Chapter 1: The Gentleman
Note: This story is heavily inspired by the Witch and the Sorcerer Fanfiction, I'd recommend reading it because it's fantastic
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A blonde woman in a dress was walking in a semi heavy rain down a muddy road in obvious thought while looking with a relatively blank expression almost like she has suffered some great tragedy that is in the process of breaking the poor blonde woman into pieces.
Her name is Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself, she is the third princess of the Re-Eztise Kingdom and is an extremely intelligent young woman with a love for her home however yesterday, she had received news that her personal Knight, Climb was killed during a confrontation with a shadowy group known as Eight Fingers.
Renner felt lost as she held a somewhat dark love for the knight and unfortunately she couldn't get Climb to be resurrected given the churches extreme price for such a spell even if the crown had demanded the use for the spell, Renner's Father, the King Ramposa the Third would never allow the use of their authority in such a way and unfortunately Renner's former handmaiden Lakyus, who was an Adamantine Adventurer, was away on a mission that will last a couple months which means she would be able to return quickly enough to cast her resurrection spell.
'Bullshit…' Renner though as her black expression continued to gaze upon the very kingdom she had the desire to change yet it was now dashed as the very reason she wished to help her home as now dead, left all alone in a world where no one cared for her as a person.
After bypassing what appeared to be a library only suitable for nobles, she stops when Renner hears a voice "My my my! Someone looks down in the dumps, why don't you come over and have a smoke with me" The sudden exclaimed and called out for her companionship.
Renner looked curious as she turned towards the noble library to find an odd man standing underneath a roof from the building.
The man was a dark tanned skinned man with a seeming smile on his face which looks plastered there, he has short brown hair and knowing crimson red eyes that peered onto her own crystal blue.
His outfit consisted of dress pants of such fine quality, along with shoes that doesn't look like they came from the kingdom, his upper wear was a button up white shirt with a brown checkered sweater vest and to top it off, he has a pair of square rimmed red glasses that really complimented the man's who weardrobe.
The glasses man was also smoking a cigarette, the poor classes version of a cigar which is enjoyed heavily but the nobles yet the smoke seemed colorful instead of the traditional smoke so it must've been a different and rare variant yet his smile never seemed to falter or fade, like it's really fixated in place.
"…Please" Renner exclaimed hoping for the company and this equally smelled fantastic smokes could help calm her nerves so the blonde woman walked over to the neatly dressed man to underneath the roof to also get out of the rain, she flinched when a cigarette suddenly appeared in front of her from the smiling man but took it quickly, placing the stick in her mouth.
The mean quickly likes it with a snap of his fingers which caused Renner to slightly question if the man was a magic caster but sucking in the smoke, it was smooth to the blonde woman and exhaling was as quick as it came in and the color was fantastic, it was like the princess exhaled a rainbow and the feeling in her heart came back even if it was a moment yet Renner didn't have the urge to smoke as she did smoke a cigar when she was a child and felt like she wanted to die which meant this was different.
The glasses man also exhaled his own cloud of colored smoke through his nostrils then spoke up catching the woman's attention "They are Prismatic Cigarettes! Crafted using the nostrils of a prismatic elder dragon, they are infinite, I can have a pack of 20 every day and it will reform in the next day" He exclaimed before looking over to find Renner looking shocked which caused the glasses man to chuckle, her facial expressions was amusing.
Renner looked shocked for a minute, this cigarette isn't made from a rare substance of the tobacco plant yet the man seemed to be extremely certain that it came from a dragon of all things which was shocking as dragons were the toughest creatures in the world, the Draconic Kingdom is led by a dragon after all, well a human who has dragon blood in their veins "I see, and where did you get this from?"
The man seemed to hum to himself while stroking his neatly cleaned chin with no sight of facial hair growing "I remember buying it from a merchant about…2 years ago? My father would've lost his nerve if he found it that I smoked"
"I see and who is your father by chance Mr?…." Renner asked as she puffed out another cloud of multicolored smoke, the taste of the smoke was really good to the blonde haired girl and felt like she could get addicted to it.
The man seemed to laugh jolly before turning to face the girl, placing the colored stick into his right hand and did an eccentric bow that made the blonde princess think he's of noble birth, a lot of nobles were goofy like that "I am Harkon Bloodstone! First Prince of the Xania Kingdom and son of the great overlord Alister Bloodstone, I'm a magic caster you see"
"*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*" Renner started to cough heavily causing the cigarette to fly out of her mouth and into the rainy and muddy street, The Glasses man now named Harken quickly started to pat her wet and clad back trying to help her to breath yet she immediately looked at the dark skinned mage "Your royalty?!" She exclaimed, shocked even more, she never heard of a kingdom named Xania yet this man, he just has this aura that showcased honesty.
Frankly, even at this point in time, he was just a stranger to her yet every time she felt curious or saddened, he always did something to help which just added to his air of trustworthiness to the blonde princess.
The glasses mage seemed to smile a bit bigger than could be possible for him "Why yes! I am! Son of the great queen of Xania, Queen Diane le Blanche and Overlord of Xania's underworld Lord Alister Bloodstone, it's obvious I take more after my father then I do my mother but they say I'm the perfect blend of both of their genes" his smile seems to calm down slightly but remains on the face regardless
Renner looks shocked at the man who was a half breed of a commoner or a very powerful figure in this 'Xania's' underworld and the child of a queen meaning this man was indeed royalty, The Blonde Princess couldn't see any deceit from the man or she couldn't detect any lying which the young royal woman was pretty good at detecting manipulation being a manipulator herself but this man…
she has no clue on his actual origins but he doesn't give off the air to lie blatantly which meant he must've been an actual prince of a kingdom Renner hasn't heard of 'I see, and the gaze, that's…what my eyes are like' "I see Your Highness, thank you for being honest with me"
"Ah Ah Ah! Don't call me that, I left my family long ago to travel the world so don't worry about titles, just call me Harken" The glasses man exclaimed as he pushed them up further up the bridge of his nose yet his eyes showcased an entertained gaze like he was amused by her
Renner smiled as she tossed the cigarette away after it was too short to smoke anymore though hearing "Your highness! Princess Renner!" The voice was someone Renner was absolutely familiar with which she looked over to find Gazef Stranoff, a dark brown skinned man in sleeveless armor and pants was running in the rain in a panic until his gaze softened from panic to relief as he ran over towards her "Princess! I'm so glad I found you! His Majesty, your father was deeply worried about you!"
Renner sighed as she looked up at the cloudy rainy skies "Tell Father that I am fine, I'm just processing my dear climbs death but I was talking to an interesting man" she exclaimed which caused Gazef to look curiously and around which was odd for him.
"And where is this interesting man Your Highness? I wish to thank him for keeping you company and helping you through your grief" He exclaimed as he couldn't find the man Renner was talking too which she looked to her right to also see her confused and shock.
"T-That's impossible…" she exclaimed with shock "I was just talking to him, I would've noticed him leaving yet he's gone" Renner had no idea on how Harken had suddenly disappeared until a thought came into her mind, Harken never did say what he did for a living after leaving his royal family.
Harken was a Magic Caster, and a powerful one at that to suddenly disappear without even casting an incantation of a spell.
"Your Highness, I think it's time I escorted you back to the palace, I'll have my men keep a look out for this mysterious man" Gazef exclaimed which Renner sighed and nodded yet the princess bypassed the warrior captain into the seemingly absence of rain while thinking the rain was subduing, the muscular man followed suit as a devoted protector.
The Vest Wearing Prince was on the top of the building watching the young princess being escorted back to the palace with his smile growing in pure amusement "I am sorry to say but I hope the trip back home without rain doesn't put a damper on your thoughts, your more beautiful with a smile" he exclaimed as he had recently casted the control weather Spell, spending the appropriate spell slot required and luckily before the muscular man had approached, he used the Blink Cantrip to teleport without alerting the young woman.