The Dreamer's POV

I was sound asleep when I had loud bangs on my door, I jolted up, and I could sense dread looming.

Something was wrong.

I opened the door and met Drius with a down countenance, I studied his face over those short seconds. He was saddened, but definitely not someone had killed Theo level of sad, and I knew what to expect.

'It has to be the palace or Markus?'

"What is it Drius?" I inquired.

The man coughed, "The palace was attacked last night, soon after we left, and his royal majesty Alphonse Wilhestein is dead, the palace went down with him, with a number of workers."

I was unshaken by the message, but I nodded, acknowledging it, and Drius left.

'The explosion did happen again. The lady, she must have been responsible.' I thought, my hand on my head as I racked my brain.

'Is she of the alliance? Do they want anarchy? Who would rule now?'

Questions upon questions flooded my mind, but I shut them off. If I allowed myself to go down the rabbit hole of hypotheses, I could spend all day here, unmoving and not doing anything.

"I must see Theo!"

Immediately, I freshened up. With my short time here, I have already gotten accustomed to the system of cleaning. There's a tap, wooden bucket, and a gear to turn to deliver either cold, warm or hot water. The gear had runes on them, and I had learnt that the water came from a river north from here.

This was quite the luxury here, I could imagine that the peasants and workers didn't have as much access to this as I do, or do they?

Nevertheless, I chose to wear the common tunic shirt and woolen trousers, both of which were of brown shades, with the trousers being slightly darker.

I went to where I had suspected Theo would be: the dinning, slowly having dinner–he did that whenever he ate alone, strangely fixated on the little bits that entered his mouth.

He was still a child in a number of ways. I barged in and as expected, he was there, seated, with food in front of him, but he hadn't touched it.

I walked closer, and sat by him, and I could feel the gloom that he felt, at least a part of it. I understood his feelings, just last night, the royal monarch had acknowledged him and dubbed him the true Duke of the Lyma region, and the same night the palace got destroyed, the people could be suspicious, and fingers could get pointed at him. But no, that wasn't why he was gloomy at all, the boy was softer and empathetic than I had thought, even after all the training I had given to him to steel him. They didn't change who he was, the sweet soft nine year old, who loved his sister greatly.

"Hey." I tried breaking the ice, but I got no response, no dice. I cleared my throat, and initiated once again.

"I just heard the news, it's devastating, and I'm incredibly sorry about how you feel."

Theo spared me a glance and nodded.

And after a few solemn seconds, he spoke.

"Good morning." He said, his voice ladened by the sorrow he felt.

"Good morning Theo." I answered, and then spotted his plate of breakfast in front of him. It was honeyed fried eggs and chicken, a meal befitting a noble, especially if they've got a sweet tooth and an appetite of a growing teenager.

It was already cold, which meant that he had been here for a while, and that I had gotten up rather late.

And then, Drius entered the room and remained at attention at a corner.

"Have you spoken with Lord Markus Gloria?" I asked, Theo needed to keep in touch with the nobles, we were still a little shut off from the kingdom, still lacking integral personnel such as squires, and envoys. I and my minions have been filling in the gaps, but there's only so much we could do.

'I have to remind him to get more specially skilled workers, things are spread much too thin around here.'

"Huhh?" He looked at me, a little oblivious.

'I can't always be telling you what you need to do, what was our training all for then if you don't remember to do things like this? But… I suppose it's a little unprecedented.'

"How did you get the news?"

"A knight heard from a traveler that he heard from a merchant at his town that the palace had been blown up, and his royal majesty is… dead." he placed a little emphasis on that last word.

"Hmmm… have you tried to reach any Lord or Lady?"

"No, but I did contact a neighboring martial school, and I was told the same."

'Martial schools, they are reputable, I'll give them that.'

Martial schools were schools dedicated to the learning of martial arts, the manipulation of life energy to boost one's might, and to crave suitable offensive and defensive skills, they were well received, especially since most people could learn martial arts with enough dedication, magic on the other hand needed talent.

The king was really dead, and it had shaken the kingdom, and the continent at large, no brazen event had ever been as performative as the palace's destruction in Mage'Earth, and it sent a clear message: your days are numbered, and we are coming for you.

I began ruminating that I had left the site of action for too long, I needed to get back. I checked the system, and I realized that it was just a few days until the opening of the second floor.

I would be away for a while, the timing couldn't be more perfect, I needed to avoid politics and instead have my hands do the talking.

"Martial school, I see. But I still believe you should reach out to Markus, he's your friend, the Lyma region ally at least and you have to show that you care."

He nodded at me, and looked at Drius who bowed lightly and went out.

A few minutes later, he was back with a communication orb in his hands.

He handed it to his Lord.

Theo contacted Lord Gloria with the communication orb, and the noble's voice could be heard as he greeted.

"Theo, took you a while."

"Yes, Lord Markus, unfortunately, I got the information rather late."

"Is that so, oh well."

Markus didn't seem different from the news of the king's death, he seemed as casual as he always had been.

'Perhaps he wasn't as close to his royal majesty.'n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I fear that this is only the start, young Theo. This catastrophic event has never occurred before, even us the nobles don't know how to proceed with this. The king, and most of his family died in that terrible explosion, and we have decided to have detectives investigate, but the subject of rule is still wishy-washy, and some new loud voices are steering the crowd into an unfavourable path."

He was right, the king and the rest of the royal family's death had tipped the scale of stability, and with just a little weight, chaos might ensued, they needed to thread carefully, and to act soon.

"Except him." Duke Gloria muttered under his breath, and his words seemed to have more weight in them.

"Him? Who are you speaking of?" Theo asked,his attention captured by the words.

Lord Markus Gloria let out a sigh, "The Grand Duke, governor of the largest region in the kingdom, in the lands that borders the Theocracy. He's the King's uncle and the greatest war general we've ever had, though he's quite old now. I doubt he would have any interest in ruling. There's no doubt the nobles wouldn't quarrel against his claim to the throne, he is the greatest general we have ever had. He led when the continent was ridden with wars, which was just a couple of years ago, I lived under it and it was terrible, and that is why I won't tolerate anything that threatens our peace, we all need to lend some of our strengths to our kingdom."

Theo nodded to the man's words, an archduke, Theo had never heard of such title or such person, this uncle of the king must not have been very interested in politics.

"Yon Wilstein." Markus spoke the Duke's name.

"The only one in the kingdom who stands a chance against him in terms of influence is I, and I know better than to face the lion guard." He admitted, sighing once again.

"Yet, I am fairly certain that a group of nobles would object to his rule."

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"Hmmm…" Theo had nothing he could say, he hadn't expected this, and hadn't been trained to approach it.

The young duke cleared his throat, and spoke with certainty,

"I am very willing to cooperate with what the majority stands for, and I do trust that you, Lord Markus, would be on the right side of politics."

There was an awkward silence in that, as if Markus was lost in thought.

Finally, he found the words.

"You shouldn't trust me as much, I can be shrewd."