Underneath the centuries old Zatiax castle where the royal family resided, there was the underground prison. Deep in the ground where sunlight would never reach, there was one lit torch.

  It illuminated the surroundings. It was a hung up on the wall of an empty prison cell, a filthy one and disgusting one where. On the opposite of the cell was another cell with a single corpse inside, one that seemed all void of flesh. Two people's footsteps came from down the long hallway of prison cells.

  They slowly got closer and stopped in front of the lit prison cell.

  "Lift it."

  A single voice of a male sounded out. It was a sweet, soft and lovely voice. Like honey, there was sweetness to it.

  "Yes, your highness."

  The second person spoke. He lifted his hand and a white light shined from his finger. Or rather his ring on his left hand index finger emitted a white light. The empty cell before them transformed.

  A bright light at the top of the ceiling shined like the sun. It came from some kind of crystal. The floor was still a grey color but it seemed much cleaner than before.

  A person sat in the middle of the room, bound to a chair with chains around his limbs. His wavy long dark blue hair covered his face. But his head was covered by a bag. He was wearing a peasants clothing.

  "Erox of Ozipius."

  Now revealed clearly under the ceiling light, the blonde haired young man who spoke earlier walked up to the prisoner. Behind him stood a murky dark green haired robe wearing fifty years old man. The older man had rough and wrinkly skin with a few green spots here and there.

  The young blonde man removed the bag covering the face of the fake hero. Erox, who Thea had met previously during his quest to kill a three star lindworm, was bound to the chair.

  "...prince Hyoh."

  Hyoh is the second prince of the royal family of Hyrovan. They ruled the kingdom of Zatiax as the absolute pinnacle of firepower, because only they wielded the golden fire. And none of the other fires could compare.

  "It took us a long time to find you, Erox. Now why did you go into hiding after everything I did for you?"

  Hyoh said in his honey sweet voice. But it sounded nothing but creepy to Erox.

  "I-I-"

  "Now my minions tell me you won't speak a thing about what happened."

  Hyoh stood behind Erox and put his hands on his shoulders.

  "What happened for you to go into hiding? And where is my sword?"

  It wasn't known what happened between Thea and Erox that day. The only thing that was known was from the blurry pictures that Sophily had taken. A blue haired person was present during the hunt. And afterwards, they and the hero's party disappeared.

  "I can't say anything."

  "Ah yes. My servants say you think you've been cursed."

  "I-I really was. If I say anything, I will die a horrible death."

  "Really now?"

  Hyoh clicked his tongue.

  "It just so happens I have a cure for you."

  "W-what cure?"

  Hyoh squeezed tight on Erox's shoulders.

  "Did you know?"

  Golden flames burst out of Hyoh's hands on Erox's shoulders. Although it appeared to be very strong and blazing, it was actually flowing calmly and slowly out of Hyoh's hand. It floated up and disappeared just as soon as it came out.

  "AH! STOP! IT'S SO HOT!"

  "Calm down. This fire doesn't burn you."

  "...it's really not."

  After hearing Hyoh's words, Erox checked and saw the fire really wasn't doing anything.

  "Anyways, I was saying, do you know the reason why the Zatiax Kingdom has always been ruled by the Hyrovans?"

  Hyoh asked Erox a question.

  "It's because you guys are the strongest?"

  Erox said with an awkward smile.

  "There's many reasons. Strength is of course one of them. But the real reason is because we are born with the favor of the golden sun. Our ancestor blessed our bloodline with many abilities. One of these abilities includes burning away harmful substances inside the body. There have been countless attempts to poison and curse our family, but never once did someone succeed."

  "So you can remove the curse in my body?"

  Hyoh smiled.

  "Of course. Just close your eyes, it won't hurt a bit."

  "Alright."

  Erox closed his eyes. As soon as he did, the flames on Hyoh's body flared up. They raged like the fires in a wildfire. Instead of the calm demeanor from before, Hyoh had a nasty expression on his face.

  The calm and charming appearance from before was all a lie. This was his real face, an ugly and foul face. He hated everything and everyone else. All he really cared about was himself and power. But he would never be the king since his older brother was alive and healthy.

  It's why he hatched a plan to nurture the next hero with Erox who a subordinate happened to discover. With the hero's support, he would be able to become the king instead of his older brother. Though now, the plan seemed to have steer off course.

  But he still needed Erox in the future, it was the only reason Erox was fine after inconveniencing Hyoh.

  "It's done. The curse is removed."

  Hyoh said.

  "Really?"

  "Yes, of course. Do you think I would lie to you?"

  Hyoh had actually done nothing. He was lying to Erox. After catching Erox, he kept saying that he couldn't reveal what happened because of a curse. Hyoh had a mage serving him check if it was the case and the mage told him that there were no traces of curse magic on Erox but he still seemed to believe that he was cursed.

  So Hyoh had to put on an act for the not listening Erox.

  "Your highness isn't one to lie. I believe you."

  Erox was completely convinced by Hyoh.

  "Now can you tell me what happened?"

  "Yes, I was sent to kill the lindworm you prepared."

  "What happened afterwards?"

  Hyoh said with a smile, but he was feeling frustrated with Erox for stating the obvious.

  "Right, so we found the lindworm and engaged in combat..."

  "And then?"

  "...we were totally outclassed. It was too powerful for us."

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Hyoh was getting even angrier. The hero he was nurturing couldn't even kill a lindworm. How was he going to help him ascend to the throne.

  "And when we were almost killed by it, a mage appeared."

  "A mage?"

  "Yes, she was very powerful. She killed the lindworm quickly and then..."

  "Then what?"

  "...she took the hero sword."

  "You mean to say, a mage stole my kingdom's hero sword?"

  "I-I'm sorry! There was nothing I could do. She was too strong and she demanded the sword in exchange for sparing my life."

  "Did you get her name? What did she look like?"

  "She is a young woman, I would say around twenty to twenty five. Very light blue colored hair. Sophily was with her. I think she called her Thea? I didn't get her full name."

  "Light blue hair. Thea. A mage..."

  Hyoh thought about something and started walking away.

  "Uhm...can you let me free?"

  Erox asked but didn't receive a response from Hyoh. Zymon looked at him one last time, said a sentence and followed Hyoh to leave.

  "This is punishment for betraying his highness' trust."

  Erox was left there, all alone and still bound to the chair.

  In the hallway outside the jail cell. Hyoh and Zymon walked in slow steps.

  "The fourth prince came back from the academy a few years ago, correct?"

  "Yes, he came back two years ago."

  "I remember he always placed below someone from Yurivia named Thea. It made father furious every year."

  "...not always, he sometimes lost to the genius prince of the Elseya Kingdom."

  "Ah, that third prince that's quickly becoming the favourite to ascend the throne of Elseya."

  Hyoh thought for a moment.

  "It's almost the time for the academy admittance. Is my youngest sister going this year?"

  "Yes, your highness. The dean has already accepted her admission and is only waiting for the official procedures to-"

  "Yes, yes. I don't care. Who will be accompanying her?"

  "It was to be your other sister."

  "Father allowed the failure of our family to go out?"

  "Apparently, the little princess demanded for her."

  "Hmm. Keep a few people on her at all times. Switch out some of the guards with my men for when they go to the academy. And have Silent Demon infiltrate the academy to find out more about this 'Thea'."

  "Sir? The academy is heavily guarded."

  Zymon sounded panicked.

  "There'll be less security during the admission process."

  "But still-"

  "Send that idiot Erox there too. He'll draw enough attention away. Have one of our mages join his party. I don't want another incident to happen."

  "Yes sir."

  "What about father?"

  "He's incredibly furious right now. Sending forces to attack that village was a wrong idea, like I said."

  Hyoh was the one who had ordered Jeanne to attack Thea's village.

  "There's no traces leading to us, right?"

  "Of course, I personally dealt with everything so that nothing hurts you back. Hehe."

  Zymon did a little laugh.

  "And have you found why father has forbidden entry to that village and it's surrounding area?"

  "Sorry, your highness. There seems to be no clues to it."

  For some reason, the king of the Zatiax Empire had placed an order to avoid Thea's village.

  "Continue your search secretly. I must know more. It could be an opportunity to cease the upper hand against my brother."

  Hyoh was talking about taking the throne from the crown prince.

  "Your highness, I think we really should avoid finding out more about that land. After the Leblanc family demanded compensation for sending their family member, the king became extremely alert to anyone meddling. He's already started suspecting you and it's be difficult to move."

  "Tsk. Who would've guessed the commander of a low rank force would be a child of the Leblanc family. Fine, you can stop your search if it's too dangerous. Tell me if your hear anything."

  ---

  Three days after the dwarves had arrived at the village. A meeting was being held at the Silver Wolf Merchant store about the future development of the village.

  Everyone who was important to the discussion was called into the meeting.

  "Why am I here?"

  Su asked the group.

  "Hmm? Miss Thea said you'll be our consultant for plantation inside the village."

  Silas answered Su.

  "Where is she anyways? It's rude to be late to a meeting you called."

  Lexx, the guild master for the local adventurers' guild, asked Silas.

  "We're here."

  Thea and Janna walked through the door.

  "And we're not late. We're right on time."

  Thea said to Lexx.

  "Let's get the discussion started."

  Silas clapped his hand to get everyone's attention.

  "As you already know, the Silver Wolf Merchant group has been helping the village for the past few months. But we're merchants, we don't know anything about managing a town except when it comes to money. But now we're facing the problem of the future of the village. Miss Thea."

  Silas gestured to Thea.

  "First of all, I would like to thank everyone here. I plan to turn this village into a beacon of hope for the world. And I hope you all will continue to lend a hand to me in the future. On that note, let's hear from the Hauford."

  "Aye. We dwarves have been goin' around the town for the past three days. Takin' measurements. Checkin' the ground. Makin' a map o' the geography and such."

  "What did you find?"

  "It's all shite. Whoever built this place in the past was an idiot. There isn't a single paved road. The houses are spaced too far apart and some are just built badly. There's so many problems with the infrastructure."

  Hauford went on about all the problems with the village. The water supply. No place for markets. And so on.

  "I see that Hauford finds a lot of things to be wrong. But that also means that you know what would work best, correct?"

  "Of course. If it were me and my brothers, this village would've never fallen to ruins. It'd called the forever standing city instead. HAHA."

  Hauford laughed outloud.

  "Great. We can trust Hauford with the development of the infrastructure and such."

  "I'm taking suggestions."

  Hauford asked the group.

  "Hmm. I want a big main road for transporting goods."

  Silas said.

  "I want a lot of places to grow trees."

  Su wanted a place full of greens.

  "I want the emergency shelter to be next to the guild building so that we can protect the people as soon as possible."

  Lexx gave a suggestion concerning the people's protection.

  "Are we building walls for protection against monsters?"

  "Miss Thea has another solution for that. We don't need to worry about it. Do you have any preferences for the village, Miss Thea?"

  "I want the houses to be built the slope of the hill."

  The sloped ground where Janna and Jeanne fought. It was a big area and the angle was acceptable to build houses.

  "Hmm, that'll be difficult."

  But that wasn't the case in this world. It was rare to build houses on anything but flat ground.

  "I believe you can do it. At least try."

  "Anything else?"

  "Yes, I want some area for walking and resting between the houses. Like a garden."

  "Won't that take too much space?"

  "We have a lot of space to expand in the future. We can clear the forest or build at the bottom of the hill. Another thing, I want a river to run through the village."

  "Huh? A river?"

  Everyone was taken back.

  "How are ya goin' ta do that?"

  "That's for you to figure out. I just said what I want."

  "Hah. That'll be too difficult, no?"

  "Yes, but it'll be worth it."

  Janna said.

  "It'll look beautiful and we'll have a constant supply of water."

  "Hmm. She's right. Finding underground water could take too long. Right now, there's ain't no stable source o' water."

  Hauford pointed at the map.

  "The river here runs through the forest and exits this way. We can cut a path and make a split here and it'll flow some of the water through the village. We'll be able to water the crops easily and there won't be a need to build pipes from the river to the village."

  "Sounds like you're in."

  "Hah. It'll take months of work but it'll be worth it."

  "There are other problems though."

  Silas stated.

  "Food is alright for now, but winter is coming soon."

  "We're gonna catch those Ululls, remember? The milk they produce is greatly nutritious."

  Janna gave an answer to Silas.

  "Water is the next problem. We're always running low on it."

  "We can build a temporary pipe that'll constantly move water from the river until we finish work on the river. But then there's the problem of cleaning the water."

  Hauford answered but gave another problem.

  "Just focus on getting the water here. The main headquarters sent a message a few days ago that a mage proficient in cleaning magic is coming."

  "Sounds like our luck has hit a turn. We were looking for one for months, right?"

  Su commented to Silas. Cleaning magic was one of the harder magics because it required thoroughness and a lot of mana. It wasn't as easy as casting a simple spell. It was also known that mages that primarily used cleaning magic tended to be a bit weird in the head.

  And they were hard to hire as every big city needed them.

  "When they get here, I'll teach them my best cleaning spell."

  "I'll be sure to tell them that. The biggest problems are these though."

  Silas took out a report.

  "A lot of people are getting sick. And...we're low on money. The headquarters can't keep giving us money to buy food supplies from the nearby villages."

  "I thought you said everyone was healthy?"

  Thea asked Silas.

  "Well, as healthy as refugees can be. But recently, there's been a new sickness."

  "Argh. Silas."

  Janna sighed.

  "When Thea asked about it, you should've immediately told her about all the small detail."

  "Why? It would be impossible for people to not get sick when the living conditions are this poor."

  "Yes, and that's why she asked."

  Silas looked at Thea. She appeared a bit angry.

  "Tell me about everyone who is sick. Don't. Leave. Anyone."

  Something Thea was really good at was alchemy.

  "Thea studied alchemy for one reason, pharmaceutical."

  Janna added.

  "Like making potions for people? But those are only for rich people."

  Silas scratched his head. Alchemists usually made potions that buffed adventurers or cured negative effects. They were expensive and weren't available to normal people. Only high ranking adventurers and rich families bought them.

  "Ha...please talk with Thea before deciding what the norm is. She makes cheap and effective medicine that works for most people."

  Janna sighed.

  "Oh, I messed up, didn't I?"

  Silas realized that he shouldn't have tried to apply normal and common understandings to Thea.

  "We've also solved the money problem."

  Hauford said.

  "We have?"

  Silas questioned. He didn't know how it was solved already.

  "We can sell those medicine of hers as long as you market it well. And soon, we'll have a prototype camera soon."

  "Prototype camera?"

  Lexx's ears perked up.

  "You know that it's intensely controlled by the adventurers' guild and the country because crown whale's crown material is impossible to acquire, right?"

  "Who said we'll be using that?"

  "You won't? How is it going to work then?"

  "Hehe. It's too soon to reveal all our secrets. Just know that the guild won't have to worry about running out of camera's soon. We'll use the prototypes to fund the village's construction."

  "I don't know what you're doing, but I hope it works."

  Silas was looking forwards to the new invention.

  "Guys, we also need to discuss the celebration next month."

  Thea reminded everyone. On the twelfth of December, there is a worldwide celebration. It's a joyous occasional to celebrate the passing of a year. And to wish for a happy next year.

  "It's important for everyone to have hope for the future."

  Everyone nodded at Thea's words. The celebration wasn't something that they could just skip because of the situation, it needed to be done so that people can feel at ease and have some expectations for the future.

  The meeting ended with a positive attitude.