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Sworn to protect

There is a certain peace and serenity that accompanies flight. The wind in your hair, the feeling of freedom it represents. All your worries and all your troubles were like the ants below the earth, too far away to touch you, too far away to matter. At least, that is how flying usually went.

The fact of the matter is though, that it could get boring. Much like driving a car. It was monotonous, and Kalman was even beginning to get a crick in his neck. For this reason, he decided to return to ground level. He landed on a road paved with stone. It was evidently well traveled, but the stone still seemed to hold its own, even if not every part of the road was covered. The road itself was wide enough to allow at least two lanes of cars to pass through, so by that measurement, it was probably of an average width.

Based on what he knew, and the westward path Kalman was following while flying for the past half-hour, this was one of the most trafficked roads, as it led to the wealthy and prosperous merchant kingdom of Atyrau, aka the High Elven Kingdom.

A bird's-eye view was easy to get used to, and even easier to use to orient oneself with, but it could not become a crutch. Kalman needed to trek the road on his own two feet for several reasons.

He needed to stretch, get his legs moving, even if he was sure this body would never decay. Reasonably. Probably. Movement itself would not harm him, that was for certain.

After all, one rarely had opportunities to walk in the outdoors in his old world, as even the so-called pure outdoors were cordoned off and carefully monitored and controlled.

The second reason was that relying on a bird's-eye view to get around could become a crutch. Kalman could not always take to the skies and fly around to get around, sometimes he would have to walk, or run. And he considered that most people themselves would not be able to fly, so he would have to get used to walking for long periods. As well as riding a horse. Riding a mount in Yggdrasil was one thing, but Kalman had not even touched a horse in his life, so he was sure that if he tried riding one, he would either embarrass himself or kill the horse accidentally. Most likely both.

The third reason, of course, was that by taking a bit more time to arrive at his destination, Kalman could use the time during his walk to that place to gather his thoughts, relax, maybe analyze some things he had learned, learn some new information, and possibly meet some people. There should be merchants and what not traveling this road, transporting goods to and from place to place. They would probably have knowledge, and Kalman reckoned that most of them would not mind a short conversation during their trip, it would probably break the monotony.

For these three reasons, Kalman decided to take it slow and methodical, and just walk to his destination.

Contrary to his expectation, his journey further proved to be uneventful. But that was fine with him, as he spent most of his time while walking thinking of this and that. His thoughts went from one topic to another with no discernable pattern between them, and they were often quieted when he noticed something he found interesting. Such as a rare teal barbed plant that he had not seen on Earth, or a form of deer which seemed to have a creamish golden fur with white patterns, instead of the usual brown and white. Almost like a desert deer of sort.

He additionally noticed some other things, road signs, hoof marks in the parts of the road that were unpaved, birds and insects flying and making noise.

The past half-hour of walking had been very different to flying, but no less satisfying, and the very process of slowly traveling on foot had been soothing. In fact, Kalman even found himself forgetting where he was, as this was an experience that his ancestors many years ago could have enjoyed in peace, back on Earth, before the atmosphere itself became irreparably damaged.

Perhaps some of his ancestors, centuries or millennia ago, were travelers or merchants? Kalman was not part of some noble line, which could trace their bloodline for generations upon generations. He knew only about his family up to three generations before him, and even then as things went further back, there was less and less info. The reality is, that he was not from an important family, and that was probably the way things had been for a long, long time. And even if he had some ancestors that were accomplished for this or that, the massive loss of information in the mid 21st century meant that he would likely never know.

Though truth be told, he found himself not caring much. He was here, he was now, and he would not let the chains of the past swallow his new life. Whether that be from things that happened 3, or 30, or 300 years ago, he was determined to forge a new path, and he was certain that he had all he needed to succeed, to forge a life that he would finally be proud of. He would do the things he had always wanted to do.

And one thing he always wanted to do was go fishing.

Back on Earth, overfishing and pollution had rendered the seas and oceans bare and broken, corrupted and poisoned. And this applied not just to saltwater, but to freshwater sources of water as well.

Some governments made efforts to overturn, or at least somewhat reduce how disastrous the water systems were back on Earth, and one of those measures was to not just completely ban fishing, but to prevent even the artificial cultivation of fish, as it was considered a waste of perfectly good drinking water. This meant that for the vast majority of people, obtaining fresh, delicious fish was impossible. Only the truly wealthy could obtain fresh and healthy meat, as rules and restrictions were only suggestions, free to be ignored.

However, this world was still pure, still clean. Thus, he could fulfill his dream of fishing here. It may not be with his grandfather as he wanted to when he was a child, but it would be good enough.

Kalman continued down the road, until he came upon a hill, which he quickly surpassed. There was a small slope downhill, and the road approached the river itself, being only about 20 meters apart. The mountains were gradually receding, and Kalman felt the temperature itself had been somewhat rising, but whether that was due to the geography, or the sun peeking out over the eastern mountains, he didn't know. Most likely both factors.

At any rate, Kalman calmly walked down the slope, approached the part of the road that was nearest to the riverbanks, and sat down on a small rock that was situated next to a somewhat bigger one. The bigger rock was flat and at about chest height, while the smaller one would serve well as a chair for now, even if it was a bit uncomfortable.

From there, Kalman pulled out a few things.

First, he pulled out the photograph that he found in the mountain fortress that he conquered yesterday.

Second, he pulled out a pen and an empty book.

Third, he pulled out a cooking item from Yggdrasil, a self-heating frying pan, which required no fire. It was a convenient item, allowing players to cook even in areas where lighting a fire would be tough. Kalman could probably light a fire using wood, but he was not confident in his abilities, and decided that it would be better to take it slow. He had plenty of time to learn.

Fourth, he pulled out some cooking oil made out of sunflower seeds that was once more, an item from Yggdrasil. It was rather cheap, and he had a few dozen bottles of it, so he decided that using one would not be a monumental waste. Most likely, he would probably not even have to use the full bottle. Still, he had no idea how he would cook the fish that he hadn't even caught yet, so he would leave the details to his future self.

And fifth, was the fishing rod. Another magical item from Yggdrasil, which was used in various in-game fishing events, competitions and minigames, as well as open-world exploration it was something that he had a bit of experience with. Not too much, but enough to be able to occasionally catch a fish. He was certain that the enchantments on it to make it never break and lure fish to its self-refreshing tasty lure would increase his chances by quite a bit.

With all these items prepared, Kalman turned his head eastwards, gazing a bit at the rising sun, letting its warmth bathe him as he prepared to finally fish and relax for the first time in his life.

He was content.

There is a certain term called "noblesse oblige". It means that nobility is not just privilege and entitlement, but responsibilities and hard work. It means an obligation to your subjects, generosity to those less fortunate, protection to those weaker, guidance to those who needed it.

It means that fate had decreed that you were born in a position which had more power than most, because you were destined to use that position to improve the lives of those below you.

Though many had forgotten this truth, there were those who fulfilled the ideas of this concept to the letter, even if they didn't know the name for this term. Some of those nobles were diligent, intelligent, brave, honest, and selfless. Not people who would lie for personal gain.

Luka Ronion was one of them. And according to this letter, he was dead. As was the entire city.

Princess Miruka was shell shocked. Her beautiful face was deeply disturbed, a reflection of her troubled soul.

Ever since her mother had died in childbirth about half a year ago, her life had steadily been growing more and more chaotic, more and more of a mess.

In fact, she was pretty certain that if the stress continued to amount, she would start losing her brownish blonde hair at twenty-one. Most likely, it already had started thinning a bit.

But what was she to do?

First, she had lost her mother, at only forty three years of age. That was young, way too young. Her mother was still young, beautiful, and an excellent queen. And then she died giving birth to her younger brother. She already had an older one, the crown prince, but she would have liked to have another one as well. After all, her family had gotten along well, there were no intrigues or conspiracies or controversies. They were just people, at the end of the day. And no one would willingly want their infant brother to die fresh out of the womb, or worse, inside it. Though it was a fact of life that the peasants had to sometimes deal with, the royal family had mages and priests, servants and assistants, people, who would help, and make sure that this didn't come to pass. After all, they were effective when her older brother was born, and when she was born. Both of those births went, according to what she was told, without any issue. So why did this one go disastrously?

She didn't know, but in the end it didn't matter. Her mother and baby brother were dead. All the people in the chamber were useless. Resurrection magic was useless.

She could not even find it in herself to be angry. Many would be angry at their infant brother for such a thing, for having supposedly killed her mother, but she knew the truth.

First off, her mother would not want her children fighting, and second, her baby brother was innocent, and had known nothing. Even if he was the cause for his mother's death, she would not be angry at him, she would not curse him. She would forgive him, and carry on. It is what her mother would have wanted.

Her father however, had grown sullen and depressed after that.

Completely understandable, he had known and been married to his wife for twenty seven years, nearly three decades, so her loss weighed deeply on his soul. When one of his generals had mentioned remarrying, he nearly chopped the man's head off with his own blade then and there, but decided against it.

Truth be told, he had felt broken inside, though he did manage to act as a ruler should, and delegated most of his duties to his chief advisor, and to his daughter and son, so the ruling of the kingdom went without issue. Luckily, they were a small land, stable and prosperous, and when things were like this, the land ruled itself for the most part, so there was little need to interfere.

Thus, the death of Princess Miruka's mother and her baby brother, though a tragic occurrence, were a part of life, and over time, she grew to accept it. She buried herself in work and study as a compensation, trying to learn more about how to govern, as she had a distinct yet nagging feeling that somehow, things would get worse. She tried to get her brother to listen, but though his heart was there, he felt that they should merely pray to the Gods for deliverance, and that eventually all would be right.

In his grief, he had grown more religious, as the death of his mother impacted on him the state of his fragile mortality. In fact, he was already a studious man, though skilled with a blade, he had always preferred his books. Therefore, it was not a big leap to go from reading relaxing novels and historical books, to reading religious texts.

That however, would not be her path. In truth, the two siblings' paths diverged. One would focus more on learning actually useful things, another on fairy tales. Though there was a unifying factor in their situation and their grief.

They both refused to marry, despite the nobles urging them to do so and produce heirs.

In fact, they had been urged to marry and produce heirs for quite a while now, ever since they came of age. Her brother, already twenty four, had come of age nearly a decade ago, and was still a bachelor. He had cited the fact that it would be improper to marry while the kingdom was in mourning, and that he had found no worthy bride as of yet. However, he could have gotten married in the past, yet he kept finding one excuse or another to refuse. It was rather strange, but considering that there was nothing of import happening while he was unmarried, most of the nobility let the matter go. They probably figured that the prince would eventually find a girl he liked, and they would marry and have children, and that would be that. He was, after all, still young. That day however, would never come.

The princess, three years younger than her brother, had also come of age about six years ago, and was still unmarried. There were certainly suitors, but it never went anywhere. Most of the nobility in the Kingdom of Kosalia was effectively politically neutered, due to the lasting legacy of the previous Emperor when he conquered this land. The man held a deep belief that only merit and loyalty should determine one's position, not nobility and wealth and because of this, many nobles were stripped of their titles, rights and lives, and those who had remained were still afraid of royal retribution, even if the Emperor had been dead for nearly twenty five years.

Additionally, there were not many promising candidates.

The wealthiest candidate was so arrogant and cruel that he had not one friend, the most competent was of a noble house so poor they could only afford a single set of armor.

The kindest candidate was naïve, and would be swallowed up by courtly life, and the handsomest one was a complete idiot.

No, marrying the princess, the crown jewel of the kingdom, to a pathetic noble would not do, and she made it known.

So that left marriage from inside the realm as an impossibility, at least for now. Maybe in a few years, once some of the younger heirs had come of age, they could try again.

This meant that marriage to an outside noble was the path to go.

But this also presented issues. Even if they managed to find someone who was worthy, in the unlikely event that the crown prince died, there would be no other heir to the throne besides the princess, and the kingdom would essentially sell itself into vassalage once more. Not an exciting prospect.

Not that that was an issue, for there were not many neighboring realms.

To the north was the Ye'Gai desert, a natural barrier so massive and deadly, that contact with realms on the other side of it was nearly impossible. Additionally, the realms inside it were uncivilized, and worst of all, filled with demi humans.

So north was out of the question.

Perhaps east? Except in the east there were their dwarven vassals in the mountains. They had a high degree of autonomy, held a republican government, and had no interest in surface world matters. On the surface however, a mountain range stretched east for miles upon miles, an insurmountable and impassable geographical barrier making the world that much a bigger place.

Thus, the east would not do.

Perhaps through the mountain pass into the Sakamir peninsula. It certainly had it's fair share of nobility, with the late Emperor certainly having enough male descendants, perhaps one of them would fulfill all the princess' requirements.

Except that would mean shackling themselves once more to a land they had been too happy to be rid of, and involving themselves in a civil war that had killed countless people.

And even if the kingdom wanted to go down that path, the mountain pass that connected the two realms was blocked due to ongoing conflict between the Stone Dragons and Stone Giants. None could pass.

Therefore, even the south-east was no good.

This left one choice.

The west.

However, when the discussion came up at court, it was shot down, for several reasons.

The first was that the Atyrau Kingdom was a rival nation that could have easily conquered them were it not for the geographical advantage Kosalia had and the current ongoing situation within the Atyrau Kingdom. By marrying a princess of a nation to a rival power, they would essentially throw all their dice on the prince producing an heir, which they didn't see happening anytime soon.

They knew that if the prince died, and the queen produced no other child, the princess would inherit the throne upon her father's death. And she would be the queen of another land, making her husband, that pointy-eared princeling the king.

An unenviable situation.

One however, that would not come to pass.

For when the king brought up the matter of marriage to the Atyrau Kingdom, it was shot down instantly by his own daughter, who proceeded to insult the prince for a good five minutes before calming down.

She stated this in front of the entire court, so naturally the marriage proposal was killed in its crib. A very small minority of the nobles took issue with that, as they believed that the princess job was to marry and make alliances, but truth be told, most could not slight her for it, as they also found the potential groom to be a repulsive and vile creature. Not even worthy of being called a man.

He was known to be a sexual degenerate, pervert, sodomite, greedy, cruel and arrogant.

No, to give not just their kingdom, but a young woman to such a repulsive creature would shame them all as men.

Plus, he was an elf.

Thus, the nobility once more turned their attention toward the crown prince, and urged him to marry. They failed. They tried to find out why. Perhaps he had…other proclivities? It would at least prove that his royal sword was still sharp. They each had their own theories, but that's all they were, theories.

The truth was simple however. Her brother was not just uninterested in marrying right now, he was uninterested in marrying in general. The man had no attraction at all, to either sex. Something both of his parents knew, but did not fault him for it. In fact, they would have preferred it if he had an attraction to one of the two, as it would be something that they could work with, but seeing as their son had literally no interest in anything related to sex, they decided to let it go, and try for another heir.

Those plans had turned to ashes, and Miruka found herself somewhat regretting her brother's piety. Perhaps if he were a bit more earthly, a bit more normal, he would have already had children, and her mother would still be alive?

Speculating what-ifs however, would not bring back the dead.

And her older brother was dead as well.

He died merely three months after the death of their mother.

While praying in a cathedral in the capital for the souls of his mother and brother, the entire building and entire section of the city had been shaken by a powerful earthquake, and based on the level of destruction, the epicenter was the cathedral itself.

It had collapsed, and crushed everyone beneath it.

Including her brother, who was a humble man, and did not mind praying and mingling with commoners.

And when the dust settled, and the soldiers dug up the rubble, he would not be different from a commoner. The bodies were ruined to such an extent that one could not recognize them. Bones were pointing the wrong places, there were cracks and holes where there shouldn't be, bones where there shouldn't be, faces flattened and unrecognizable. It was horrifying. Princess Miruka had never seen such destruction, such death before.

Her handsome brother had been reduced to a puddle of blood and meat.

No resurrection magic was even attempted this time, as all were sure that if he were somehow brought to life, not as an undead, but as a living, breathing man, the first and last thing he would say, the only thing he would say, would be a request to die once more. Such was the extent that his body was crushed, and the others fared no better.

For this reason, the nation mourned once more, and even the most traitorous and venomous nobles found themselves shedding their hearts of stone, and becoming fierce patriots. When they saw the look on the princess' face, when they heard her desperate cry, when she finally saw the remains of her brother, they could not help but empathize.

There is something deep that awakens the humanity within every person, and it seemed that on that day, even those who plotted the downfall of others, could not help but forget those plots.

The loss of family could strike anyone, even royalty, and they knew this. They empathized with this.

And thus, for the next few months, the nobles dedicated themselves to the service of their family and their fief, their soldiers and peasants, doing all they could to improve their lives, because in the end, life could be gone in just a flash, without any fault of their own.

The princess, or the unwilling heir apparent, had also thrown herself into work.

Trying to unblock the south-eastern mountain pass, improving relations with the dwarven vassals in the mountains, trying to rebuild the capital, make better laws, improve security across the entire kingdom, trying to make taxation more efficient.

She seemed a prodigy at this.

And she needed to be, as the death of the crown prince had finally broken the king, and he had fallen into a coma.

He slept for days, and when he woke up, he was not himself. He was broken. And this continued.

He would sleep for days at a time, kept alive by healers and a dedicated team of servants, and the few times he was awake, he was not lucid.

Speaking of things that weren't there, shadows in the dark, dead gods, acting as if his family was still alive. It was a rather sad sight.

There were moments, occasionally, when the king was completely lucid, completely sane, as befitted a ruler of his stature. But those were few and far between, and as the days went by, they became rarer and rare, until eventually they were a memory.

The ruling of the kingdom naturally fell to his only heir, his daughter. Queen in all but name at twenty-one. It was certainly a stressful thing, to be in charge of the lives of millions, when your own is falling apart. But she would do her best, as she had been doing so far.

And it seemed that, besides her family being or incapacitated, things were going well.

Until she received that letter.

As soon as she did however, she knew what would happen. The curse that had fallen upon other nations had come here, and she and her entire realm were at risk of being swallowed by evil.

There was no time to lose.

She quickly summoned her servants and bid them one order after the other.

"Zora, go summon Parsis, now. Kere, order every noble in the city to arrive in the throne room, now. And yes, I mean all of them. Mara, go and summon the leaders of the church, and you three do the same with the merchant's guild, adventurer's guild, and mage's guild. And you two, help me put on my armor."

She did not know how to fight, much. She could swing a sword a bit, but truth be told, she had no prowess at it, and she was not a martial person. At the very least however, she could defeat an angry peasant with a pitchfork.

Regardless of her skill, the armor itself would protect her, and she could move decently enough in it. And besides, the magical enhancements on the items would certainly help.

She had to prepare herself. Time was ticking, and every second wasted was another life extinguished. After a few minutes however, the armor was snugly fit to her royal body, and she seemed ready to move. Right on time, Zora had arrived with Parsis, the court mage.

"Your highness, you summoned me? What seems to be the problem?" - he said as he kneeled.

She merely handed him the letter, gestured with her left hand for him to rise, and then continued to give orders to her other servants in the meantime.

After half a minute, the old and wizened court mage with his bald head and long white beard in his courtly mage robes seemed to grow more and more anxious, before finally becoming terrified.

"By the Gods. Is this true?" - he asked, in a shocked voice.

"I'm afraid so."

"Could it be a lie?" - He spoke, with false hope in his voice.

"Luka would rather die before writing a single false word." - The princess replied.

"Perhaps someone else sent the letter?"

"We both know that only people the royal family approves can use this system. It was designed that way."

"Yes, yes, you're right, of course. What are your orders?"

"To start off, I need you to tell me everything you can about the invaders." - She replied.

"There is not much I know. It is all rumors I'm afraid, but I will be happy to be of service. Anything else, your highness?"

"Yes. Get that young boy, the one you found with the powerful talent."

"He is merely of the first tier, I don't believe he will be of much help."

"And you are of the fourth, I know. All the same, I believe he will be useful." - She said with gravitas, as she adjusted her gauntlets.

"Perhaps you're right. His talent to recognize how powerful a caster is will probably help us identify the biggest threats."

"I am. You get that boy, while I go visit my father, perhaps he is awake."

"As you wish, your highness."

"Oh, and Parsis, what was the boy's name again?"

"Fluder, your highness." - the old wizard said.

"Right. You go get him, and then get to the throne room as soon as possible. As of today, we are at war."

That's it for this chapter. It's roughly 5k words, and I do hope you enjoy it.

As always, feel free to follow/favorite the story as well as leave any and all reviews in the comment section, I do read them all. Until next time!

PS: It was my birthday yesterday, and consider this my gift to you guys. You're all wonderful.