[LitF] 2. As Blind as Ever (Patreon)

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"You saw four windows when you awakened," the grand knight said as they walked through the mirror-covered antechamber. "They disappeared because you fell unconscious. That includes sleeping. Now, think to yourself that you want those windows to show you all your achievements. That you want Fate to reveal it to you."

Arthur almost asked, "What windows?" but guessed the grand knight was talking about the Windows into Fate that he had seen before his father yelled at him. Now that he thought about it, they were indeed nowhere to be seen.

He did as told, and a new window appeared floating in front of him. It stood at the same distance from his face regardless of him moving his head or walking.

「 Achievements

Total: 4

1. Awakener

2. Early Awakener

3. Precocious Awakener

4. Impatient Elementalist 」

"Did you do it?" the knight asked.

"Yes," Arthur replied with a thin voice.

"You will address me as 'sir' in every sentence." He paused, then continued. "You'll always reply when addressed. When you don't know what to reply, say 'yes, sir,' or 'no, sir,' depending on the context."

He paused after that, and it took the prince a moment to realize he had to reply, "Yes, sir."

Direct questions were easy to deal with. But how was Arthur supposed to know the man had finished talking if it wasn't a question?

"You have exactly four achievements. Every awakener gets the first, Awakener. It's D-tier and thus gives you twenty-seven distributable stat points. In the future, you'll use them to grow stronger."

Arthur wondered if it was a 'yes' or 'no' context. He bet on the former. "Yes, sir."

"The windows you got after awakening were achievement ones," the grand knight continued. "Such windows will appear every time you get a new achievement. They will let you know some things about the achievement, including some of what I just told you."

After a long pause, Arthur said, "Yer, sir."

"Even if you can't read an achievement window when you get it, you can consult it afterward. You just need to will Fate to show it to you. Focus on each of your achievements and concentrate on learning more about them. That works for almost everything you can see in your windows."

Arthur complied.

「 Achievement: Awakener

Tier: D

Reward: +27 stat points

You awakened to a wider world!

Your fate is overhauled, and your destiny is taken into your own hands. 」

「 Achievement: Early Awakener

Tier: F

Reward: +3 stat points

You awakened at nine years old or younger!

The early bird catches the worm, and the early awakener catches a grander fate. 」

「 Achievement: Precocious Awakener

Tier: E

Reward: +9 stat points

You awakened at six years old or younger!

Fate permeates your still-forming existence. Grandness or mediocrity depends on your every choice and no one else's. 」

「 Achievement: Impatient Elementalist

Tier: F

Reward: +3 stat points

You picked an element as soon as you could!

Your element is now inseparable from your existence. Your fate will be made or broken by how you use it. 」

After a silent moment, the knight said, "You will report whenever you conclude a task I gave you."

"I checked the achievements," Arthur replied, then added, "sir."

"Every Fate window has a title and a body. Every achievement window's title contains the achievement's name. The body holds the achievement's tier, reward, and description. The first line of every description tells you how you got it. The rest of the description is mostly useless."

The prince matched the knight's words against what he saw. It sounded right. "Yes, sir."

"Most achievements have intersecting requirements and are cumulative, like Awakener, Early Awakener, and Precocious Awakener. A few others lock you from getting others, like F-tier Impatient Elementalist. If you had not picked an element right after awakening, you would've gotten the D-tier Picky Elementalist achievement instead. Impatient Elementalist will also prevent you from getting Late or Patient Elementalist. You could've gotten both depending on how long you waited before picking an element."

"Yes, sir," Arthur repeated, though he had difficulty following all that.

The knight suddenly stopped talking and turned to look Arthur in the eyes. "This is one of the reasons His Royal Majesty was angered. Every achievement is important because every stat point will make you stronger. And you'll need to be as strong as you can be to help in the war."

Arthur felt so small under that gaze. He swallowed, then nodded. "I see, sir."

"You do not see, boy," the knight replied. "Achievements aren't the only issue. You also have no idea if the element you picked is even suitable for you. Most awakeners can't use their elements for anything more than parlor tricks. Some can't use their elements at all.

"That's why people just don't go around picking space or time as their elements despite how convenient they are. That's even part of why not everyone can become a grand knight.

"Testing one's affinity is expensive, but everyone who can afford it will do so. His Royal Majesty purchased and prepared the best affinity tests for you, yet you spat on his generosity. Anyone else would've been executed, but you gained a grand knight as a personal tutor instead. That is the depth of your sin and the grandness of His Royal Majesty's mercy."

Arthur's stomach twisted on itself. He still didn't understand everything, but he got that he had done something horrible.

"I just thought picking metal would help us win the war..." he weakly defended himself. After a pointed look from the grand knight, Arthur lowered his eyes and added, "Sir."

"Look at me, boy," the man ordered, and Arthur reluctantly obeyed. "Do you want to grow stronger? Then stop thinking and obey. Obey everything I say. If you don't, you'll just be a weak, useless kid. I'll make a proper man out of you."

"Yes, sir."

The grand knight searched for something in the boy's face, then nodded. "Follow me," he commanded briskly, turned, and resumed walking. "When you focused on me, your windows turned transparent. If you focus back on them, they'll return. Now, will them to disappear entirely."

The boy complied. The Windows into Fate blinked out of existence. "I did it, sir."

"Now, make Fate show you your identity."

Arthur did as told, willing his "identity" to appear, whatever it was.

「 Identity

Name: Arthur Willoughby Naerith-Tracey Boria III

Bloodlines: 62.5% Human | 25% High Elf 」

"You can check your name and major bloodlines in this window," the knight said. "Your bloodlines are a mix of your parents' bloodlines, with each parent influencing fifty percent of it. His Royal Majesty is a half-human, half-high-elf. Her Majesty is mostly human with some mixed heritage. You'll not see her other bloodlines in your identity window because they are too diluted. At least a quarter of your blood must come from any race for it to show in your identity window."

Arthur zoned off during that explanation. It sounded a lot like math. He waited for the grand knight to finish and said, "Yes, sir."

"This is the only window you are ever supposed to show anyone. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Make it visible to me."

He didn't tell Arthur how to do it, but everything in the windows was always about willing them to do something. So, he willed the window to appear for the knight, and it gained a thick yellow border. The knight didn't even glimpse it as he kept walking and talking. They were almost at the antechamber's entrance already.

"The window's borders turned yellow," the old man said. "That means anyone can see it while it's up. You can't make it visible to only one person or group; this is an all-or-nothing function. The color will revert to silver if you close the window and open it again or consciously make it private. Some skills can peer into your Fate, but you're too weak to do anything about it."

"Yes, sir," Arthur said quickly. He was getting the gist of guessing when he was supposed to reply.

"Next is stats," the man said. "Make Fate show you yours. Do not spend even a single point, or you'll be locked out of some important achievements."

「 Stats

Level: 1

Next level: 0%

Available points: 105

Body:

- Strength: 1

- Agility: 2

- Vitality: 3

Mind:

- Perception: 3

- Intelligence: 2

- Wisdom: 1

Mana:

- Absorption: 0

- Magnitude: 0

- Efflux: 0 」

"I did it, sir," Arthur reported.

"We'll talk about what each stat does at a later date," the grand knight said. "Just be sure never to show this window to anyone. Not even me or Her Majesty. Only show it to His Royal Majesty if he personally requests it from you privately. If he ever requests it in public, it'll not be His Royal Majesty speaking but an impostor instead. Stats are that important. Do you understand?"

"Impostor, sir?" Arthur asked.

His question was ignored. Instead, the knight stopped walking and started down at Arthur. "Do. You. Understand?" the man repeated with an angry voice.

Arthur swallowed again. "Yes, sir."

"Do not spend a single stat before you're told to by either His Royal Majesty or me. No one else can order you otherwise. If they do, they want to cripple your fate. Do you understand?"

The prince did not understand. However, he was smart enough to know that the man only cared that he followed the orders, not that he comprehended everything.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

The man resumed walking, and Arthur followed. "You currently have a hundred and five available stat points. If you did the math..." Arthur hadn't. "...you realized your achievements only gave you twenty-four points. The other eighty-one comes from reaching level one upon awakening. You'll get that many freely distributable points again on each level, and you can level up by killing dungeon monsters. Only humans get that many distributable points; other races have to deal with some points being automatically allocated."

"Yes, sir," Arthur said.

"You can only get distributable stat points by leveling up or getting achievements. As few as your achievement points might seem compared to the level-up points, don't disregard them. As I said, every single point counts. Not to mention you'll get more points for higher-tiered achievements."

"Yes, sir."

They finally reached the thick wooden doors that led into the palace gardens. The grand knight grabbed the handles and looked at Arthur. His eyes became a little less harsh. "Fate have mercy on us all for what we'll do to you," he said softly.

Arthur almost asked what the knight was talking about. Almost. Instead, he replied, "Yes, sir."

The knight shook his head and sighed. His stern look returned. "Let's visit your first dungeon."

"Yes, sir!" Arthur exclaimed almost before the man finished talking.

A dungeon!

They would visit a real dungeon!

He immediately forgot all that boring talk of Fate's windows and instead focused on the fantastic future ahead of him.

= - = - =

Arthur was bored out of his mind; that's not how he pictured a squire's life.

The grand knight had led him to a carriage, and they now rode silently. The windows were closed, and the only light was the weak light crystal inlaid on the carriage's ceiling. The old man sat with crossed arms in front of Arthur but just looked straight ahead above the boy's head.

That wasn't even a proper royal carriage! It didn't float! It had noisy wheels and loud horses and kept shaking uncomfortably! It didn't even have padding on the seats!

Arthur's backside hurt, and he had nothing to do.

"Use your mana," the knight suddenly said.

"What?" Arthur asked. He had been paying too much attention to his arse to hear the unexpected words.

"Use your mana," the man repeated. "Only a little."

The boy silently looked at the grand knight, unsure about how to tell the man that he had never learned how to use mana. Mana classes were as dull as any other. He wouldn't even have been able to cast cool-looking spells before awakening, anyway. Why would he waste his time on that?

The grand knight mistook Arthur's silence for something else because he explained the reasoning behind his order. "You can get achievements by keeping your mana pool full for a set time, using all your mana many hours per day, and absorbing mana for a set length of time, all that in many consecutive days. You must not get those achievements, or they'll block others. From now on, you must push a small burst of mana from your core at every hour."

The prince took a deep breath. "Uh... How do I do that?" Then, he recalled that he had to add, "Sir?"

The grand knight's look was filled with confusion for a few moments. Then, he looked at Arthur like the boy was the dumbest person ever.

That was so unfair! Carl was the dumbest, not him!

"So that's why I was given this toy," the knight said while taking a metallic string from a hidden pocket. He threw it at Arthur, who failed to catch it. The thing fell on the seat beside him. "Put it on. I'll teach you how to use mana when we have the time."

Arthur grabbed the string. It was silvery and thin, five times his forearm's length. The tiniest magic runes he had ever seen were etched in gold on each chain.

"How do I put it on, sir?"

"Wrap it around any limb you want. Or your waist or neck. I don't care. Just do it."

Arthur considered it for a moment before concluding it would fit better on his waist. He could use a few loops in his formal clothes to keep the string in place.

He awkwardly stood up on the moving carriage—it shook so much! He almost fell twice!—and put it on as if it were a belt.

An instant later, something stung in what felt like his heart. A tiny prickle. It wasn't as terrible as the itches his clothes caused—luckily, there had been none after he woke up!—but still a bit distracting. It happened so fast that he thought he might've imagined it.

"Keep the leeching rope at you at all times unless I tell you otherwise," the grand knight said after Arthur sat back down. "It'll keep you from getting the wrong achievements."

"Yes, sir."

The man shook his head. "It's supposed to be worn by awakened babies who can't control their mana. I never thought I would see a squire use it one day, much less my personal student."

"I..." Arthur started saying something. He wanted to defend himself. But what could he say, really? He felt so, so very small all of a sudden. He clenched his fists and used all his courage to barely whisper, "Please teach me how to use mana, sir."

"That will take time, and we're almost at our first stop."

The prince didn't want to give the man reason to hurt him by speaking without being spoken to again. But had to be brave now. He didn't want people to think he was a baby.

"I—" Arthur started.

"We do not have the time," the grand knight insisted, briskly interrupting the boy before he could formulate an argument. "Geniuses can learn the basics of mana manipulation in a few hours, but we'll reach our destination within minutes. I will not delay our schedule to protect you from yourself. Nothing must go wrong with your training." His voice changed as he said, "The war depends on it."

Mentioning the war almost mollified Arthur, but the shame of using something created for babies spoke louder. "It's not defending me from myself!" he argued. Desperation turned into a loud voice and anger. "It's defending me from other people! They'll mock me! They'll think less of their crown prince! You're a knight; you have to protect me! I command you!"

The man scoffed. "You did do it to yourself, boy. I refuse to believe no one ever repeatedly tried to teach the crown prince how to use mana. I also refuse to believe you tried to learn but found it beyond you. The stupidest people I've ever met learned in a few months when they were four. You chose not to learn. Your choices have consequences. Remember that."

Arthur growled and moved his hands to the leeching rope. He would not humiliate himself—

"Enough," the old man said.

This time he used his grand knight voice—the deep and scary one. The one that made Arthur suddenly absolutely sure that he would get hurt if he insisted.

Pride battled fear inside him; the latter won. He clenched his jaw. Tears came to the prince's eyes and fell freely. He refused to look at the knight and turned his head sideways.

He wanted his mom. He wanted Tamara. He didn't want to be a knight anymore.

The leeching rope made something inside him tingle again. It wasn't painful but brought the humiliation to even greater heights.

Arthur sobbed.

= - = - =

For all of the knight's talk about lacking time, the carriage took much longer than "a few minutes" to stop. Luckily, it was long enough for Arthur to stop crying. Being seen with a baby accessory was terrible enough; if he were also seen crying...

They had left the palace around midday, and although he had complained about the boredom, the trip had been short. The sun was still high up when the carriage stopped. The grand knight opened the door—

"Wait," Arthur said to himself and patted his stomach. "Lunch!" He realized he wasn't hungry, despite having last eaters many hours ago.

"You can't be that clueless," the old man complained, already outside the carriage. "Awakeners don't need to eat. Your body uses ambient mana to sustain you. Come, we have a lot to do."

Yes, of course! Arthur knew that! He just hadn't recalled it! His father was always hosting big banquets for other nobles, all awakeners. And this was Arthur's first day as an awakener!

The grand knight didn't have to be mean.

As promised, the prince had been brought to a dungeon, though the smell of the horses' manure offended his nose enough to distract him from his grand moment. Why would anyone even collect animal waste with that underbelly cloth instead of letting it fall on the road and be left back as they moved on?

Arthur missed his royal carriage.

The dungeon proper was inside a small fortification. The two-story stone building had a grated metal portcullis manned by two common knights.

Arthur was a little shocked. He had never seen regular knights before.

They didn't even have capes!

They wore mere chain armor over padded vests and wielded stupid spears and round shields. Their only redeeming quality was the single golden plate shoulder guard each of them wore.

They looked so... average.

Arthur immediately decided they could not be knights. They had to be foot soldiers or something.

The Golden Kingdom vertical flag hung from the top of the outpost, a black background with a golden lion head. The lion was also displayed in high bass in black metal on the guards' shoulder guards.

As Arthur kept staring at them, he once more saw the transparent black rectangle that had appeared on top of the grand knight's head. It displayed their race and levels—kind of.

| ???

| Human — Level 11

"Question marks?" he said to himself.

"You can only inspect those up to ten levels above you," his grand knight teacher, who stood a little ahead and to the side of Arthur, explained. "Some skills increase that range. You can see my level because I make it public. It only takes a small twist of your will to unlock your race and level for anyone who sees it."

"Oh. Thank you, sir."

"Inspection windows only show up for awakeners. You can inspect someone by looking at them for a while or simply willing Fate to reveal their race or level to you."

"Yes, sir."

The grand knight started walking towards the entrance, and Arthur followed.

A white metal symbol on top of the grated gate was proof that a dungeon was inside. It was a circle intersected by a square, the standard dungeon symbol throughout the League. The single star in the middle let everyone know the dungeon inside was as weak as possible.

The dungeon's low level hurt Arthur's pride, but he had to admit he hadn't started his training yet and might not be ready to slay a few dragons.

The League's symbol was beside the dungeon symbol: an inverted triangle containing a sword, an arrow, and a hammer, one on each corner, all pointing toward the middle. He didn't know why that was there, though.

Theoretically, Arthur shouldn't talk unless spoken to, but the knight had been surprisingly helpful when Arthur talked about lunch and question marks, so he risked a question.

"Why is the League—" he started asking but was interrupted by a female voice.

"Oh, Fate!" someone yelled. "It's the crown prince!"

Arthur looked in the voice's direction. He never paid much attention to servants or ordinary people, so he had dismissed the few dozen people around. They stood to the sides of the corridor that went from his carriage to the dungeon entrance. It had been created with golden and red chains.

They looked like dungeon delvers, what with their equipment. Padded vests, leather and chainmail armor, shields of different sizes and materials, and all sorts of weapons could be seen.

The yeller had been a teenager in a white robe, a pesky mage. Arthur inspected her, and the black rectangle soon showed she was merely level seven.

Usually, he would've immediately lost any interest he might have in her and the other people. But not this time. This time, he suddenly got very self-conscious about the leeching rope on his waist.

After her yell, everyone around looked at him instead of the grand knight, whom they had been staring at. Almost everyone around immediately bowed down, though their forms were terrible. The guards put one of their knees down instead like Arthur had done to his father not long before—

"You disappoint me."

The memory came unbidden. It fueled the shame of wearing a baby's accessory. His face flushed.

To make things worse, there was another building besides the outpost in the vast empty forest clearing. It was a four-story wooden inn that doubled down as a tavern, according to the bed and mug plaques. The teenager's yell had been so loud that people were pouring out of it to look at Arthur and bow.

He had never felt so humiliated before.

"Come, Your Highness," the grand knight said.

The prince was surprised at being addressed as such but guessed the truth soon enough. He was the crown prince. Squire or not, the crown dignity would suffer if someone could call him "boy" in public.

He pushed his shame—hoping no one saw his red face—and the commoners to the back of his mind again, like he had learned to do with Tamara, said, "Yes, sir," and followed.

The stone outpost's entrance hall had a wooden counter to the side, a five-man-wide stone archway at the back, and a few other doors and stairs here and there.

No one was around.

"Dungeons are a resource nowadays," the grand knight said while walking to the stone archway. "We've learned to take what we need from them without giving them a chance to fight back. However, things were different in the past.

"Legend has it that once upon a time, there were no Awakening Stones in the world. No awakeners, levels, achievements, stats, skills, or traits. Everyone was as weak as you. Lifting a couple of horses was considered a great feat. Whoever could light a candle a few feet away using their magic was deemed a grand wizard." He snickered.

"Then, one day, the dungeons appeared without warning.

"Our ancestors didn't know how to deal with them. Many a dungeon went unchecked for too long and overloaded, spitting uncountable monsters upon the world. We were too weak to do anything about it, to resist, to survive. Three of the seven humanoid races went extinct, and the beast people almost followed.

"We only survived because Fate took pity on the survivors. It sent us the Awakening Stones. Awakening lets us control our fate instead of being at the mercy of monsters. It gives us a chance."

He stopped at the edge of the archway. Arthur halted beside him, looking inside.

"Yes, sir," the prince said.

The light in the outpost was provided by light crystals on the ceilings, like in any civilized place. Further ahead, however, he saw torches on the earth walls of the underground cave.

His heart beat faster. That was it. A true dungeon.

"Go ahead," the grand knight commanded. "Step inside."

Arthur swallowed and obeyed with glee. The moment his foot touched the dungeon's ground, he got an achievement.

「 Achievement: Dungeoneer

Tier: F

Reward: +3 free stat points

You entered your first dungeon!

Brave the unknown, obtain great riches, and grasp a grand fate. 」

"Dungeons interfere with achievements," the grand knight informed. "Whenever you get an achievement inside a dungeon, no one else can get the same achievement for a day while in that same dungeon. To make things worse, if you should have received an achievement but didn't because you were in a dungeon and someone else had already gotten it, you lose it forever. For instance, the achievement you just got, Dungeoneer, can only be received the very first time you enter a dungeon. If someone else visits this dungeon within the next twenty-four hours, and it's their first dungeon, they'll miss out on the achievement. That's one of the reasons the kingdom carefully controls dungeon schedules. This dungeon was reserved for you until you get the three other achievements we came to get."

"Yes, sir," Arthur said, but he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was trying to see further into the dungeon. He felt frustrated at only being capable of seeing a corridor that turned right a few dozen yards in.

"Now, leave," the old man commanded.

Arthur frowned, his focus finally stolen by the man. "What? Sir?" he asked, looking at his tutor.

"Leave," the grand knight repeated. "I want you to receive the achievements for entering the same dungeon one hundred, five hundred, and a thousand times."

"What about the monsters, sir?"

"What about them?"

"Shouldn't I kill them, sir?"

The man looked at Arthur as if he were an idiot. "Boy, I can kill you by sneezing, and that is not an exaggeration. You're nowhere near strong enough to face any monsters. But more importantly, in the unlikely event of you killing too many monsters, you would receive achievements you aren't supposed to get yet." He paused, then completed, "Don't worry; we'll start proper knight training right after leaving. That'll include teaching you how to use mana. You'll kill monsters when you're ready."

That sounded better, but not by much. Arthur looked at the dungeon corridor again. He sighed and stepped back.

Then on.

Then back.

And so on in what felt like forever.

= - = - =

As foretold, Arthur got three new achievements for his trouble.

「 Achievement: Dungeon Insistence

Tier: D

Reward: +12 free stat points

You insist on entering the same dungeon!

There are many paths to a grand fate. Not all of them are full of novelties. 」

「 Achievement: Dungeon Craze

Tier: B

Reward: +48 free stat points

You are crazy for a dungeon!

You have deemed a dungeon as your fated archenemy. You shall not let it stand while you draw breath. 」

「 Achievement: Dungeon Obsession

Tier: S

Reward: +192 free stat points

You are obsessed with a dungeon!

Insistence turns into craziness. Craziness becomes an obsession. You lose yourself in a haze of death and carnage, blood and endless gore. You can't let go, you can't forget, you can't forgive. If fate won't give you what you want, you'll take it with your own blooded hands. 」

"Dungeon Obsession is the easiest S-tier achievement anyone can get," the grand knight said while Arthur stepped back out of the dungeon from habit. "It evidences how much Fate abhors dungeons."

The prince barely heard it. He couldn't fully understand the terrible things he was reading in the latest achievement, but they sounded so horrible... He hadn't even known what carnage and gore were, yet the meaning was etched in his mind as he read words in Fate's language.

He trembled from the sudden cold he felt.

"Ah, yes, you're confused about the Dungeon Obsession description," the old man said. "Anytime someone enters a dungeon, the dungeon gets a fresh influx of mana. I won't get into the specifics, but the more times the same person enters it or the longer they spend inside, the more mana the dungeon gets. But don't worry, that mana doesn't come from you.

"On top of that, when anyone gets an achievement inside a dungeon, the dungeon grows stronger. The higher the achievement tier, the better for the dungeon. As annoying as achievements being limited inside dungeons might get, it's for our own safety. Thank Fate for that.

"You entered this dungeon a thousand times. It got a lot of mana. You also got a few achievements, one of them S-tier. That gave his dungeon a lot of power relative to its one-star rank. As you can imagine, chaos might ensue.

"It's not only income or achievement scheduling the kingdom seeks by controlling a dungeon, but also people's safety. Therefore, only a set number of people can enter daily to avoid strengthening the dungeon beyond the local defenses' ability to deal with an eventual outbreak.

"In the past, delvers also had to show their achievements before and after leaving, but it's now considered an invasion of privacy. Remember, don't show your Fate windows to anyone.

"Back to the topic, the mana the dungeon got from you should be enough for it to overflow. Monsters should be pouring here. You usually wouldn't be able to go into and out of a dungeon a thousand times without getting covered with blood, hence the description.

"Fortunately, a fellow knight has entered it beforehand and is dealing with the monsters for you. He's also checking whether the S-tier achievement was enough for the dungeon to rank up. We'll wait for him here."

As if on cue, a female voice came from the dungeon. "I see you're as blind to people's hearts as ever, Commander," it said.

Arthur turned to see a grand knight turn the corridor's corner and become visible on the far end.

She continued, "His Highness wasn't confused by the lack of monsters. He is troubled by the description's meaning. Are you so senile already that you forgot Fate injects the meanings of its words directly into our minds?" Her voice was high and clear. She was far away, yet Arthur heard her as if she were beside him.

Surprisingly, the old man smiled slightly despite the disrespect. "I see you are as insubordinate as ever, Lieutenant. You should learn from your husband. Terrible as he is, he at least knows how to respect his superiors. Speaking of whom, he should be here, not you. I summoned the male Graham, not the annoying one."

"William sends his regards," the lieutenant said while approaching. "He wanted to come, but I guessed the crown prince could use some warmth. Being by your side is known to scar people for life. I would know."

Arthur felt no warmth from the approaching grand knight wearing a black skull-like helmet with shining white mist coming from its eye sockets.

The commander scoffed at her words. "Enough banter," he said while his face turned serious. "You're underestimating the enemy, Lieutenant. I need someone stronger, not a freshly minted grand knight."

Arthur inspected her.

| Human — Level 53

"His Royal Majesty expected you to say that," the woman replied while extending her arm sideways. Her hand disappeared into empty air. She kept walking, and the opening into her spatial storage followed her. A moment later, she pulled out a black and golden scroll case. "William was needed somewhere. Believe it or not, I was the best alternative available."

A few steps later, she was close enough and threw the case at the commander. He took it, opened it, and read the scroll inside.

"So be it," he said after a moment, his voice sounding more intense than ever. "Take over the boy's mana training."

"Yes, sir," she said.

She had reached Arthur by then. She stopped before him and removed her helmet, revealing a physically fit middle-aged lady with short black hair. Her kind smile almost made him smile back, but he stepped back when he saw her red eyes.

"Vampire," he mouthed incredulously.

The commander scoffed again. "Of course, he paid attention to the useless superstition a random maid shared with him instead of his classes. Lieutenant Graham, meet squire seven-oh-three. I'm sure you'll grow to hate his stupidity as much as I do."

Graham rolled her eyes. "Spoken like a true workaholic who never had time for your kids." She crouched in front of Arthur and nodded slightly. That was the only 'bowing' a grand knight had to do to any royal family member except for the king. "Nice to meet you, Your Highness. I'm Lieutenant Charlotte Graham of the Golden King's retinue. If we're attacked, I'll keep the enemies at bay while the commander focuses on bringing you to safety."

"Attacked by enemies?" Arthur asked, confused. "Like, by vampires?" He said the first thing that came to mind.

"We're at war, Your Highness—"

"Boy," the commander corrected. "Call him 'boy' in private. He's a squire."

She rolled her eyes again but said, "Yes, sir. Well, Your Boyness..." Arthur actually chuckled a little at how silly that sounded. She smiled a little wider. "...we're at war, and some people might cross our borders unnoticed. But you don't have to worry about any vampires, no. They went extinct in the Great War five hundred years ago. Only distant descendants like me remain. My great-grandfather was a vampire. My vampire blood is thin enough that I can't consume blood to grow stronger and don't suffer some pesky side effects. Even better, it gives me access to some skills that will help me teach you how to use mana very, very fast. What do you say? Does that sound good?"

Arthur nodded, though he was still a little scared.

"Will you accept me as your guard, then, Your Boyness?" she asked, and he nodded. "Thank you." She stood up and turned to the old man. "Should I start the lesson now, Commander?"

"No. We'll wait for the MCC."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "A mobile command center? Weren't they decommissioned a dozen years ago?"

The commander nodded. "They were. Too expensive to maintain, too situational. Most were dismantled for parts, but Count Sunmister bought one and modified it for long-distance travel with his prolific family. He calls it a cruiser carriage now. It fits the boy's circumstances perfectly; we'll travel a lot and need enough space to train him. His Royal Majesty purchased it yesterday. It should arrive any time with a squad of royal knights. We'll wait here until it does."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant said and put her helmet back on. "I'll secure the perimeter. I hear some commotion outside."

Arthur heard nothing, but she must've had the skills for that.

The old man shook his head. "Stay here. Someone recognized the crown prince and shouted his identity in public. If the kingdom's enemies have a strike team nearby, I'll bunker down in the dungeon, and you'll be the first line of defense. The access corridor will make for a good choke point."

"Yes, sir," she said.

Charlotte pulled a grand knight's black tower shield from her spatial storage and positioned herself between Arthur and the outpost's entrance. Then, she pulled her long sword from its sheath at her waist. The blade was made of silvery metal, maybe mythril, and inlaid with golden magic runes and scripts.

Arthur didn't even care about the ensuing silence and long waiting time.

Looking at that sword was the opposite of boring.

He gawked at it until the cruiser carriage arrived.

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