, I did not read it, I only heard from Ycaro and punished my son, he crossed all limits of tolerance."
"You are right. So I do not need Yves's confession?"
"Hand it to the chief of security, I will order him to arrest Yves and the others, but still, I do not know if that is the best to be done, since it was an order from a prince and not obeying would be considered treason", he paused, "what do you suggest?"
"Keep them locked for a few days and forbid such orders from being followed. I think it is relatively easy to handle this situation."
"That is why you should be my advisor", he said laughing.
"Would you pay someone to say such obvious things?" He paused, "I know you had already thought of it, you just wanted someone to confirm what you had thought."
The King said nothing.
"Your hand is red, did you hit him?"
"Yes, maybe that is the only way to put some sense into him. I feel that I let him too free and that is why he became what he is today, a complete idiot", he was right.
After a while, a loud noise came into the room, it was the Queen, she was very angry.
"Who do you think you are?" She said as she walked heavily toward the King. "You acted like an animal, you almost killed your own son."
Torch remained silent, the Queen had not noticed his presence, which was hard to believe, since he was big and muscular.
"Do you know what he did?" The King calmly asked.
"He picked a fight with two people, that does not justify the treatment he received."
"He ordered the guards to kill Silas Whisper's children."
"What?" She calmed down a little.
"Silas's two children became adventurers and one of them defeated the prince in a duel at the Academy, as revenge the prince ordered Yves to kill the boy, but he is an old man that even a child without skills could defeat. That is why he was truly defeated and is now imprisoned in the guild."
"I already told you to change the court mage, he is a useless old man", the Queen said.
"Do you still think I was too harsh with him?"
"No, you acted right, what he did was unforgivable. But I have a question, will this cause any problem in our relations with Silas?"
"Maybe not, but there is no way to be certain of that. He has always been very protective when it comes to his family, so we need to show that we recognize the mistake and can prevent it from happening again."
The Queen agreed.
"He may come to the tournament, I think the children will sign up."
"Do you think they have talent for it?"
"The daughter, yes, she is very strong, she defeated an A-rank adventurer. The son, I do not know, I do not feel much mana in him, but he managed to break my ice wall, but I do not know if it was skill or pure luck, that bothers me. Normally I can measure someone's strength, but he is someone I consider impossible."
"His daughter was the one who defeated Arnold?" The Queen asked.
"No, it was the son, from what I heard, he defeated him using a weapon that he improved with magic. Besides, the reports say that he managed to dodge all the attacks of the Second Prince."
"But you said that his daughter is stronger, on what do you base that?" The King asked.
"She defeated an A-rank adventurer in the guild exam, she also defeated, in less than two seconds, Linnes, son of Duke Clave."
The King laughed, he laughed very loudly.
"Silas's children are quite... I do not find the right word to describe."
"But in this case it is much worse, since Linnes was disqualified for doing nothing in the practical exam."
"She has problems now..." the King said.