Chapter 365 - The Prince of an Enemy Kingdom

Monelica, the capital of the Nation of Frost.

The country was located in the coldest part of the continent. It was a region covered in frost and snow all year round, and its capital was no exception.

Today, the ancient city was celebrating the twenty-third birthday of the twelfth prince, Prince Xavier, with a huge ceremony.

Hundreds of knights adorned in silver and white armour stood on either side of the road in front of the palace as a young man with long silver-grey hair slowly walked in the middle of the road towards the palace.

The young man looked sideways, behind the knights, where the nobles of the Nation of Frost were gathered. Wherever he looked, he could vaguely hear the screaming of young girls in that direction.

He withdrew his gaze and slowly walked towards the end of the road, where the King of the Nation of Frost sat.

"Father." He looked at the king, who was over a hundred years old, and knelt halfway down.

"Xavier. You have passed the trials of the ancient frost spirits and have received their approval. Your birth is a great gift from our ancestors to the Nation of Frost."

The king slowly rose from his throne as a servant handed him a long sword.

The king took the sword, which was inlaid with ice-blue primordial crystals glowing with cold, and gently placed it on Prince Xavier's shoulder.

"As of today, I appoint you as the commander of the Second Legion of the Allied Forces! Go forth to the endless ice fields and strive for ever more glory! Bring back endless glory to the lands of frost!"

"As you wish."

Prince Xavier raised his hands and solemnly accepted the sword.

It was a blessing. In two months' time, the Nation of Frost would lead an allied army to the Demon Realm to annihilate those dangerous demons.

He would go to the battlefield as the vanguard of the Nation of Frost.

The blessing did not last long. After the ceremony, the king held a great feast in the palace to celebrate the 12th prince's birthday.

But when the noble ladies tried to find Prince Xavier at the banquet, he had already disappeared.

"You shouldn't be here, on your own. Your sisters are looking for you."

A mage in a robe found Prince Xavier hiding in a corner of the palace.

When he found him, the mage threw a bottle of Volta into his hands.

"I'm just feeling a bit out of place."

Prince Xavier was staying close to the hall where the banquet was being held, which he could see through a very small window.

He sighed silently as he watched the girls in their courtly dresses and with thick white powder on their faces.

"You've been in the Nation of Frost for three years now and you still can't fit in?" the mage said, standing beside Prince Xavier, holding another bottle of Volta.

"But I was raised in Norland." Prince Xavier opened the seal of the bottle, sniffed the pungent smell, and tossed it aside with some disgust.

"But you are a prince of the Nation of Frost, and the most likely heir to the throne," the mage said.

"I never wanted to be king. All I want is to stop the dangerous demons that threaten the people of this country." Prince Xavier suddenly looked up at the mage beside him.

"I spent some time in the Endless Plains when I first came to Nation of Frost. There I saw the remnants of countless villages, burned down houses and dead bones, and even the bodies of children." Prince Xavier's hands trembled slightly as he spoke, his silvery-grey pupils filled with the emotion known as anger.

"I don't ever want to see such misery again."

"Then I can only wish you success in defeating those demons, Prince Xavier."

The mage raised his glass in a faint gesture to Prince Xavier to calm the prince's anger. He took out a wooden box and handed it to him.

"What is this?"

The wooden box was inscribed with a powerful magical seal, and when Xavier touched it, the inscriptions dimmed and disappeared.

"A gift from your mentor Lursk, and the reason I came all the way to this country. Lursk said that the gift will make you feel as if you're back on the streets of Norland'," he said.

"Back on the streets of Norland?"

Upon Prince Xavier's arrival in the Nation of Frost, he had no chance to return to his true homeland, Norland, due to various obstacles.

Although he was a prince of the Nation of Frost, he was at heart a mage from Norland.

"That's all I have to say, I should leave now," the mage said.

After seeing him out of the room, Prince Xavier opened the dusty wooden box in front of him.

Inside the wooden box was an originium crystal and a powerful leaf, both of which had been neatly arranged. Next to the items was a small, folded piece of paper.

Prince Xavier picked up the note, which gave a brief description of how to use the two items.

He picked up the crystal and gently crushed it in his hand. A large number of inscriptions poured out of the fragments of the originium crystal and into Prince Xavier's body.

A transparent interface appeared in front of Prince Xavier's eyes.

"The magic network?"

Prince Xavier learned the name of the interface through the note, and then he gently held the leaf of the World Tree, following the instructions on the note.

The signal in the bottom right corner of the magic network interface instantly changed from grey to full.

"What is this? A new magic invented by Master?" Prince Xavier touched the transparent screen in front of him. A great deal of doubt flooded his mind, but he followed the instructions.

"The next step is to register on the mage forum."

Prince Xavier showed his extraordinary talent at this moment. Following the brief tutorial on the slip of paper, he learned the general workings of the magic network and completed the registration process in just over ten minutes.

When it came time to choose his username, Prince Xavier hesitated for a moment before writing 'Frost Owl'.

The word "frost" is a prefix for his country, and the word "owl" was his tutor's favourite animal.

Prince Xavier finished filling in all the information and after pressing the OK button … a large amount of text took up most of his vision.

"Firefly Forest Frog Squad! Looking for assistance from a mage specialising in voodoo, please come to the Stonehammer Tavern on Squirrel Street!"

Poster: Black Glasses.

"There are three things that all breeders should be aware of when breeding flame lizards in groups."

Poster: Impoverished gold merchant.

"Big news! Yellow Mage is going to be on the Sage Thought Forum today!

Poster: Ash-colored Owl.

Prince Xavier looked at the heap of text and the occasional "landscape painting" of Norland that drifted by.

Just by looking at it, he really felt as if he was on the streets of Norland.


T/N: landscape painting = pics