“What are you thinking, dueling with your three-year-old son!? Are you out of your mind?”

  Mother shouted and pointed at my currently kneeling father. By the way, we were right now in my father’s office. As for me, I was sitting beside my mother, joyfully watching the show.

  “My Empress, why am I the only one kneeling? That kid was the one who invited me to a duel!”

  “Hm? Is that true, Art?”

  How cunning! It seems like Father wants to bring me down with him, but I won’t let that happen.

  “Mother… I just wanted to play knights with Father, but he hit me too hard. Look, I still can’t even move my body.”

  With all my heart and broken soul, I acted pitifully in front of my mother, even producing a drop of tears in my eyes. And it seemed to have worked, seeing her eyes full of love and sadness.

  “Oh, my pitiful child… This is all your fault!”

  My mother looked like she couldn't hold her anger anymore and grabbed the golden branch that was displayed on the wall.

  “Wait… my Empress! Please, anything but that!”

  “It’s too late to ask for forgiveness!”

  “GAHHH!”

  The situation appeared to be getting worse, so I sneakily escaped. I just hope you’ll still be alive after this, Father.

  ***

  It was still afternoon, and since I had nothing better to do, I planned to wander around the castle. In the span of an hour, I had already visited a lot of places.

  The kitchen, where food was being made—I snatched a few snacks on the way.

  The stables, where the knights' horses were being taken care of—I also saw my father’s horse, and it was magnificent. It was as tall as him, soaring six feet high. It had jet-black fur and rock-hard muscles. It was definitely a powerful horse. How envious… There were no horses in the Upper Realm, so I hope I can at least try to ride one.

  Next was the armory. Rows of armor and weapons were placed inside, but the one that stood out the most was my father's armor. The armor was pure black, but even in the dark, you could clearly see the armor due to the glitters that shined like stars. It was as if the night sky had been taken directly to make this armor.

  Then came the smithy. Even from afar, you could hear hammers striking down on hot metal. As I got closer, I felt the temperature gradually rising. I was amazed at how the workers could endure this heat. Each worker had impressive arm muscles—probably due to their constant hammering.

  All of them were elves, which was commendable considering elves were more aligned with wood elements. But I noticed one who wasn’t an elf.

  This person was short, even though I was a bit taller than him, yet he had a very old face. He was full of facial hair, which was braided in a very neat manner. He appeared to be the one in charge of this place, seeing that he was the one giving orders. My lessons with Mother hadn’t reached the different races in this world yet, so I couldn't identify what he was. Well, I could just ask him, right?

  With that in mind, I entered the smithy. That’s when I realized that the temperature outside couldn’t even compare to being inside. Rows of forges were placed along each side of the wall, every one of them with a blacksmith heating up metal, then dipping the metal in water before starting to hammer it. The process was done in an orderly fashion—it was almost hypnotizing.

  Even when I entered, they hadn’t lost their concentration at all and continued their work. The only one who noticed me was the short old man. He approached me and bowed slightly.

  “Greetings, Your Highness. Welcome to this humble smithy. Did you come here perhaps to request a weapon? If so, I can arrange for someone to do that.”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “No, you don’t have to.”

  I immediately refused this little one’s offer. When Heavenly beings are born, a sword manifests alongside their soul. This sword’s strength depends on the owner. Although I still can’t summon mine because of my soul’s current state, using a customized sword seems wasteful since I won’t need it once my soul heals.

  “Then may I ask why you came here, Your Highness?”

  “I was…”

  Just as I was about to answer, a streak of light suddenly flashed in my eyesight. I followed where it came from and saw a young man hammering metal. Surrounding him were floating red lights pestering him, yet the young man looked as if he couldn’t even see them.

  I looked around and saw red lights lingering around each blacksmith. But I noticed one thing—the red lights around the young man were fewer compared to the others.

  “Hey, don’t you think that man’s fire is a little lower than the others?” Without realizing it, I had already asked the question.

  The little man had a questioning gaze as he looked at where I pointed.

  “Hey, rookie! The fire is too low to let the metals melt. Raise the temperature of the fire!” the little man said to the young man grumpily—completely different from the attitude he had with me seconds ago.

  The young man, startled at being called out, checked his fire and quickly realized the issue. He shoveled some coals into the furnace, then stepped on the bellows pointed at the furnace, letting it blow air until the fire reached the right temperature.

  “I apologize, Your Highness, for letting you see such an embarrassing thing. I assure you, anything he makes won’t be distributed among the knights,” the little man said heartlessly. His words appeared to have dealt severe damage to the young man, judging by his depressed face.

  “If I may ask, Your Highness… how did you know that the temperature needed to be higher to melt the metal? Only blacksmiths with considerable experience can discern that. Did you perhaps study smithing, Your Highness?”

  The little man asked with shining eyes, as if he had found something precious and immediately wanted to take it, which made me a little uncomfortable.

  I took a step back before answering, “Well, not really. I just saw these little flames floating around and noticed that every single blacksmith had a fairly equal amount of flames lingering around them. The ones around that man were considerably lower than the others, so I assumed he needed more fire.”

  “WHAT!?”

  I was startled by the little man’s sudden loud voice. “What’s the matter?”

  Instead of answering, he abruptly grabbed my shoulders. Our faces were so close that our noses were almost touching.

  “Your Highness! Please, be my disciple! I beg of you!”

  I pushed the little man away in disgust. What’s the deal with this creepy little man? He’s unnaturally strong for his size.

  “You… How dare you—” Wait, I shouldn't make this a bigger issue. If my mother finds out that I used my authority for something like this, then I’ll be the next one to receive that golden branch!

  “I-I have something urgent to do, so I must leave now. Farewell.” That’s why I immediately ran. Just what’s wrong with that little bearded man? His expression when he looked at me was like that of a hungry lust demon. They’re the kinds I hate the most! I should avoid the smithy from now on.

  I panted heavily in exhaustion. I had run so far that I didn’t notice I was already at the Knights' Headquarters. Well, this was supposed to be the last stop of my adventure, so all was well.

  The Knights' Headquarters was where all the knights in the Knights' Order were stationed. It was the center of command—you could also say the brain of the Order.

  If the empire was not in a national crisis, then the Headquarters should have been peaceful and quiet. Yet, hundreds of knights were running around, grabbing armor and weapons, readying themselves as if they were going to war.

  I approached one knight who was preparing himself, asking him what was happening. The moment I spoke to him, his face turned white in an instant due to shock. He immediately bowed deeply and greeted me. I just noticed this now, but why does everyone in this castle seem to recognize me every time?

  “Your Highness! I apologize for being rude, but you should go back to the castle!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s a sudden surge of undead appearing in the northern part of the forest, and it's heading in this direction! Your Highness, for your safety, please go back to the castle.”

  A surge of undead? Out of nowhere?

  ***

  In a place full of tall trees and lush grasses, the Emperor and Empress were lying down on the ground, looking at the blue sky.

  “Is all of this necessary, my Emperor?”

  The Emperor’s closed eyes slowly opened, and he spoke with a pained expression. “You also heard what the Ancestor said. This is all to identify his true nature.”

  Tears began to flow from the Empress’s eyes. “But… he’s our child.”

  The Emperor reached out his hand and wiped the Empress’s tears while also caressing her face to comfort her. “This is incredibly painful for me as well. How can a father doubt his own child? But you’ve seen the strangeness that surrounds him. You carried him for nine years, which greatly affected your health. There was also that strange event the day he was born, where no other life came into the world except for our child. Even the other monarchies weren’t unaffected. And it doesn’t help that he refuses to tell us anything.”

  “Then, if the Ancestor’s speculation is true, what will you do?”

  “Her speculations don’t matter. I will protect him as long as I am his father…”

  “…even if he’s a demon that came crawling out of hell.”